Key West - Information, Accomodation and Bars

These notes aim to provide guidance for handicapped, disabled or wheelchair users who travel to Key West. These informal notes are from a trip I took there with my wife.

Getting There
Key West is situated at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. We drove there from Sanford – an easy enough drive that took us 8 hours including several stops to look at the beauty of the keys. There is also a small international airport on the island.

Getting Around
The island itself is small, just a few miles square. You don’t really need a car once you are there, and indeed, because parking is difficult a car can be a distinct dis-advantage.

The sidewalks in some places are old and rough and you need to be alert to avoid catching your wheels in unexpected holes. Many also have trees growing out of the middle without enough room to get around them on a chair. Not every corner has a curb-cut. On Duval St. (the main strip) most corners do, but once you get off Duval you need to look ahead carefully to plan your route. I found it easier to abandon the sidewalks and go on the road once I was on the side streets.

Things to do
Key West is a noisy, friendly, chaotic party town with plenty to keep you occupied. Out of the myriad of things on offer, we took a train tour ride, a snorkel trip, a glass bottomed boat trip and spent a lot of time eating!

Beware of the hustlers at various stands in the streets. They will try to sell you tickets for boat rides, tours, anything they can. While they are official, and the prices are the same as you would pay at the main ticket office, they do not know their elbow from any other part of their anatomy when it comes to handicapped access. They just want to sell you a ticket so they will tell you whatever it takes to get you to buy. Every single thing we were told by these guys relating to handicapped access was wrong. Go to the main ticket office for each ride or trip you want to go on and get the information there.

Island Tours
There is a tram (or trolley tour) and a train (The “World Famous” Conch Train Tour) which offer narrated tours. Both are accessible, The trolley does the whole island and offers hop-on, hop-off to walkies but not to wheelies. The train does just old-town. On the advice of some friends we took the train. You need to go to the main ticket office at Duval and Front St. and tell them you want to go. Not ever train is accessible, but given an hour or two notice they will put one on for you. The same applies to the trolleys – not all are accessible and they need an hour or two to get one ready.

Boat trips
There are so many boat trips on offer that it gets confusing! A favorite trip is a day trip to the Dry Tortugas – islands off the coast with a fort and a national park. We did not do this in the end, but we did make some inquiries. We were told that the islands were of limited accessibility due to sand. The sea-plane that flies out there is not accessible unless you can walk up steps. Of the boats that go out there, the Yankee Freedom (www.yankeefreedom.com ) was accessible, the Sunny Days catamaran (www.sunnydayskeywest.com) was not.

Many boats offer snorkel trips to the barrier reef. We went with Seabago Catamarans (200 William Street * (305) 294-5687) who run two large catamarans. The larger one is more accessible but as luck would have it, they were running the smaller one the day we went out. Getting on and off required a couple of strong men to lift the chair onto a ramp and wheel me up it. Once on board I could get around the main seating area okay. To actually get into the water meant that I had to get out of the chair and drag myself to the front of the boat. They have steps there that the lower to the water, so it was fairly easy to slip down the steps into the water itself. The staff were friendly and helpful but had no experience with handicapped snorkeling, and since I had never done it before I was happy to just hang onto a few ropes at the back of the boat and peer into the water below. Not as exciting as the reef itself, but I was happy!

On the return journey we watched the sun set and drank complimentary beer, wine and champagne. There is no accessible toilet on board so be careful with those drinks!

There are at least two glass-bottomed boats. We took the Pride of Key West Glass Bottom boat (at 0 Duval St. – just walk down Duval until you can go no more and it’s there in front of you). The dock area was ramped, and again two crew members lifted me onto the ramp to board. Once on-board, there was plenty of space to maneuver in the main cabin. I could position myself to get a good view through the glass bottomed viewing areas. The boat goes out to the barrier reef or other areas near the island where fish are abundant and can be clearly seen through the bottom.

Honda Bahia State Park
Okay – this is not in Key West. It’s about an hours drive east of it on the way back towards Miami. We stopped there for a picnic on our way home. Note that it is a Florida State Park so no alcohol is allowed. There is a $6 charge per car for entrance. The park has a lovely beach (very calm waters, excellent for kids) with easily accessible picnic areas and accessible restrooms. It also offers a beach wheelchair for rent (free – but you need to leave a deposit). Inquire at the concession shop. I could not figure out how I would get onto it, and even if I got onto it I could not figure out how my wife would push me, but it might work for you! At least it’s there.

Places to Stay
There are quite a few chain hotels on the island. These tend to be on the Eastern end and are therefore a little bit away from Old Town. We wanted to stay close to the action and that proved a bit more difficult. The only B&B in old town that we could find that claimed handicapped access was the Angelina (www.angelinaguesthouse.com - on the corner of Angela St. and Thomas St., about two short blocks from Duval).

