Key West Culinary Tour: Tuesday: Day Four

Now that we had bikes, I started a daily ritual, since I wake so early of riding over to Sandy%26#39;s Cafe for my morning cafe con leche and taking one back for my wife, who would be awake by then. Thanks, Bruce, Q, and Arnie for that recommendation.

We then took the Yankee Freedom II to the Dry Tortugas, glad the reviews made me pick that one. Fast Cat broke down and arrived after us and the passengers had to return with us. A better than average continental breakfast and a picnic type lunch are provided. The tour of the fort was fascinating. The captain knows his stuff and is a great guide. Tried snorkeling for the first time; wasn%26#39;t any good at it; but swimming in the ocean was fun. Loved the trip back. Seemed like we went faster and the boat rocked and my hair blew and I felt like I was on a great amusement park thrill ride. LOL It was a wonderful way to spend the day and was one of the things my daugher and son-in-law joined us on and loved. Also met a lot of people and enjoyed their company, too.

When we returned from the Tortugas , you are at Half Shell and Turtle Kraals so we were tired and didn%26#39;t feel like high-end dining and went totally off any preset plans. My daughter asked for Oysters Rockefeller and I said Half Shell Raw Bar has them and in we went, even though KWT had talked me out of it before. I ordered the raw bar sampler and the oyster sampler. Let me first say, I had never before eaten any raw seafood til this trip. But I must say I loved the food here, as unpopular as it may be to say it. In fact if I compared those two dishes to Alonzo%26#39;s Combo and Alonzo%26#39;s Sampler, I prefer Half Shell%26#39;s. But I did order some cold water oysters at Alonzo%26#39;s also and I do agree with KWT that those are the BEST!

Then after we had those at Half Shell, we went to Turtle Kraals for happy hour and dinner. There we had the conch fritters and a margarita for happy hour. My wife preferred these fritters to B.O.%26#39;s, NOT I. As for the margarita though, it tasted like a half price margarita, maybe more a quarter priced margarita. It was really lousy. For dinner Ruth and I shared the crispy lobster rolls and the mango crabcakes that come with black beans and yellow rice. We liked all of those things. We were happy to have good crabcakes after the burnt ones at Latitudes.

Key West Culinary Tour: Tuesday: Day Four

I%26#39;m hesitant to recomend the Half Shell here because lots of people don%26#39;t care for it. I%26#39;m glad to hear a foodie recomend it! I have to say, I%26#39;ve never been dissapointed and we usually have at least one meal there. The wait staff some times looks too tired to be there (and a little crabby) but the food has always been fresh and tasty!

Key West Culinary Tour: Tuesday: Day Four

We love Half Shell. We stop for Happy House a few times, for the oyssters, and usually have a meal or two there as well. And I liked their Conch Ceviche too.