# Marco Island to Key West



## Dave78 (Nov 4, 2007)

A group of four of us will be staying in Marco Island for a week in July 2008.  None of us have been to Key West and were thinking about going there for a day or two.  I looked on map quest and it appears to be a five hour drive.  Too much time in a car for us.  Someone had mentioned that it is much faster to go by boat.  Does anyone have any experience or knowledge about a boat ride from Marco Island to Key West?  It looks like it would be a long and expensive boat ride, but I figure it won't hurt to ask the experts.


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## riverdees05 (Nov 4, 2007)

Check out 

http://www.keywestshuttle.com/

My wife and daughter were going to take it a couple of years ago, but it was cancelled because of rough seas.


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## MULTIZ321 (Nov 4, 2007)

Dave,

Check out http://www.seakeywestexpress.com/

Richard


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## JLB (Nov 4, 2007)

Probably not the exact information, but close enough--You leave early in the morning and I'm guessing travel time is about 3 hours.  You arrive in Key West (at the bight  ) midday.  The ferry is fairly large.

The dock in Key West is convenient for Key Westy things.  The Galleon is right there at the other end of the bight.  You could walk to lodging and take the Conch Train for sightseeing.  Duvall and Sunset Celebration are all within walking distance.  You could rent scooters or bicycles.

I would be surprised if you could drive in five hours.

We stayed at the Galleon in January, and the ferry was heading out about sunset, so the trip back will be in the dark.



Dave78 said:


> A group of four of us will be staying in Marco Island for a week in July 2008.  None of us have been to Key West and were thinking about going there for a day or two.  I looked on map quest and it appears to be a five hour drive.  Too much time in a car for us.  Someone had mentioned that it is much faster to go by boat.  Does anyone have any experience or knowledge about a boat ride from Marco Island to Key West?  It looks like it would be a long and expensive boat ride, but I figure it won't hurt to ask the experts.


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## The Conch Man (Nov 5, 2007)

Jim, we go to Key West all the time & it only takes us five hours from Bonita. Marco is bout forty-five minutes from us, so five hours from Marco is right. The exit from Marco to catch I-75 is bout thirty minutes from there.       



JLB said:


> I would be surprised if you could drive in five hours.


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## lscott (Nov 5, 2007)

*Key WEst by boat*

Yes, we took boat from Marco to Key West a few years ago, I think it was in April.  Got seasick on the way there, but I get seasick on about anything.  Boat was cancelled the day before, it does not go if weather unsuitable.  We had a few hours in Key West before returning in early evening.  Beautiful sunset view on the way back; some passengers saw the Green Flash.


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## mas (Nov 5, 2007)

*Bring sunscreen*

We took the boat from Ft. Meyers,several years ago, which is a couple hours further up the coast.  Bring sunscreen as it's a long boat ride and easy to get too much sun.  Your boat ride won't be quite as long, but it was a LONG day for us; leaving at 7-7:30AM; spending about 3-4 hrs on Key West and getting back between 11PM and midnight.


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## JLB (Nov 5, 2007)

Did you count the 2 hours you have to sit on HWY 1, while they clear the wreck?   



The Conch Man said:


> Jim, we go to Key West all the time & it only takes us five hours from Bonita. Marco is bout forty-five minutes from us, so five hours from Marco is right. The exit from Marco to catch I-75 is bout thirty minutes from there.


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## The Conch Man (Nov 6, 2007)

I guess we have been very fortunate Jim that it never happen to us after twelve years going to Key West or Islamorada. I know what ya say & it does happen way to many times during any given year. We always obey the speed limit on US 1 in the Florida Keys but that's not true for I-75 or Alligator Alley.      




JLB said:


> Did you count the 2 hours you have to sit on HWY 1, while they clear the wreck?


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## SherryS (Nov 6, 2007)

We did the Sea Key West trip in July 2004,  took our Dramamine, and did fine    It is a very LONG day, if you try it one day.  Better to stay overnight, IMHO.
We tried to drive once from Siesta Key to Key West and trip took 8 hrs.....lots of traffic, slow, and one accident to delay us.  Never again!!
P.S. Our newspaper has a discoun t coupon for ferry!  Look for one.


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## AKE (Nov 8, 2007)

If you do drive then obey to speed limit to the mile on US 1.The police are relentless and in particular in areas where the endangered Key Deer (size of a medium size dog) live. The deer have a habit of running in front of cars and even with the low speed limits they still unfortunately get hit.  We have seen them on a number of occasions and always on the highway or just off on the shoulder.


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## Sea Six (Nov 11, 2007)

I'm not aware of a shuttle service from Marco to Key West that runs in the summer.  The boats I know of that run during season (November to May) go up to the New England area for the summer because of that being peak season for them up there.  You need to contact them and not assume they will be here in July.  The summer is very slow here in Marco, and those trips are not available.  There is one out of Ft Myers, but it doesn't make sense to drive all the way up there just to take the boat to Key West.   It's not that bad of a drive from Marco to Key West in the summer.


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## Dave78 (Nov 12, 2007)

Your answers have been very detailed and informative.  I appreciate all of the information.  I don't think we will want to travel for that long in the during our vacation.  Maybe we will spend an overnight in Miami.


Thanks again,

Dave


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