Key West... The place to relax and have Fun in the sun (Miami: fit in, rental market)
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Spent the last week at KW. Had a decent time. Entered a 5k down on Higgs Beach. Tried a little fishing. Explored Duval St. Not much of a drinker - so stayed away from the bars. Stopped by the Hemingway House. Interesting hour - enjoyed the time there imagining what the Keys were like back in the 30s. It has been about 3-4 yrs since I've driven down to Key West. Biggest impression was the number of homeless, people w/ psych issues - many are hanging out at McDonalds, BK. Saw one healthy looking guy weeding through trash for food. Pretty sad sight. Enjoyed the scenic drive along US 1 through the other Keys - probably will make the journey once a year before the snowbirders invade.
Rather than driving, drive to Fort Myers and take the ferry down, runs twice a day. Takes about 3 1/2 hours. Roll your bag on, relax and ave a drink on the way down, and walk or take a short cab ride to your hotel. Rent a bike or scooter to get around the island.
Spent the last week at KW. Had a decent time. Entered a 5k down on Higgs Beach. Tried a little fishing. Explored Duval St. Not much of a drinker - so stayed away from the bars. Stopped by the Hemingway House. Interesting hour - enjoyed the time there imagining what the Keys were like back in the 30s. It has been about 3-4 yrs since I've driven down to Key West. Biggest impression was the number of homeless, people w/ psych issues - many are hanging out at McDonalds, BK. Saw one healthy looking guy weeding through trash for food. Pretty sad sight. Enjoyed the scenic drive along US 1 through the other Keys - probably will make the journey once a year before the snowbirders invade.
We've been to the keys many times, we mainly stay in Marathon then do day trips to KW...and you are right about the homeless...they are everywhere it seems. Even in Marathon out by the Kmart and such, homeless all over, especially at night, they put up their temp houses and such.
I guess If I were homeless I'd sure rather be down in the Keys trying to survive than NYC for example.
But that is a small part of the Keys...its so beautiful, and I'm a scuba diver, so there is no homeless under the water, I love it down there.
For those planning to visit the Keys, you should be aware that shopping is VERY limited, other than high end shops in Key West. There is no Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, BJ's etc. (The people who live here have fought against any development of stores, but not hotels) Your grocery shopping is limited to Publix and Winn-Dixie. There is a Home Depot, K-Mart, and Sears in Marathon and Key West. We spend the winter in Big Pine Key and have access to Fisherman's Hospital which we have used the ER and they are very good, but don't try to find a doctor, especially on a weekend, for that matter during the week. Had to call three offices before one answered. As mentioned in previous posts, a lot of homeless people around, run down and vacant buildings.
Traffic along US 1 is horrendous. We had to get to the airport the other day and instead of one hour it took two hours, due to a relay race. If there is an event anywhere in Key Largo, Islamorada or Marathon, US 1 becomes a parking lot. Apparently the police believe if ONE person needs to cross, they will stop traffic. A couple of weeks ago we were returning from Miami and there was an event in Key Largo. Traffic was backed up for 12 miles and it took us 45 minutes to travel that distance. Beware of speed limits as the police are all over the place and will ticket you.
Key West has expensive shops, limited and expensive parking, very crowded, many bars and places to eat, and quite a few unsavory characters. It's worth a trip to Mallory Square to see Key West at sunset. That's when the people come out of the woodwork.
Ernest Hemingway’s favorite pastimes — catching big fish, eating well and drinking hard — still define Key West’s appeal, with the added attractions of countless water sports and gorgeous sunsets.
I'm thinking of relocating to KW from the midwest next summer. I'm a single mom and have a teenage son and I understand the schools are very good. I've been there twice before and have driven the road from Miami to KW. I've been all over the country and honestly prefer KW to anywhere else. I'll likely just rent until I am able to buy. I have considered Miami, and I truly love southwest FL beaches, but prefer the slower pace of life in KW. (We can always drive to Miami for a day trip or overnight.) I love the climate, the sea air, the pirates, the sunsets and all those characters you might meet on any given day.
I'm thinking of relocating to KW from the midwest next summer. I'm a single mom and have a teenage son and I understand the schools are very good. I've been there twice before and have driven the road from Miami to KW. I've been all over the country and honestly prefer KW to anywhere else. I'll likely just rent until I am able to buy. I have considered Miami, and I truly love southwest FL beaches, but prefer the slower pace of life in KW. (We can always drive to Miami for a day trip or overnight.) I love the climate, the sea air, the pirates, the sunsets and all those characters you might meet on any given day.
Obviously, you can do what you want. But I URGE you not to make this move before your son has graduated. Key West is an absolutely terrible environment for someone underage. It is meant as an adult getaway, and your son will be surrounded by adults who are engaged in irresponsible abuse of alcohol, drugs, and sex. The island is highly isolated, and full of a much higher percentage of people who have mental illness or personal problems than most places, as it is seen as an "escape" location. There are not as many kids there, so your son will be very limited socially. Local kids in the Keys have social issues aside from high drug and alcohol use, including a heavy bent on who was born a Conch and who is an outsider, who has money and who does not (it is a resort island after all, so this is bound to exacerbate economic and also racial tensions), and local kids are also used to the idea of having children at a young age out of school and not really being very academically or professionally ambitious - they are used to the status quo of previous generations. If you want him to go to college, there is not much in Key West to encourage him to strive for that kind of life.
