Anyone have experience living in key west?

Getting cabin fever, eh? I don't know if trading this for rock fever will be any better. Several points about Key West. (I was born there. Anchors away my boys!)

1. It is very small.
2. The land part of the Keys is pathetic. It is nothing but dead coral and dirt. LPK and BPK used to have some relatively cool outback stuff, complete with Key Deer, but I haven't been there in years.
3. You must have a boat.
4. There is abosolutely no place to drive.
5. Everything you own will turn to rust.
6. You must have a boat.
7. The party life is great for a vist, but...
8. Key West has a higher than average ratio of bent people, even for a resort area.
9. You must have a boat.
10. Because it is so small, it is somewhat difficult to live a normal life when all the tourists expect you to be parting 24/7.
11. Driving to Key West is a trip, the first time you do it. After the 100th time, you'll start to discover the meaning of "Road Rage."
12. Did I mention that you need a boat? Once you get on the water, everything changes. I mean everything. Not only is there diving and fishing, but crusing between Key West and St Pete or Key West and PB is a snap. Then one day, you'll steer for the islands, and we'll probably never hear from you again.

May I suggest Maui? I have a cousin who lived in St. Thomas for about 10 years and got rock fever so bad that he moved to upstate Michigan. After one season of that bs, he flew to Maui and has been there for almost 20 years. He loves it. The only negative is that the islanders (broadly defined) are very racist and don't like hoalies (sp?). Other than this, everybody is really cool and laid back, which makes it easy if you are looking for work. All it takes is a little bit of snap, and you will be a wolf among lambs.

Good luck, Dale

 

Dale, pretty much summed it up, I moved to KW in 95 but didn't stay long after a few weeks/months, it seems like living on one resort and miami is three long hours away.

I would suggest a normal town in florida, such as tampa, lauderdale/ miami, all of which have parts that are touristy like KW, and all have the ocean, but they also offer things like shopping, restaurants/ bars/ churches/ schools. that are MUCH better than KW. Plus that way you can drive to KW for a weekend then drive back home for to a normal town.

KW was MUCH better in the 80's but now it's WAY over priced, almost are the true characters that made key west feel more like a foreign tropical island have now been priced off the island. And have been replaced by rich corporate owners who just care about making money.
It is really sad, it was such a great little escape, but now it is lost forever to money hungry bean counters,

Long live the CONCHS !!!

 

If you want a island live it all behind place, try moving to the Virgins Islands for a season, ( I moved there too)

It's all the tropics you could hope for, plus is US territory so you don't have all the third world crap to worry with, such as coops, but its diffinately different then here !!!

 

Vero is nice and centrally located to everywhere else. You could start there and then move on as you feel so inclined. I would HIGHLY suggest moving and giving it a shot. I was from this little town in TN and after my mom died while I was in college, I read alot of Hemingways and listened to alot of Jimmy Buffett songs, and packed my bags and never looked back.
I have lived in St. Croix, Key West, Boston, Alaska, and California, all by the time I was 25.
I would not exchange the expirences of that for NO amount of money or ANY job title !!

Life is not a dress rehersal, you only go through once, and it could all be over tomorrow.............

Just my .02$

 

ps since your in VT,
how's
Jay, Killington, and smugglers this year, I miss NE in the winter

 

....I gotta to fly to saint somewhere
I’m close to bodily harm

Twenty degrees and the hockey game’s on
Nobody cares they are way too far gone
Screamin’ boat drinks, something to keep ’em all warm

This mornin’, I shot six holes in my freezer
I think I got cabin fever
Somebody sound the alarm

I’d like to go where the pace of life’s slow
Could you beam me somewhere mr. scott?
Any ol’ place here on earth or in space
You pick the century and I’ll pick the spot

Oh I know, I should be leaving this climate
I got a verse but can’t rhyme it
I gotta go where it’s warm..........
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Remember my cousin? He is a top rank HVAC tech. His experiences of finding work in resort areas has been the exact opposite. How should I put this? Most of the locals are, shall we say, unmotivated? The majority of the imported wannabes are either drunks or stoners. So if you have some snap, there are plenty of opportunties. When my cousin flew into Maui, he had never been to the island before in his life. By the end of his first day, he had three or four resturants lined up as customers. His only problem ever since then has been dealing with incompetent help (e.g., the drunks and stoners) and turning away new work!

BTW, Maui is huge. There are a lot of car guys.

No! Anything less than 32 feet is a tinker toy. Remember the Gulf Stream starts in the Keys. This is big, big, big water!

Dale

 

If your from RI,
KW is like Newport !! maybe twice as big, but its three hours from civilazation and has alot of the same feel to it,

I miss the days hanging out at the "parrot" across from the "wave"

 

One of these days I am leaving for Margaritaville and I am I never coming back!

My wife and I plan on moving to the ocean when the kids are out of college. I figure I will have had enough of racing by then. We plan on selling everything, buying a nice '50-'60 sail boat and running a part time charter biz in the islands living aboard full time.



Terry

 

My Wife and I have thought about running a bed and breakfast

Maybe our paths will cross sometime.....

 

I'll run the cat house!!

 

now we just need a bartender

 

I'm your man! I promise I won't drink the profits.(I don't drink.) I know how to mingle with the ladies and serve a cold beer.