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Key West . . . .

robav8r

Well-Known Member
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Contributor
This may be in the wrong thread, but please indulge me.

I live in a 55+ community with a lot of military veterans (imagine that in Northern Virginia :)

We have a neighbor that is a retired Force Recon Marine from the Vietnam era and wants to experience a little snorkeling and surf life like down in the Florida Keys. Haven't been down in that neck of the woods in a long time, but thought I would ask the collective group here on AW. After talking to his wife, I think he just wants a little surf & sand, maybe some mild snorkeling, and of course a Mai-Tai or two :)

Appreciate any recommendations on resorts on the Keys all the way down to Key West.

Thank You . . .
 
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Brett327

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From a water perspective, I’ve done some diving in Key West. Kinda meh, IMO. Not a ton of stuff to look at, and the visibility can be suboptimal. That said, if fun in the sun and beach is what he’s after, KW is always a good time, and I imagine on base lodging would be available with enough planning lead time.
 

pilot_man

Ex-Rhino driver
pilot
It is nearly impossible to find surf in the Keys so I would give up on that part. The diving in the upper Keys is okay as mentioned and I think it is worth the drive down from Key Largo all the way to see all of the islands. Key West has some good enough base accommodations for cheap if they can get a reservation. Islamorada has some very nice places depending on how much they want to spend. Have them look up Cheeca Lodge and the Moorings if they want to splurge. If not there are a ton of great places nearby that will have the same vibe. Though the busy season is coming up shortly so things will get very expensive, very quickly.
 

Uncle Fester

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Caveat to all below that Hurricane Ian tore up the Keys pretty good back in Sept. Third-highest storm surge on record, etc. So your buddy will need to research up on how the island is doing.

The NGIS on Truman Annex is gouge. The rooms themselves are what you'd expect for NGIS - basic but okay, nothing special - but it's an easy walk to Duval, Mallory Square, etc. The other buildings on the other parts of NASKW require renting a car or Ubering to get to the fun stuff. The annex itself has a small beach - the shoreline's mostly just a grassy area you have to share with the JIATF-South antenna farm - but it's right next door to Ft Zachary Taylor State Park, which has a pretty nice one. The Trumbo Point NGIS (the "Fly Navy" building) does have a decent bar, suitable for pregaming. There's a Navy Lodge out on Dredgers Key (base housing area), haven't been there but I know it exists.

If he's looking for something a bit quieter and more laid back, there are some small resorts on Marathon that are pretty good.

The drive down A1A is definitely one of those experiences you should have once...but really, only once. There are some truly spectacular stretches but a lot of it is just a two-lane road through tiny Florida towns.
 

SynixMan

Mobilizer Extraordinaire
pilot
Contributor
The drive down A1A is definitely one of those experiences you should have once...but really, only once. There are some truly spectacular stretches but a lot of it is just a two-lane road through tiny Florida towns.

Did this once with my wife, thought it would be cool, plus cheaper flights into MIA. Yeah, once and only once is correct. LOTS of being stuck in traffic, no passing allowed. Never again.
 

Gatordev

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pilot
Site Admin
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The NGIS on Truman Annex is gouge. The rooms themselves are what you'd expect for NGIS - basic but okay, nothing special - but it's an easy walk to Duval, Mallory Square, etc.

My last time there was ~2007, so I'm curious if they updated them... As of ~2007, though, the rooms we'd always end up with were two (2) "bedrooms" with a double-bed in each, connected to a common area with a common bathroom. I wouldn't recommend it for a vacation place to stay. I'd put it one step above the K-Bay BOQ, c. 2005, mostly because it a) had A/C and b) lacked the ubiquitous family of spiders in the bathrooms.
 

Uncle Fester

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My last time there was ~2007, so I'm curious if they updated them... As of ~2007, though, the rooms we'd always end up with were two (2) "bedrooms" with a double-bed in each, connected to a common area with a common bathroom. I wouldn't recommend it for a vacation place to stay. I'd put it one step above the K-Bay BOQ, c. 2005, mostly because it a) had A/C and b) lacked the ubiquitous family of spiders in the bathrooms.
I stayed there a few times, a couple of 2-3 week Reserve trips and once on vacation. I was last there about five years ago and the rooms I saw were your pretty standard NGIS rooms. Clean, basic, nothing fancy, but adequate. Price and location were what made it attractive for personal travel.
 

Brett327

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K-Bay BOQ
I've stayed at that place... thankfully those were torn down. K-Bay still has some of the best lodging deals if you don't mind slumming it with a communal head setup ~$70/night IIRC. Their more normal NGIS rooms are pretty good though.
 

Gatordev

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I stayed there a few times, a couple of 2-3 week Reserve trips and once on vacation. I was last there about five years ago and the rooms I saw were your pretty standard NGIS rooms. Clean, basic, nothing fancy, but adequate. Price and location were what made it attractive for personal travel.

They must have two tiers of rooms over there, then. The rooms we'd get were essentially barracks rooms, probably for the sub crews that were stationed there. I wouldn't ask for anything specific, just can I get rooms reserved for two people TAD. Invariably the main place was booked and they'd give us those shared rooms every single time.

I only stayed in the main lodging facility once in 2010 when I went down to debrief JIATF with my CO on a specific case from our deployment . The rooms were nice, but when compared to all of my other visits down there, they were luxurious!
 

Uncle Fester

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They must have two tiers of rooms over there, then. The rooms we'd get were essentially barracks rooms, probably for the sub crews that were stationed there. I wouldn't ask for anything specific, just can I get rooms reserved for two people TAD. Invariably the main place was booked and they'd give us those shared rooms every single time.

I only stayed in the main lodging facility once in 2010 when I went down to debrief JIATF with my CO on a specific case from our deployment . The rooms were nice, but when compared to all of my other visits down there, they were luxurious!
I don’t recall any barracks type rooms, but it’s entirely possible there are some left. Or maybe they’ve been renovated/converted in the years since. The Navy gave over the old sub base (the PHMs were based there in the 80s too) side of Truman to the city a few years back and now it’s a cruise ship facility. The Coasties are all based over at the Trumbo piers.

I stayed just one night at the NGIS at the actual NAS, out on Boca Chica, got stuck overnight on an out and in when the GSE broke*. The room was pretty run down and ratty, dead roaches in the corner, etc, but that was back around 2006 so it may have been spruced up by now.

*The T-line huffer wouldn’t spoil up, all the others were at the VFC line shack, and the Air Ops guys couldn’t use those because everyone had already gone home for the day and the duty section wasn’t answering the phone. Mañana/Island Time is definitely a thing down there, even for the Navy.
 

Gatordev

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pilot
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I don’t recall any barracks type rooms, but it’s entirely possible there are some left. Or maybe they’ve been renovated/converted in the years since.

These rooms were adjacent (within viewing distance) of the JIATF lawn/static display, FWIW.

I was chatting with one of the medics at work last night who was stationed at Key West in the early 2000's with the CG, and I think we deduced that the rooms I'm talking about were/are the same barracks rooms the CG used. He wasn't married at the time, but somehow he managed to get one of the town houses on the road, which are much nicer.
 
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