ROAD TRIP ~~ Miami to the Keys

That lobster benedict is on the top of my list!!




Again, more great tips. Thank you for taking the time to post them.

Having read some of the reports about how long it takes to drive from Miami to the Keys, I think we're going to try to make it to a place to overnight in either Homestead or Key Largo so we can start the day closer to the beginning of the Keys and avoid the City traffic. Does that make sense?

I would recommend making it farther than Homestead. By that point you've hardly begun the trek. Key Largo would be better.
 
I would recommend making it farther than Homestead. By that point you've hardly begun the trek. Key Largo would be better.

Thanks.

So, any suggestions on where to stay in Key Largo?
 
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So, thanks to all the great tips and suggestions, we have our road trip planned, and have a "Key West Mile Marker Guide" done and printed. That way, we won't miss anything, but at least will know what we can skip or prioritize. We rented a condo thanks to another poster's recommendation, booked the Dry Tortuga trip for the middle of our week's stay in Key West and booked our hotels. We are staying in Homestead and plan to hit the road by 7 a.m. -- at least it will be on a Sunday and not a weekday for rush hour. We are driving straight to Key West, but on the way back are staying a night in Key Largo and then two nights near the Everglades. It's a total of 35 days, 24 on the road with 11 on the cruise (which is now doing a Southern Caribbean cruise after Cuba cruises were prohibited).

Now the packing -- UGH. But at least we are driving and don't have to worry about luggage restrictions or weight or what is in the luggage.

If anyone wants any of the information I found or lessons learned, just let me know.
 
Thanks for bumping this thread. DW and I were thinking of going to Key West in the fall, but most likely will postpone until next spring, maybe in May. We're thinking three nights in Key West will be enough for us, then drive back up to Miami/Ft. Lauderdale and spend the rest of the week in that area.

I do want to see the Monument from the 1935 Labor Day hurricane on the drive there or back.

As for "dolphin fish," I also thought it was Flipper when I was a kid. I never heard the name mahi-mahi until maybe 30 years ago. Did they start calling it that because of the Flipper factor?
 


Excuse my ignorance, but I have never seen it listed as dolphin on any restaurant menu I've been to so far. If it is Mahi-Mahi, then they should call it Mahi-Mahi!
[snip]
As for "dolphin fish," I also thought it was Flipper when I was a kid. I never heard the name mahi-mahi until maybe 30 years ago. Did they start calling it that because of the Flipper factor?

My dad fished the Gulf commercially back in the 1950s-60s. Dolphin is the traditional English-language name for this gamefish (scientific name Coryphaena hippurus). Back then, everyone in the South called it dolphinfish except the occasional sport fisherman who had been to Mexico.

The North American adoption of the Hawaiian name Mahi-mahi did indeed happen because of the "Flipper factor". Prior to the TV show, Americans in general were not sentimental about Bottlenose Dolphins, but after it became popular, seafood suppliers had to switch because many restaurants got gun-shy about having the word Dolphin appear on their menus.

Since this is a Disney board, I'll also point out that this fish is what you have been seeing on the hotel roof all these years! (Though the sculpture isn't truly accurate, because they used an Italianate representation that softens the wedge shape of the fish's head. Real dolphinfish have a head that is nearly square.)
 
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Thanks for bumping this thread. DW and I were thinking of going to Key West in the fall, but most likely will postpone until next spring, maybe in May. We're thinking three nights in Key West will be enough for us, then drive back up to Miami/Ft. Lauderdale and spend the rest of the week in that area.

I do want to see the Monument from the 1935 Labor Day hurricane on the drive there or back.

As for "dolphin fish," I also thought it was Flipper when I was a kid. I never heard the name mahi-mahi until maybe 30 years ago. Did they start calling it that because of the Flipper factor?

