Beautiful Key West

Beautiful Key West

Key West is a really beautiful place to visit. It's a beautiful collision of nature, the ocean and the sun at full power. 

You'll need to get off Duval Street, relax a bit and wander. 

You have to come here in person and walk around the place. So all I can give you is an impression. Everything you see below is available in a few square miles in Key West Old Town. All these pictures are all mine and unadulterated by Photoshop or the like.

If you're visiting Key West, take some time to get off Duval Street and explore. 

If you're not, then sit back, look at the following pictures, and dream tropical!

Below please find, for your visual pleasure, Key West's beautiful:

• Ocean views
• Trees and flowers
• Buildings
• Animals
• Sunsets (and a sunrise too)

The ocean

Dolphin in Key West waters, very close to shore - this taken from the East Quay wall at the Truman Waterfront

>> MORE BEAUTY...click below for Beautiful Key West Trees and Flowers; Animals; Sunset - 43 amazing pictures….

Most beautiful Key West houses and homes

There are some very expensive and beautiful homes in Key West. They are all in Old Town Key West and so very walkable in an hour if you are in a rush or a few hours if you just randomly wander down a few streets in Key West.

Here are a just a few highlights to make you want to come to Key West and also to make you jealous of these beautiful and historic homes.

I think this is my favorite Key West home, 1029 Fleming Street. Immaculate white and all the elements of the house work together in perfect harmony. Very Key West Old Town it also helps that this house is very imposing and also huge. The second image below shows the side view, showing how long the house is. It's not so uniform from the side, for example the 4 sided feature, which I think  makes it even more interesting.

One of the most beautiful homes in Key West - 1029 Fleming Street

Key West Lookout photo blog

Key West Lookout, this blog, is part photo blog and photographs and images of Key West have always been a vital part of the blog from the beginning. There must be more than a thousand images on this blog by now, with more being added all the time. And these selected carefully from the tens of thousands of pictures I have taken in Key West over the years.

Here's my picture of the week, I LOVE it!

Pelicans in free flight during Key West sunrise

click below for more picture of the week...

Key West signs

There are many great signs in Key West, in turns funny, historic, touching, the odd few iconic, and some just plain visually beautiful. Some are from businesses or times past and are a visual record of the Key West of old. They also show the variety that can be found here.

So for visitors, locals and those just curious here is my collection of Key West signage. These are all original photos. all taken by me over the last 15 years and none artificially adjusted or touched up in any way. Even the first one here is real, enjoy the signs.....

This is a good sign sign. Round the back of Schooner Wharf Bar in Key West.

Island Dolls closes in 2016 after several years on Fleming Street. The sign's not so good by day...

...but comes alive by night. Just like the establishment itself used to! Neon Island Dolls sign.

The last mile marker MM126 on Highway, just outside of Homestead

On this site in 1897 nothing happened. Sign on Peacon Lane, at junction with Caroline Street. 

Fausto's Food Palace sign on Fleming Street. Sign by night. The gold lettering is very bight as the it had just been re-painted when I took this picture in November 2016.

Fausto's sign by day.

Pepe's Cafe sign with shells. On Caroline Street.

One Human Family in the Conch Republic

Birthplace of Pan American World Airways Key West - Caroline Street and Whitehead St

Half Shell raw bar sign in Key West. Eat it Raw

To see 68 more cool and funny Key West signs click below....

Sunrise in Key West

Today's sunrise in Key West was exceptional. A few strategically placed clouds and no wind made the sea a mirror. Here are the pictures - taken at sunrise, 7.30am this morning taken on S Roosevelt Blvd on my way to the airport.

I've blogged before on the obsession with Key West's sunset (the "Sunset Celebration") so I'm pleased to see a sun rise today just as good, if not better. Updated: In fact, it was so good we went back to S Roosevelt Blvd the next day to take sunrise take 2 photos. I've added both day's pictures below.

Which sunrise do you think is better?

Key West pictures of the week

Here are my Key West pictures of the week, every one taken by myself, during my few days in Key West in early January. Leading the pack, and my biggest surprise of the week, was a dolphin which I snapped from land and who appeared immediately in front of me. I've never seen a dolphin in Key West before from land and so this was a neat surprise. He hung around for 5 minutes or so before disappearing. After all these visits, there are still some trees that surprise me in Key West too. I'm not totally sure what this tree is with the amazing buds but maybe someone can tell me in the comments. It looks other worldly, something that could appear in sci-fi. Details of certain buildings fascinate me and the red brick tile feature on the top of the Old Custom House caught my eye this time. We don't look enough at the detail life offers us.

