Florida Panama 2025: Boynton Beach - Florida City

Monday 17.02.2025 Panama - Miami - Boynton Beach

Nicolas, Leonora's chauffeur, drove us to the airport at 9:40 AM, and within 10 minutes, we arrived at Tocumen Airport. We checked in at Terminal 2 and then took a shuttle to Terminal 1. The lounge at Gate 100 wasn’t particularly nice, but I used the opportunity to buy two pairs of trousers at the Columbia store.

Our flight, Copa 485, was on time, but we had to go through security twice—once at check-in and again just before boarding at the gate. Unfortunately, this meant we had to toss out all our water. Thankfully, the flight attendants were kind enough to refill our bottles once we were on board.

We landed on time in Miami, picked up our rental car, a black Hyundai Tucson, but it took quite a while to get the Sunpass registered and activated by phone, as the online system wasn’t working. This delay meant we arrived in Boynton Beach much later than expected, tired and hungry. Fortunately, we found a Texas Roadhouse restaurant where we enjoyed some hearty steaks before heading to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Boynton Beach.

It was dark, we were exhausted, and the receptionist was a bit cold, but the room, while a bit run-down, was still comfortable and functional. The breakfast the next morning was a pleasant surprise, much better than we had anticipated!

Tuesday 18.02.2025 Boynton Beach - Florida City

Maxine recommended that we visit the Wakodahatchee Wetlands, and what a pleasant surprise it was! It felt like a natural zoo, with an abundance of wildlife to observe from a boardwalk along a short trail. We saw various birds, including wood storks, pied-billed grebes, snowy egrets, and black-bellied whistling ducks. But it wasn’t just birds—there were also alligators, iguanas, and even a water moccasin, which we were told is a very poisonous snake.

We spent about 1.5 hours there on the 1 km trail, and by the time we arrived at Maxine’s house, it was nearly 2 PM. We met Michael, and the three of us went to the Banana Boat restaurant for a lovely lunch together. It was so nice to reconnect with Maxine after all this time.

Afterward, we faced a long, tiring drive with terrible traffic to Florida City, where we checked into the Travelodge by Wyndham. By the time we arrived, we were both exhausted and feeling a bit unwell. We didn’t do much—just had a coffee in our room before calling it a night.

Wednesday 19.02.2025 Florida City

We had originally booked a snorkeling tour in Biscayne Bay, but unfortunately, neither of us was feeling well today. As a result, we had to cancel the excursion and instead made an unscheduled visit to the emergency room. We went to MD Now Urgent Care, where Dr. Eugenio took great care of us.

Afterward, we grabbed lunch at Denny’s, conveniently located next to our hotel. We then made our way to the Visitor Center of Biscayne National Park. After some back-and-forth to the Walgreens pharmacy for medications, we headed back to the hotel to do some laundry.

The hotel is a simple motel, but the breakfast is decent enough to start the day.

Thursday 20.02.2025 Florida City - Key West

After breakfast, we hit the road to Key West, making a stop at the Turtle Hospital for a fascinating 1.5-hour tour at 12 PM (https://turtlehospital.org). We learned so much about the incredible work they do there to rescue and rehabilitate sea turtles.

For lunch, we tried Pop’s Smoke Shed at Big Pine Key, a new restaurant specializing in smoked dishes. We had smoked chicken leg and skillet, and everything was delicious and reasonably priced.

We arrived at our hotel, The Gates, which is part of the nearby 24th North Hotel, where we had to check in. Everything, including breakfast, takes place at the hotel next door by the pool. Our room, 131, felt more like a motel room than a hotel suite.

There’s a shuttle that runs every hour to downtown, but we had to get a ticket for it, which wasn’t always easy. Luckily, we managed to catch one this afternoon and headed to Duval Street. On a whim, we decided to see a play at the Red Barn Theatre—Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson, Apt. 2B by Kate Hamill. The story was quite complex, but we enjoyed the performance.

Afterward, we took an Uber back to the hotel to unwind.

Friday 21.02.2025 Key West, pretty cool and windy day 23ºC

My goodness, we slept so long! We were absolutely exhausted. For breakfast, we ate by the pool, which was a bit unusual since we had to choose from a limited menu. Volker even had two Belgian waffles with a chicken breast in between!

As there was no space available on the shuttle, the reception arranged an Uber to take us to Duval Street. After some shopping, we bought tickets for the trolley, hopped on, and enjoyed the scenic ride. We got off at the southernmost point and, to our surprise, had lunch at... Taco Bell!

We continued the trolley tour up to the harbor, where we watched the Valiant Lady cruise ship from Virgin Cruises set sail. Along the way, we saw some street acrobats performing their shows. Afterward, we took the shuttle back to our hotel.

Honestly, this hotel has been a bit disappointing—poor cleaning and subpar service.

Saturday 22.02.2025 Key West, warmer but still windy 24ºC

We decided to treat ourselves to a hearty breakfast at Denny’s today. I have to say, I’m impressed by what Volker managed to eat! After that, we hopped on the trolley from our hotel and headed to Hemingway’s house. The tour was fascinating—especially the 59 cats roaming the grounds, about 60% of which are polydactyl. Our guide, Jamie, gave us an intriguing look into Hemingway’s wild life, including his four marriages.

For a light lunch, we stopped by Southernmost Rams Head, where we tried the famous conch fritters. Surprisingly, they didn’t taste much like seafood!

We then took a stroll along Duval Street, where I fell in love with a Romero Britto sculpture. Afterward, we took an Uber back to the hotel.

Later in the evening, I decided to try something new and bought a Watermelon Blast THC-P 10mg to try. I took one at 8 PM to see what it was like.

Sunday 23.02.2025 Key West - Homestead/Florida City, nice sunny day 23ºC

My night was awful, and when it was time to get up in the morning, I had to rely on Volker for help. I couldn’t walk on my own. Volker went to the pool for breakfast by himself, but I had to skip it—there was no way I could manage anything.

We then drove to our Travelodge Hotel in Florida City, where this time we had room 220. Everything was fine there. For dinner, we kept it simple and went to the Denny’s next door.