Dolphin Watching in Key West

Inside the island, almost never. Old Town is flat and about two kilometres across, and bicycles are what locals use. Parking is the reason: metered spaces in Old Town run around four to six dollars an hour, and the Old Town garage charges a day rate. A car earns its keep for the drive down the Overseas Highway, not once you are here.

The nearest reef sites are about ten to eleven kilometres offshore, so every reef trip means forty minutes to an hour under way each direction. The one place you can snorkel without a boat is the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor, where the shipping channel keeps the water clear. Bring footwear – it is crushed coral, not sand.

Fort Jefferson sits about 110 kilometres west in open water and can only be reached from Key West, by ferry or seaplane. The ferry is roughly two and a half hours each way with around four hours at the island; the seaplane cuts the travel to about 45 minutes and costs several times more. If you have three days here, it takes one of them.

No. The Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square is free and happens every evening of the year, starting about two hours before the sun goes down. A sunset sail buys you distance from several hundred people, a drink and a view back at the island. Check the departure time against the actual sunset for your date – it shifts by more than an hour across the year.

December to April is dry, mild and busy – it is also when the cruise ships call and tours sell out. Hurricane season runs from June to the end of November, with September the wettest and stormiest month. Late October means Fantasy Fest and peak prices. April, May and early December are the quiet compromise.

Because Miami is a bigger market. „From Miami: Key West Day Trip" is a coach trip for people staying in Miami, three and a half hours and about 250 kilometres up the Overseas Highway. Those offers are filtered out here – everything on this site departs from Key West itself.