Smathers Beach at Key West

Gee, no snow here!

There are several beaches at Key West and we've been to Ft Zachary Beach previously so we thought we'd give Smathers Beach a try. It's located on the south side of Key West and like most beaches in the area, is man made. That's because Key West sits behind the barrier reefs and does not get the wave action necessary for generating sand so a lot of the sand is imported from the Bahamas.

This guy was throwing a net to catch bait fish, you ought to watch the video

Upon entering the water's edge, you will find yourself sinking into the soft sand up to your ankles or deeper. It's not mud, but rather slushy sand so it's not comfortable for wading out for a dip. Ft Zachary's beach is different. It's a normal, sandy beach where you can wade out with a sandy bottom that you don't sink into. On the other hand, the beach at Smathers is all sand, no pebbles (pebbles at Ft Zachary) so there's positives and negatives. We saw one guy throwing a net to catch small fish. It appeared to require a level of skill in getting the net to expand out to the maximum area as it hit the water. If you want to see a video of his technique, click here. 

We still haven't been to Mallory Square yet with the kids so perhaps that will be on Thursday?!