Things to Do in Key Colony Beach and Marathon
Key Colony Beach is a small, walkable island city in the Middle Keys, just off the Overseas Highway at mile marker 53.5. Everything below is within a short drive of our waterfront rentals, and much of it is within walking or biking distance. These are the places we send our own guests to.
Beaches and Outdoors
Sombrero Beach
The best public beach in the Middle Keys, about ten minutes away. Soft sand, calm shallow water, shaded picnic tables and grills, a playground and free parking. Go early on weekends, because the lot fills up fast.
Bahia Honda State Park
A long sandbar beach about twenty-five minutes south, generally reckoned the best in Florida. Calm, shallow water on the bay side, deeper swimming on the ocean side, and the ruins of the old Flagler railway bridge above it. Arrive early in winter, because the park closes its gates once the car park is full.
Sunset Park, Key Colony Beach
Two minutes on foot from our 11th Street houses and about five from 13th Street. Palm-shaded lawns run down to a small beach, with picnic tables, an observation deck over the open water and a rock jetty that is good for wading or snorkelling with young children. Ibis pick over the grass most mornings, and the lights across the water after dark are how the park earns its name.
Key Colony Beach Golf Course
A nine-hole par-three course in the middle of the island, walkable from all three houses. Relaxed, inexpensive and quick to play, which makes it an easy hour when the weather is too still for the water.
On the Water
Out your own back door
All three houses sit on canals with private dock space and open water in both directions, the Atlantic one way and the Gulf the other. Kayaks are provided at each property. Manatees come through the canals often enough that guests regularly mention them, and tarpon and snapper hold around the dock pilings.
Fishing and boat charters
Marathon is one of the best-served fishing towns in the Keys, with backcountry flats guides, reef trips and offshore charters all leaving from marinas within ten minutes of the house. Boat rentals are easy to arrange locally if you would rather run your own day, and there is dock space waiting when you get back.
Snorkelling and diving
Sombrero Reef lies a few miles offshore and is the best-known shallow reef on this stretch, marked by its lighthouse and reachable on a half-day trip. Closer in, the flats and bridge pilings hold plenty for anyone happy with a mask and fins.
Wildlife and Rainy Days
The Turtle Hospital
A working sea turtle rehabilitation hospital in Marathon, about ten minutes away, open for guided tours. Genuinely interesting rather than a tourist stop, and the single best thing to do here with children.
Dolphin Research Center
A non-profit marine mammal centre on Grassy Key, fifteen minutes north, with sessions and presentations through the day.
Crane Point Hammock
Sixty-odd acres of hardwood hammock and shoreline trail in the middle of Marathon, with a small natural history museum and a wild bird centre. Shaded, quiet and a good option on a hot afternoon.
Day Trips
Seven Mile Bridge and Pigeon Key
The old bridge is open to walkers and cyclists and runs out toward Pigeon Key, the small island that housed the crews who built Flagler's railway. Worth it at either end of the day for the light.
Islamorada
Thirty-five minutes north, and the sport-fishing capital of the Keys. Good for a long lunch on the water, the art galleries along the highway, and the sandbar if you have a boat.
Key West
Forty-five minutes south, which makes it an easy day out rather than a trek. Leave in the morning, see Duval Street and the waterfront, and still be back on your own dock for sunset.