Went down to marathon with a group of friends to fish for a week. This place could not have been a better fit for our fishing HQ.
Canal access made everything super convenient. Just rent the boat and drive it back to the house. Dock is really nice and comes with filet table/hose. Store all your tackle in the downstairs pingpong/pull out couch room at night, throw it in the boat in the morning and you’re off fishing.
The house is located on what’s essentially a small island residential neighborhood/town all its own called key colony beach. KCB has a few places to eat, a bait shop (accessible by boat), a sunset park, and the cabana club. The cabana club is a five minute walk from the house and features a pool, bar, jacuzzi, and beach access. The house has a few beach towels you can bring to the club, but you may want to bring your own.
This was my fourth straight year coming to the middle keys to target big migratory tarpon, which are there in May and June. The house is within a relatively short (45) min boat ride to the famous Bahia Honda bridge, where people travel from all over the world to catch tarpon in the spring. If fishing isn’t your thing, there’s snorkeling at sombrero reef and partying out at the sandbar, both of which are close to the house.
The inside of the house is really nice. Other places in the keys can feel dated and have a good few layers of salt on them. This place has high ceilings, a nice kitchen, and updated bathrooms. At the time I stayed there (may ‘22), it needed a new fridge - doors didn’t stay closed, fridge old compared to everything else being top notch. Bait freezer downstairs more than made up for the old one upstairs. Pots and pans did everything we needed them to - fry/sauté fish, make breakfast; no complaints there.
I had five people stay there and it was comfortable for everyone. Note that the pingpong/pull out couch room downstairs (also where bait freezer is) is separate from the main, upstairs part of the house. There’s no bathroom down there, but our short straw buddy who stayed down there had no issue with it.
Overall this is the best place I’ve stayed at in the last four years of vacationing in the keys. Whether you’re fishing or just relaxing, I’d highly recommend staying here. Now that I’ve stayed there, I don’t think I’ll want to stay anywhere else.