Our fourth day on this circumnavigation trip took us from Key West to Homestead, Florida. We began the day, however, waking up to a beautiful sunrise at Bahia Honda State Park. It’s hard to even describe the view and peacefulness at this particular park, but it was amazing. Scott took a sunrise walk down to the end of the beach where the inlet crosses into another key. The photos below were captured on that walk as the sun rose.

Driving to Key West

The trip from the state park to Duval Street in Key West covered a distance of 35 miles and took us about an hour to complete. There is only one road to follow, so traffic is what it is at any given time.

Our mission was to drive Loki down the famous Duval Street and to try and catch a glimpse of where the Southernmost Buoy had been moved to. The city park at the southernmost point of the United States (at least the one the public can access) is being reconstructed and upgraded, so the buoy that normally sits there has been temporarily moved into town. I believe the buoy is also being refurbished. The park has a blow up model of the buoy at this time, which was a pretty funny thing to see.

This buoy is a famous symbol, but neither sits at the true southernmost point of the United States, or even Key West. It is still a popular tourist attraction and fun to visit. We had previously visited this spot in June 2000 in our RoadTrek van where we did get photos of the buoy in it’s rightful spot.

Duval street was as busy as ever, packed with tourists enjoying the 78° weather and flowing spirits from every establishment along the 4 block stretch of road. The bars here all have completely open sides (no actual doors), I suppose a bit like garage doors. If you are walking the street you can easily slide in and out of each one at your own pace. It is always quite the spectacle. There was no parking for Loki, of course, so we just slowly drove through the chaos and enjoyed the show.

After turning off of Duval street, we were greeted by many of the historic houses decked out in total Christmas decor. Some tasteful, some not so much. The photo below summed it all up. Christmas in the tropical regions of the world looks similar, but is enjoyed in shorts and flip-flops from the front porch with a libation close at hand.

Once we hit the southern-most point in the United States, there is only one way to go, north. Turning back north to make our way back out of the Keys we began at the beginning; the start of Florida State Road A1A, otherwise known as Jimmy Buffett Highway. This took us back up through all the keys and back across Seven Mile Bridge.

We had made note of a few spots that were worthy of stopping for dinner when we passed them on the way down and managed to stop at one that was dog friendly on the way back out of the Keys.

Dinner at Island Fish Company

The restaurant we chose is called Island Fish Company in Marathon Key, and it was excellent. The service and atmosphere were outstanding. They even brought out a dog bowl of water for Edgar to enjoy. We ate outside on the back deck overlooking the water and, while eating, we kept seeing something like a sea lion coming out of the water at the end of the pier. There was also a nurse shark swimming by our table, plenty of seagulls begging for food and one lonely pelican floating around below.

Edgar was on his best behaviour, as you can tell by the photo below. He and I had chicken fingers, while Scott enjoyed conch fritters and shrimp. We all had a great time.

After dinner, we walked to the end of the pier to try and find out what the sea lion looking animal was. Turns out, it was a couple of Manatees enjoying the area. I had hoped to see some manatees on this trip, but did not think I would see them until we got to the springs where they congregate. It was so cool to see them come up for air and look at you like a beautiful, lumbering, puppy eyed sea cow. Such amazing creatures! We were so busy watching for them to surface that we neglected to take any photos of them. Ah well, maybe next time.

We then headed out to our parking spot for the night back in Homestead ready for the next adventure tomorrow morning. If you missed the first three days of the trip they are below for you, thanks for stopping by!

A Week Around Florida

• A Week Around Florida Auburn to Tampa Day 1
• A Week Around Florida Tampa to Tamiami Day 2
• A Week Around Florida Tamiami to Bahia Honda Day 3
• A Week Around Florida Key West to Homestead Day 4
• A Week Around Florida: Homestead to Okeechobee Day 5
• A Week Around Florida: Istokpoga to St. Augustine Day 6
• A Week Around Florida: St. Augustine to Valdosta Day 7
• A Week Around Florida: Valdosta to Eufaula Day 8