Well the lack of available campgrounds got so bad that we had to break down and get an AirBnb for a couple of nights. Douglas’ friend and his wife had told us that Islamorada was their favorite key with great restaurants, local art, and a village feel. We loved this Key!
Douglas found a great Airbnb on top of the local Brewery’s tasting room, Florida Keys Brewing Company. The AirB&B, called ‘Flakeys’ was surrounded by Art galleries and restaurants. Our first night there we went to an art opening down the street and bought two pieces of art…and ate a bunch of donuts…There was also a pottery studio and the guy running it escaped from Michigan or someplace like that to open the studio. He is a big fan of classic I, IV, V Blues and played guitar, so Douglas got to blather about music with him for a bit. We also picked up a couple of new coffee mugs for our travels.https://www.facebook.com/moradawayclay
From ‘Flakeys,’ the beach was just a short walk…and Moorings Village and Spa which we found out was private after trespassing on numerous occasions. This is where some of the Netflix series Bloodline was filmed, based on a series of books by Richelle Mead. BTW, it appears that all beaches in Florida are public but the path way or road leading up to them may still be private. Here’s a snap of the beach:
Best Brunch on the island : Chef Michael’s.
Best beach restaurant: Morada Bay but they did NOT have the best stone crab claws. Lobster was decent though! Douglas suggests getting an appetizer, listen to some live music, watch the sunset and then head out for dinner. Or get the Lobster that Lisa had.
2nd Best Beach restaurant: Lazy Days Restaurant, you can bring your catch of the day to them and they will cook it up for you. We ate inside because it was dark & windy but best place on a sunny day would be outside with your toes in the sand. Douglas had the flounder and Lisa had Hogfish again…Lazy Style!
Best tacky art and knick-nack shop: Rain Barrel Sculpture Gallery,Funky, rustic spot with a big lobster outside for local sculptures, paintings & pottery, plus gifts.
Best Beer: Douglas is on a canned beer phase. He enjoyed the beers at the aforementioned local brewery, but still finds his favorite to be Florida Cracker Beer https://cigarcitybrewing.com/beer/florida-cracker
BTW, the same young couple that own the AirB&B also own the Brewery. Nice woman that Douglas had a chance to chat with one morning. The couple are from Canada and move down here with the kids and started their businesses. Awesome!
As with most places we go, we had to look at real-estate to see if a bargain could be had in the Keys since the hurricane put a hurting on some of the islands and maybe put a bit of awareness in some owners that there is some risk. We found that there are a lot of places for sale, but we felt that they were asking what Douglas calls, “Yankee Prices.” Kinda like when we bought our place in NOLA after Katrina and the owners were asking about 300k more than we thought it was worth. They came down. We did find one fixer-upper that we liked on a canal across the street from the beach. It was on auction for around 250,000, but it had about 600k worth of fines from the local village/government for breaking rules. After digging a bit and chatting with the villages legal assistant, it was revealed to be a big wet mess of red tape. C’est la vie 
