Do Key West Florida and the Florida Keys like a LOCAL!

Want to know the best places to stay? To eat? To take the kids (you're bringing kids to Key West???) To rent stuff like bikes, boats, scooters and jet-skis? Which fishing boats to charter? Anything special happening this week? Tonight? Where do the locals party? Good thing you ran across this site!

Listen to my advice, and you'll be doing Key West
and the Florida Keys like you live here!

The beginning of the Florida Keys. If you drove down, there's a 50% chance you passed by it.

The PROBLEM with Key West Florida (and MOST Tourist Towns)

If there's anything I've learned living in Key West Florida and the Florida Keys, it's that some people don't belong here. And I'm not talking about the Tourists.

Douchebag Scooter Rental Owners. Greedy-Ass T-Shirt Shop Salespeople. Lousy food. Bad-attitude Servers and Bartenders. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Key West Florida and the Florida Keys has it's share of them.

I've worked for and with a lot of these people, and trust me, you don't want to be bothered with them or the establishments they work at, or for. It's one of the reasons I decided to start freshwaterdavekeywest.com.

With co-workers, around early 2001. Man, I used to do way too much partying back then!

A Freakin' Good Idea

While I'm working, people are always asking me where I would go to stay, to eat, to rent stuff, to party (you know, when in Rome...), and one day I said to myself "I wonder how hard it is to build a website? I used to write code back in the day, how much could it have changed?" (it's actually changed a lot!), and here we are. It helps keep me out of the bars (somewhat), and I can write about the places I go to and know for a FACT are good.

"TWO" Key Wests

Listen, Key West Florida and the Florida Keys (or ANY tourist town, for that matter) is actually TWO towns. On the one hand, there's the downtown area that you see as a tourist, (especially one on a cruise). It even FEELS like a tourist trap, know what I mean? It's THAT part of the town that the locals want nothing to do with, unless they HAVE to (ex. work there, or friends in town visiting). Then there's the actual town that the locals live in, and make a life for themselves. And now, after living on the island for over 20 years (you're called a "Freshwater Conch" after you've lived in Key West and the Florida Keys for seven years, a native born is also known as a "Conch"), I'm gonna show you how to do BOTH sides and not look like a Touron--a cross between a Tourist and a Moron.

And PLEASE remember to tell them "Freshwater Dave sent us!" It's a fairly new website, so the response will be "Who?" In three months, It'll be "Oh, okay", and if I have my way, in six months to a year it'll be "Oh SHIT!" As in Oh shit, we better take care of these people!

BOOM. My desired result. Because although I know a lot of these owner/operators, I'm friends with none, and that allows me to drop one like a hot potato in favor of another who's taking care of the people I send them.

And you do want to be taken care of, right? Then you're happy. Maybe I'll make some beer money. I'm happy. That makes the places I'm sending you to happy. Everybody is happy--and isn't that how it SHOULD be? No more (or at least, not as many) idiots down here in Key West Florida and the Florida Keys trying to rip people off, and leaving a bad taste in their mouths. Screwing around with the memories of your vacation. 'Cause bottom line? We're in the memory business, and I want you to leave here with good ones.

And that's what you'll have if you listen to my advice.

So, WHAT you gonna tell 'em?

"Freshwater Dave sent us!"

Cool. And thank you! ;-)

And please, always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS leave a comment, good or bad, with me. How else am I gonna know if I'm wrong about something, or if things have changed? Hit me up on Facebook, Twitter, or on my contact me page.

Ready? Tap/click on a Navigation Link at the top of the page (that "MENU" button, on a smartphone/tablet/mobile) to get started. Have fun--it ain't hard!