Summer is Here

It is the time when locals love the Keys: fewer tourists, fewer events, a quiet and peaceful couple of months before the snowbirds and winter-hating tourists return. It is a time when restaurants offer discounts for locals to entice them out of their heat-induced stupor. Hotels try to lure tourists with lower rates. Fewer cruise ships are in port. At least that is how is used to be.

I’m not exactly sure why, but it seems that Key West is still really busy over the summer. It was this way last year and it seems the trend will continue. Snowbirds seem to be staying longer (at least it seems that the Bayview Park tennis courts are crowded longer). There are festivals going on, like Pride Week at the beginning of June. There is Hemingway Days, fishing tournaments and even summer stage at the Red Barn Theater. August brings us Lobsterfest and Brewfest, while September may actually be a bit slower.

While I am not looking forward to being hot and sweaty the entire summer, I am looking forward to the still busy, but different feel to the island in the summer. Do you prefer to visit in the winter when everything is packed and only people from Minnesota swim in the ocean? Or in the summer when the Floridians deem the water warm enough for a dip?