Here we stayed at the Alexander Palms Court Hotel, which was a rather quirky place on South Street. The hotel was conveniently located in the centre of town, perfect for enjoying the restaurants and nightlife.
We spent our Valentine’s Day dinner at the excellent Southernmost Cafe Restaurant, which was just a few blocks away.
Key West after dark is very attractive with many beautiful old buildings illuminated.
Next day (15 February) we went looking for birds and butterflies, taking advice about where to go from information on the web. We started at the Audubon House and Tropical Gardens in the centre of town. The gardens proved to be quite small with no wildlife but the house itself was very interesting as John James Audubon had stayed there and the house had an impressive display of prints from his famous bird book.
We then drove to the Key West Tropical Forest and Botanic Gardens on the edge of town, which was an outstanding place to see birds and butterflies. As soon as we got out of the car we saw a Northern Mockingbird, along with a White-crowned Pigeon, which was a lifer for us.
When we checked in to the gardens we were told by the lady on the desk that we should see several species of butterfly and this was certainly the case.
In terms of birds, we had good views of Prairie Warbler, Northern Parula and Black-and-white Warbler.
In Key West a tradition is to see the sunset from Mallory Square on the western side of town. As this was only a 30-minute walk from our hotel, we took the opportunity to explore some of the town before arriving at Mallory Square just before sunset. We were surprised that while waiting to see the sunset we had a group of Black Skimmers flying backwards and forwards in front of us.
The following morning we had breakfast at Ana’s Cuban Deli and Grocery, which was just a couple of blocks down South Street from our hotel.
As we’d enjoyed the Key West Tropical Forest and Botanic Gardens so much we decided to make a second visit on 16 February before we drove to our next destination of Key Largo. This was even more successful than the previous day, with us spotting a Swainson’s Warbler – a lifer. We also had good views of White-eyed Vireo and Yellow-rumped Warbler. As throughout the whole of Key West, there were a number of Key West chickens, also known as Gypsy Chickens, within the gardens.
There were also more butterflies around, including the Florida Hammock Skipper, Florida Duskywing and tiny Cassius Blue.
