Florida Keys trip this winter

Hey all,

My wife and I both ride GS's and this winter we wanted to rent and ride from Tampa or Ft. Meyers area down through the length of the Keys. Suggestions for rentals and/or places to stay and see? My wife would love to find her beloved F700gs to rent.

Thanks from the Colorado Rockies,

Don & Mary

Hope you aren’t expecting it to be put back together again by then. That will take considerable time. It will be doable but there will still be plenty of storm evidence depending on where you venture.

I have family who live in Big Pine Key. They say that things are pretty rough still. Here's a link to a NYTimes article from a few weeks ago: https://nyti.ms/2kRd9iB

Thanks for the input. It looks like another year for that trip until more repairs finished...

don

The Keys are a mess. Most of the major resorts (Cheeca Lodge, Moorings, Chesapeake, The Islander ocean side, La Siesta) in Islamorada won't open until the summer of 2018 as they got destroyed. Hawks Cay on Duck Key is closed as well. Key Largo and Key West are open for business but everything in between is a crapshoot... Some mom and pop places are open but may have limited services. One place I know in Islamorada is open but the pool and docks are gone. Call the Islamorada or Marathon Chambers of commerce for the latest info.
Until last year, I lived in the Keys for 27 years and all my friends down there are in the need of tourism but it is rough going at the moment..

Wow. Great replies. Thank you. And yes I was naive to expect reconstruction to be further along!
Don

freeriders said:

Hey all,

My wife and I both ride GS's and this winter we wanted to rent and ride from Tampa or Ft. Meyers area down through the length of the Keys. Suggestions for rentals and/or places to stay and see? My wife would love to find her beloved F700gs to rent.

Thanks from the Colorado Rockies,

Don & Mary

Click to expand...

Plan B: cruise the Gulf coast. I have no idea about how hammered they are, but my understanding is that from roughly Naples south it's Not Good. Further north there was less damage. The Gulf Coast has a lot of neat places both along the coast and inland, too. IMHO the Palm Beach area and above is... not worth the effort. BTDT, avoid it except to see friends in Wellington, west of WPB.