Too funny -- and we're worrying that a whole week won't be enough. I'm excited that we are FINALLY (hopefully) going to Key West. It was scheduled on two of our cruises over the years and both times dropped because of itinerary changes. So here's hoping :thumbsup2
 
My dad fished the Gulf commercially back in the 1950s-60s. Dolphin is the traditional English-language name for this gamefish (scientific name Coryphaena hippurus). Back then, everyone in the South called it dolphinfish except the occasional sport fisherman who had been to Mexico.
I specifically remember "dolphin" from Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. It sounded really odd because I always equated "dolphin" with the marine mammal.
 


Excuse my ignorance, but I have never seen it listed as dolphin on any restaurant menu I've been to so far. If it is Mahi-Mahi, then they should call it Mahi-Mahi!

I've been many places where it's regularly called dolphin. There are lots of sea creatures that have more than one name (like striper and rockfish), and obviously some names are associated with more than one creature. :)
 
We loved our drive to Key West (and back the same day :rolleyes1 ). We didn't really like Miami, but this was the highlight! We used the GySPy app to get information while driving. We'd been using it in Hawaii and loved it so much there, the only way I was going to do a drive like this is if we'd have Leonard (we call the guy that, no specific reason).

Wow -- impressed that you did the drive round-trip in one day. Did you have time to make stops and sight see? How long did it take you overall?

We'll have to try that app. Does it work on Smartphones?
 
We flew into Ft. L and drove to KW and back, at the end of summer 2 years ago. My DD wanted a beach trip, so 10 days in KW. Drive down, was a week day, and there were times I was the only car on the road. That was freaky. I also made a pages full of what we could do, and name of every bridge we went over. We had a midsize car rental, and did not have to fill up for gas until half way back. I also used the turnpike from Ft. L down to pick up 1, as I have a Sun Pass, and it made it much less traffic, and not that crazy I95. We stayed at a hotel in KY the whole time. My favorite stops were the Wooden Spoon for grits the morning we left. That, and a great picture of my DD feeding tarpon. I'll have to look for my picture of her. We went to Dry Tortugas National Park on the Yankee Flyer. Yeah, 4 hour boat ride was more like 5 on the way back. I'm not a good sailor. But it was a neat day at sea. Also did a catamaran to snorkel and did sea kayaks through the mangroves. My DD still want to do that catamaran trip again. We saw dolphins chasing fish in about 4 feet of water. That was amazing, and even our tour guide said we were very very lucky to see that. We did a ton of walking, and sometimes hitched a ride with our hotel's little shuttle down Duvall Street.

Ejoy, beautiful water, and this time of year, felt like bath water to us, and so clear and so blue.
 
We flew into Ft. L and drove to KW and back, at the end of summer 2 years ago. My DD wanted a beach trip, so 10 days in KW. Drive down, was a week day, and there were times I was the only car on the road. That was freaky. I also made a pages full of what we could do, and name of every bridge we went over. We had a midsize car rental, and did not have to fill up for gas until half way back. I also used the turnpike from Ft. L down to pick up 1, as I have a Sun Pass, and it made it much less traffic, and not that crazy I95. We stayed at a hotel in KY the whole time. My favorite stops were the Wooden Spoon for grits the morning we left. That, and a great picture of my DD feeding tarpon. I'll have to look for my picture of her. We went to Dry Tortugas National Park on the Yankee Flyer. Yeah, 4 hour boat ride was more like 5 on the way back. I'm not a good sailor. But it was a neat day at sea. Also did a catamaran to snorkel and did sea kayaks through the mangroves. My DD still want to do that catamaran trip again. We saw dolphins chasing fish in about 4 feet of water. That was amazing, and even our tour guide said we were very very lucky to see that. We did a ton of walking, and sometimes hitched a ride with our hotel's little shuttle down Duvall Street.

Ejoy, beautiful water, and this time of year, felt like bath water to us, and so clear and so blue.

Thanks for the detail. And great picture BTW.

