Florida Keys in February: advice?

Contemplating a trip to the Florida Keys with my spouse in February. Advice/recommendations welcome. Is 7-10 days too long? We enjoy sightseeing, walking, etc. but not into fishing. Mainly want to get away from winter for a while and find some interesting activities. Thanks for your thoughts.

We rented a condo on Key Largo in April of 2013 and thoroughly enjoyed it. There are nice restaurants in Key Largo and the Everglades National Park is a reasonable day trip. John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is off of Key Largo. I suppose Key West is a day trip, but it is a lot of driving and I get the impression that speed limits are enforced in the Keys.

Did you rent through Airbnb or similar group?

I'm pondering whether we will split our stay between two keys, which does seem desirable.

I do recall snorkeling at Pennekamp 30 years ago, the last time we visited the Keys. I'm told the whole area has changed greatly, which isn't surprising. Commercialism is hard to stop!

tjohn said:
We rented a condo on Key Largo in April of 2013 and thoroughly enjoyed it. There are nice restaurants in Key Largo and the Everglades National Park is a reasonable day trip. John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is off of Key Largo. I suppose Key West is a day trip, but it is a lot of driving and I get the impression that speed limits are enforced in the Keys.

We rented a condo at Mariner's Club thru www.barefeetrentals.com.

Thanks. (Link no longer valid.)

tjohn said:
We rented a condo at Mariner's Club thru www.barefeetrentals.com.

unicorn33 said:
Thanks. (Link no longer valid.)

tjohn said:
We rented a condo at Mariner's Club thru www.barefeetrentals.com.

Try http://www.barefeetrentals.com/

or this for the Mariners Club

http://www.barefeetrentals.com/vacation-home-community.asp?CommunityID=823

The period seemed to mess things up.

I have not been to Key West in many years, and I am strictly a lowbrow tourist, but here are my recommendations anyway:

If you like cats or Hemingway or both, visit his house. Also, the hot dogs and key lime pie at the restaurant on the 7 Mile Bridge were good. Also, there is one key with many small Key deer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_deer). You need to get up early to see them. And, wait for it, evidently the Key West Ripley's Believe it or Not, has a special section on tourture and execution, not found in other locations (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/search/tip).

There are lots of other fun attractions, which you can get in a guide book. Hopefully you like Cuban food, Key Lime Pie, and seafood. And drinking and sunsets.

I lived in Miami for five years and we used to spend a lot of time down in the Keys. It was too long ago for specific recommendations to be still valid, but if you're planning on snorkeling, investigate water temperature. I snorkeled at John Pennekamp probably fifty times while I was down there, but never between November and February, too cold. On the other hand, if you're used to early June at the Jersey Shore you are probably fine.

These other recommendations sound great, it makes me feel like taking a nostalgia trip back down there.

nan- The Hemingway cats! I had almost forgotten them. Visited his place decades ago, and I recall they were everywhere, many of them with 6 toes! I definitely have to go back there!

tjohn- Thanks. Those links worked.

We've done the Keys as a family for the last 5 years. First 2 were in Tavarnier (basically Key Largo) and last couple were in the middle keys (Duck Key, near Marathon). There's so much to do that you can set up camp at a central location (middle keys might be a good choice) then radiate out for various activities. We liked to pick one anchor activity each day (snorkelling, visit to the turtle rehab center, Key West day trip, kayak trip in the Gulf, etc.) then relax for the other half of the day. You definitely have to take some initiative though. There aren't many good beaches where you would just go day after day and sit in your lounge chair (though a couple of the major hotels do support this model). Rather, you need to be willing to take advantage of the variety of stuff going on and drive 20-30 minutes each day to get to the activity du jour.

We rented a condo through this operation: http://www.keyscaribbean.com/homes/mariners_club.php

With AirBnB and VRBO and similar getting better and better, you could probably score a great deal through those sites as well.

unicorn33 said:
Contemplating a trip to the Florida Keys with my spouse in February. Advice/recommendations welcome. Is 7-10 days too long? We enjoy sightseeing, walking, etc. but not into fishing. Mainly want to get away from winter for a while and find some interesting activities. Thanks for your thoughts.