You need to have a walkie with you when you arrive (or call them) as the office and key-drop are not accessible. They have one handicapped room which is only accessible through a locked gate off Thomas St. When we arrived the room contained two queen beds which took up so much space that we had to move one to enable me to get to the bathroom. The management say they are swapping those out and replacing with a single King at the end of May 2005. The bathroom had a small lip (about 1” or 25mm). The door is a “pocket” (or sliding) door so it does not reduce maneuver space. The bathroom is spacious with a wash-basin, toilet with grab-bars and a roll-in shower. There is no shower seat so I took a plastic garden seat from outdoors and used that. The showerhead is fixed (they used to have a hand-held one but someone ripped it out! You can see where the fittings were).

The breakfast area is down one large (10” – 250mm) step, although there is a table on the same level as the room so if you have a walkie to get your breakfast for you, you do not need to negotiate the step. That single step leads you to the breakfast “fixin’s” area and two tables by the pool. The pool itself is down another two steps.

Eatin’, Drinkin’ and Makin’ Merry
Key West is a town for doing all three. It is impossible to cover all restaurants and bars and still maintain a liver in a usable condition but here are my observations.

Firstly, much of Old Town is (unsurprisingly) old. So the building are not accessible and have steps and small restrooms. However, many establishments have recently begun to make efforts to accommodate us. If there are steps look for signs pointing you to a ramped entrance at the side or back. Many places have this. Even if it looks inaccessible, ask as there may very well be a way in. The following is a list of the places I visited that are, to some degree or other, accessible:

Pepe's Cafe & Steak House
806 Caroline Street, Key West, Florida
Phone: (305) 294-7192
Café style restaurant/bar. Very popular. Serves Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Straightforward menu. Oysters are the specialty. Ramped entrance from Caroline St. In fact, the ramp is brand new. After I was seated at a garden table the manager came over to inform me that I was the very first wheelchair to use it. Didn’t get a free bottle of champagne to crack open though! The ramp leads into a garden seating area. There is a single step (about 8” – 200mm) into an indoor dining room. There is also a single step to the toilets and the doors are narrow. I did not attempt to use them.

Sunset Pier, Ocean Key Resort
Zero Duval Street, Key West, FL 33040
www.oceankey.com
American style food. Level access from Duval St. Outdoor seating on Pier. No accessible toilets.

Alonzos Oyster Bar (Raw Bar and Seafood)
Old Historic Seaport
700 Front Street, Key West, Florida
Phone: (305) 294-5880
www.alonzosoysterbar.com
Good seafood, large menu. Level access from seafront boardwalk to both outdoor and indoor dining. Accessible restrooms. Recommended.

El Meson de Pepe on Mallory Square,
410 Wall Street, Mallory Square
(305) 295-2620
Website: http://www.elmesondepepe.com/
Interesting menu of Cuban food. Locals consider it over-priced but it seemed okay to me. Great sandwiches and I loved the fried Plaintain. Level access from the Mallory Square end of the restaurant. Accessible toilets.

Blue Heaven Restaurant
729 Thomas Street, Key West , Florida
Phone: (305) 296-8666
www.blueheavenkw.com
A little off the beaten track this is a delightful restaurant. Although there may be an indoor part we ate in the outdoor area. Level access from Petronia St. The surface of the garden is a mixture of pavement, dirt, grass and sand and is a bit rough but I was able to get to my table without assistance. The staff toilet is accessible, but you will need to ask a member of staff to lead you there as it is a bit hidden away (and may be storing bottles of water!). Best meal we had in Key West although my opinion may be slightly colored by the 93 year old Madiera I splashed out on as a post-prandial!

Sloppy Joes
201 DUVAL ST, KEY WEST, FL 33040
www.sloppyjoes.com
Many, many establishments describe themselves as World Famous. In the case if Sloppy Joe’s it might actually be true. And they are accessible. Live music, food, drink, great bar atmosphere. I just had a few drinks and enjoyed the music.

Geckoes…?
Now this is a little embarrassing! This bar is between Sloppy Joes and Irish Kevins, but I can’t make out the name in my notes (in the interests of research I was hitting a lot of bars in a short time!). It looks like “Geckoes” but it could be anything – and I can’t find a Geckoes on the web! In any case, it’s accessible with accessible restrooms, had great music (not live) and a lovely bartender.

Irish Kevin’s
211 Duval St, Key West, Florida
www.irishkevins.com
Another great bar. The night I was there there was just one guy with guitar on stage – a genuine Irishman judging from his accent. To hear someone doing a U2 cover with an acoustic guitar and no backing is very impressive. No doubt my judgement was helped by the (by now Nth) Margarita! Accessible, but I did not try the restroom.

Bear Assets (or Bear Bottoms Beach Club)
281 Duval St., Key West, Florida
It was getting late so this was my last stop. Accessible from the street. I did not try the rest room. Good bar, live music. There is an “exotic dance” club upstairs but there is no elevator. If you are into that kind of thing I’m sure the bouncers will carry you up! (If you really are into that kind of thing, the similarly named “Bare Assets” club on Truman Road is a one story building that looked accessible. I did not try it!).

Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville
424A Fleming St, Key West, FL 33040
Office: 305.296.9089 Fax: 305.296.1084
www.margaritaville.com
Accessible and accessible restroom. A little anti-septic and touristy although the live band was good.