This weekend we took the Key West Express to the keys, it’s a high-speed catamaran out of Fort Myers Beach to Key West. You can return the same day, or stay a few days; I booked a 3 day trip from Friday to Sunday.
It was a little hard making the drive to Ft Myers at 6:00 am, but well worth it when you can enjoy the rest of the day with a few cocktails let someone else do the driving, and arrive in Key West fresh and ready to get into what ever kind of trouble you want. We arrived for the Fast Cat at 7:45 checked in and boarded around 8:00 am with a 9:00am departure. The first thing you see when you board is the bar and it was already packed and everyone was getting in the mood for Key West.
The ride was great with plenty of room and different seating options, all had good views either out side or a big screen TV. You really don’t get the sensation of speed sitting in a comfortable seat looking out the window, but when you go up on the upper deck or back on the fantail the feeling is insane. That boat really flies!
We arrived in Key West around 12:30pm, after a quick Taxi ride to the hotel we were ready to go. “It’s the Islands mon” so we had to rent a scooter to get around. First stop was to check out a dive shop to get the dive report and look for a charter. The report was not looking good, there was a south wind at 20 knots causing 5-6 foot rollers and poor Vis. Most of the Dive boats didn’t even go out Friday morning.
I still had a great time in Key West although we didn’t get to go diving; we just relaxed pools side and did the tourist thing on Duval St all weekend. Sunday after noon we checked out of the hotel and took out bags back to the boat for early boarding (you can pre board and check your bags from 1:30 to 3:00pm) then it was back to cruising the docks and Duval St until time to board at 5:00pm.
The Ferry headed back to Fort Myers Beach at 6:00pm, we arrived at the marina at around 9:30pm in a terrible rain storm. Even with the storm the ride was good and the weekend was a great success.


I can’t wait to book the next trip, I hope you will join me.