Key West is fine, for what it is. But it is absolutely the least family-friendly place in the Keys, and overall the Keys are not terribly family-friendly to begin with for people who don't have a lot of money. Any other island other than Key West and Stock Island would be a better choice for your family. Stock Island is where most people end up living, because so few can afford Key West, and it is rampant with drugs, drunken violence, and crime.
The vast majority of people who move here find that they cannot get a place because they do not have sufficient money or local references to secure an apartment (and there are very few legal apartments to rent - far fewer than there are people who want them), and then they end up crashing on dangerous people's couches or otherwise begging for housing because they can't get sufficient local employment to afford the cost of living here. I see the stories posted every week on local forums, on craigslist, and just from knowing people here... it is startlingly common. Unless you already have a job lined up, how do you plan to support your son on $10/hr at 3 different part-time jobs totally only 34hrs/wk with no benefits, with a moldy closet single bedroom rental costing $1100/mo? Do you realize that Monroe County has the most expensive govt. marketplace health insurance in all of Florida, costing a minimum of $370/mo for an absolutely bottom of the barrel cover-virtually-nothing plan? And that if you don't buy that insurance, you get a very heavy tax fine every year? Unless you are independently wealthy, or have a job lined up with the military or a friend you have here, you are not going to be able to afford it, and your son is going to struggle greatly.
The Keys are great, but only for people who have done years of research and have large savings or other guaranteed funds to be able to make it. Kids deserve better than to be moved here where they know no one and will be treated like an outcast at school, where there is nothing to do among the teenage age group to be cool but drink and get in trouble (especially if you don't have the money to own a boat, and dive or fishing equipment, plus a house with a canal or marina rental for water access), just a few years before graduation.
It would be so much better, if you must move at all, to move to a place that has a lot of families and diverse kids for him to get to know, a lot of different kinds of things to do, a place that is not totally isolated and prone to frequent seasonal flooding, a place where all the typical teenage jobs are not already taken up by desperate alcoholic adults scraping by to make rent for one more month, a place that is more academically minded and has a lot of adults for him to look up to rather than swarms of people stumbling out of bars and speeding recklessly past on motorcycles with no helmet, shirts, or shoes...
That kind of place can be exciting and fun for an adult who is old enough to drink, and to know right from wrong (in theory). But it is not a place that nearly any adult makes it in for long. Local life is totally different from vacation life. Very few people make it past living here a year or two before they are forced to move out, broke, and with more problems than they came with.
If you decide to move to the Keys despite all of these truths I am telling you, please move to ANY Key besides KW or Stock Island. Big Pine, Marathon, and Key Largo all have somewhat large populations and more family-friendly environments, plus more affordable (MORE, not actually "affordable") housing. It is very unlikely that ANY of the Keys would make you as happy as a seaside town anywhere up and down the East or West coast of Florida's mainland - and virtually any of those other towns would have more resources, SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper shopping with far more options, way better produce (the Keys cannot easily grow almost any local fruits and vegetables because of the high PH coral soil), and would be 20 times cheaper.
Miami's environment and public schools are by and large very dangerous, and the cost of living there is also very expensive compared to typical pay, so I wouldn't recommend that either. Anywhere outside of SFL is generally going to be a better choice, unless you happen to have a ton of savings.
Clearly I am not knocking the Keys, as I myself chose to live here. But I don't think I will choose to have children here in the schools past a young age. Deliberately moving a teenage kid to a party town where they know no one is a recipe for disaster. Very very few adults even actually like the daily, isolated life that the real Keys offer. It is mostly working 3 crummy jobs round the clock - especially on weekends and holidays because you're serving a tourist economy, almost never getting to see the water, and dealing with small town life and the problems that come with a lot of alcohol and drug abuse. Sure, it's beautiful. But if you can't afford it, it's not very much fun, and I have seen the environment here tear many families apart due to struggles with poverty and excessive alcohol.
Please rethink this plan. If you do come, it would be so much nicer for your graduated son to visit you in the Keys from college, and for you not to have to worry about how much your great struggle in trying to find steady employment and housing is going to negatively affect him and his ability to graduate high school.
I'm thinking of relocating to KW from the midwest next summer. I'm a single mom and have a teenage son and I understand the schools are very good. I've been there twice before and have driven the road from Miami to KW. I've been all over the country and honestly prefer KW to anywhere else. I'll likely just rent until I am able to buy. I have considered Miami, and I truly love southwest FL beaches, but prefer the slower pace of life in KW. (We can always drive to Miami for a day trip or overnight.) I love the climate, the sea air, the pirates, the sunsets and all those characters you might meet on any given day.
Just do it!! by sound of it you already know you and your son will love it. YOLO!! there is so much to see do and experience in the keys that you will always find an adventure. as long as you are a law abiding responsible adult and show up for work you won't have any problems. I would recommend you find or line up a job before you got to the keys. I would avoid living in key west and stock island because they are the two islands where a lot of the full time population lives hence worse crime areas in my opinion. i would go try ramrod, sugarloaf, marathon or big pine. you can take a bus from marathon to key west (or any place along the way) for 2 bucks each way and it runs till at least 11pm. I would recommend having some savings and securing an apartment/rental before moving to the keys or things could go bad real quick. perhaps a visit again to see the other islands before making your decision.
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The Keys - a step back in time
