We awoke Sunday with renewed energy and excited to not be moving for a few days. The weather continued to be an issue for boating so we weren’t sure how many days we would have to stay put (no complaints since we LOVE Key West). We decided to check out Fort Zachary Taylor beach, a spot we haven’t been able to make it to in previous trips. The state park has several nature/ hiking trails, a fort and our favorite, a beach. Beaches are harder to come by in Key West so we were very excited for this one. We packed up our chairs, beach towels and sunscreen and off we went. Once we got there, we were met with a rainstorm. We sat under our beach chairs for a while “waiting for the storm to pass” as most do in Florida. This one, unfortunately, had some staying power.
After sitting under our chairs for awhile, we joined the majority of the beach at the cafe/ restrooms and continued to wait out the storm. There were a few brave people out in the ocean and the rocky, coral beach despite the cold rain. We decided to pack up and head back to our boat. We enjoyed lunch at Turtle Kraals (outside because the sun came out as we left the beach) and did a few boat chores. We then headed back out for what became a daily trip to Raw Bar for oysters and then Schooners Wharf for music and mozzarella sticks.
There were St. Patty’s day celebrations everywhere we looked and Duval was absolutely packed. I covered our daughter’s eyes as we crossed Duval to head to Smokin’ Tuna for dinner. Smokin’ Tuna is an open air restaurant one block off of Duval with divine seafood and almost always music! It was a bit calmer and the perfect end of the day.