Question: Since we are driving down in our own car and not renting, I don't know what to do about the Sunpass. Should I get one, or do they bill you for the no money toll booths? It's confusing for an out-of-stater. Thanks
 
What happened is some of the road down in Miami was on a different (sorry, can't remember) pass, but if I used my sun pass, it charged me like 10 cents more than those with the Miami pass. Thus, no stopping for tolls was a great thing,. Don't know where you are coming from, but if you spend quite a bit of time around Orlando, may want to pick up a Sun Pass.

I think I remember going to the Miami Turnpike website, and was able to put in where I was entering and where I exiting, and it told me the price, for each type of pass you had, including cash.

I did the drive from Miami port to Orlando, round trip this January, as my DS wanted to cruise out of Miami, but spend a few days in Universal Orlando Hence, easiest to fly in and out of Orlando, well, cheaper too, and got to use that Sun Pass another time for outside of Orlando. Oh, and our cruise did stop at KW, so I remembered the lay of the land, and we did some things my DD and I did, since where we docked was just down the street from where we had stayed.

My DD wants to go back to KW again. Maybe some day. We'd still probably fly into Ft. L. And most likely stay at that same hotel. Fabulous location, and while it had some quirks, those would not stop us from repeating our stay.

Hope this helps.
 
What happened is some of the road down in Miami was on a different (sorry, can't remember) pass, but if I used my sun pass, it charged me like 10 cents more than those with the Miami pass. Thus, no stopping for tolls was a great thing,. Don't know where you are coming from, but if you spend quite a bit of time around Orlando, may want to pick up a Sun Pass.

I think I remember going to the Miami Turnpike website, and was able to put in where I was entering and where I exiting, and it told me the price, for each type of pass you had, including cash.

I did the drive from Miami port to Orlando, round trip this January, as my DS wanted to cruise out of Miami, but spend a few days in Universal Orlando Hence, easiest to fly in and out of Orlando, well, cheaper too, and got to use that Sun Pass another time for outside of Orlando. Oh, and our cruise did stop at KW, so I remembered the lay of the land, and we did some things my DD and I did, since where we docked was just down the street from where we had stayed.

My DD wants to go back to KW again. Maybe some day. We'd still probably fly into Ft. L. And most likely stay at that same hotel. Fabulous location, and while it had some quirks, those would not stop us from repeating our stay.

Hope this helps.

Driving from the Philadelphia area -- a 35-day road trip with the cruise in the middle. We are sailing out of Miami and plan to drive all around Miami, to Cape Canaveral and then up and out to get past Jacksonville before the air show that last weekend. We were going to go to Epcot for the day, but then decided to do Cape Canaveral instead as we've never been.
 
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Driving from the Philadelphia area -- a 35 road trip with the cruise in the middle. We are sailing out of Miami and plan to drive all around Miami, to Cape Canaveral and then up and out to get past Jacksonville before the air show that last weekend. We were going to go to Epcot for the day, but then decided to do Cape Canaveral instead as we've never been.
Just curious, are you worried about traffic associated with the air show in Jax? It’s at the beach this year, so unless you’re driving up A1A, there should not be any significant effect. Just stay on I-95 through town or swing out to the west beltway.
 
Just curious, are you worried about traffic associated with the air show in Jax? It’s at the beach this year, so unless you’re driving up A1A, there should not be any significant effect. Just stay on I-95 through town or swing out to the west beltway.

We're heading to Yulee to get on US Route 17. Not sure if that's in the direction you mention (my husband is the navigator and map reader LOL). Thanks.
 
We're heading to Yulee to get on US Route 17. Not sure if that's in the direction you mention (my husband is the navigator and map reader LOL). Thanks.
You should still take I-95 through town then exit to Yulee well north of the airport (which is north of town). US17 does go through town, and right by the naval air station, but it can have heavy local traffic.
 
You should still take I-95 through town then exit to Yulee well north of the airport (which is north of town). US17 does go through town, and right by the naval air station, but it can have heavy local traffic.

Thanks much. I'll add it to our travel notes.
 

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