Please enjoy. They are all original, taken by me, and totally un-photoshopped or altered in any way.

Natural and organic Key West photography.

Dolphin in Key West comes up by the sea wall in the Outer Mole. It was early morning and there was just me and him around. He hung round for five minutes.

Shrimping boats, here 2 of a dozen of them, came inshore from their hunting grounds, because of bad weather expected soon.

more pictures - click below

Before dawn Key West

Before dawn in Old Town Key West is a mystical time, full of surprises even at this unearthly hour.  Roosters are Key West's mobile alarm clocks, heralds of the new day, urging us to rise. The fish are still asleep, the traffic is quiet(ish), the final party goers stumble home, debris lines Duval Street an ugly reminder of the indulgence of the night before.  Today's Citizen is mysteriously already in the vending machine, the first customers order their first drink of the day at Schooner Wharf bar.    

In the midst of all this it's easy to miss the gently unfolding, spectacular sunrise. Why does everyone rave about the Key West sunset, what's wrong (or different?) with the Key West sunrise?

Old Town Bakery on Eaton Street is a hive of activity just before dawn.

A posh yacht with a funky lighting rig

Pictures of the week

Here are some of my personal favorite pictures I took over the course of my last visit to Key West.   I hope you like them too.

The colored tray rests (or whatever you call them) at Blue Heaven restaurant

That's mine, what are you having?  Drinks lined up and ready to go before the sunset celebration in Mallory Square

Yellow frangipani (in Truman Annexe).  Is it me, or does the consistency of the yellow petals remind you of ice cream?  Just me then?

Walking the marine tightrope. This bird seems to be concentrating very hard and looking very nervous.

The host at Sunday's Tea Dance.  I WILL be heard!

Delicate leaves of a Royal Poinciana and St Paul's church in the background

St Paul's church on Duval Street.  Sometimes you get lucky with the light, and the time of day, and the clouds.

A yacht just before sunrise in the Bight - lit up in the most vivid blue.  A very impressive, and I'm sure very expensive, boat.

Half Shell Raw Bar neon from the Caroline Street entrance before sunrise

High Class Hooker.  Just like Key West itself?!

Good morning!

Other interesting stuff (hopefully!) on my Key West blog:

Key West hotels - the best hotels, my favorites, lots of picture, lots of information on where to stay

Things to do in Key West - Conch train, harbor walk, lighthouse, Hemmingway house, bars and drag shows.  What's the best?

I've taken thousands of pictures in Key West. In this blog post on this site, I've chosen my best:

My best Key West pictures

Crazy Key West in pictures [I love these!]

Perfect weather in Key West

I think the weather yesterday was the best day I've ever experienced in all my visits to Key West!

Not very hottest at all: Temperature was 'only' 80 degrees.  But wonderful low 70% humidity.

Here's a video from my sun deck in Old Town at about 3pm:

And from this morning through to sunset, there was hardly any cloud.  6 tiny clouds around 11am; and then 2 or 3 light wisps in the afternoon.

All the rest of the time, perfect blue skies and amazing light.

And add a light breeze to help the cooling, it was a wonderful day.

Just to break the perfect blue skies, a few wisps of cloud in late afternoon.

Most of the day, perfect blue.  Not a cloud in sight.  I love it when it's like this.

And the great light makes photos easy... Here's a few I took today...

Key West hibiscus

Hibiscus.

I find them totally fascinating.  Flowers, pistil and stamens, every part of them.

They are not particularly abundant in Key West and so good hibiscus shrubs need hunting out, but I have done exactly that.  And here are the better ones in Key West I found*......

An eye catching deep burnt red and yellow hibiscus in Key West. This in the Truman Annex on Front Street

*All these pictures are 100% original, taken by me, not Photoshopped, changed or enhanced in any way, and all taken in Key West.

Other nature related pages on my blog:

Fantastic flowers of Key West

Most beautiful Key West houses


Are you hot on hibiscus too? Leave a comment below...