Tourists return to the Florida Keys as island chain lifts the roadblock and reopens

The tourists are back.

The Florida Keys removed two highway checkpoints and reopened to visitors Monday for the first time in two months.

Despite the opening, there were no hordes of visitors rushing through the newly reopened highway. Tourism leaders didn’t expect to see traffic jams and wall-to-wall people on the first day.

But visitors did show. And they were there for some escape.

“Key West has been on my bucket list for a long time,” said Suzanne Hawk, 61, of Rutledge, Georgia, who made her first visit to the Southernmost City Monday with her husband Jimmy Hawk, 67, for a two-night stay at a hotel. “I’ve wanted to do this since I was a child.”

They visited the Dolphin Research Center in the Middle Keys on the way to Key West. “They’ve got them trained pretty good,” said Jimmy Hawk.

They weren’t worried about COVID-19.

“I’m a nurse,” Suzanne Hawk said.

Norma and Kim Chavez, of Orlando, landed in the Keys on Monday for their honeymoon. They both wore face masks as they had another tourist take a photo of them in front of the Southernmost Point buoy marker by the ocean.

“We’ve been taking precautions,” Kim Chavez said.

“As long as you wash your hands and don’t be stupid...” Norma Chavez said.

Business owners didn’t exactly rake in the cash Monday but hung out the open signs anyway.

“It’s slower than when we had the hurricane two years ago,” said Justin Holt, who co-owns a T-shirt shop on Duval Street, at about 5 p.m. “I didn’t even break $200 yet. But five dollars, 10 dollars, everything adds up for us and helps us out. Anything.”

Holt said he feels like he lost the whole season to COVID-19. “We need people to come and visit us,” he said. “We’re a mom and pop business.”

Businesses in Key Largo and Islamorada were the first to greet the newly-returned visitors, and commerce was steady, but no where near where it would be this time of year in normal times.

“There was no way to pick a good day. What’s a good day to open? It’s always better to wait a week, and it’s always better on the financial side to open a week early,” said Michael Reckwerd, owner of Robbie’s Marina, the famous bay side tourist spot on Lower Matecumbe Key. “They had to pick a date in the middle. It’s tough.”

Robbie’s, opened by Reckwerdt’s father in 1976, was busy Monday. The Hungry Tarpon Restaurant was full of patrons, and people lined up to feed the huge tarpon and nurse sharks that hang out in the shallow water by the docks. The shops within the marina’s sprawling property were also full of tourists buying T-shirts and other items.

“We will do probably a third of what we would normally do today. But, that’s okay. It’s helping pay bills. But if you look at the property and how everyone’s spread out, we’re in good shape,” Reckwerdt said.

Devin Faul and Eric Guilbeau from Lafayette, Louisiana, stopped at Robbie’s on their way to Key West, where they are going spending their honeymoon. Sort of.

The couple is actually scheduled to get married next year in Pensacola. The big day was supposed to be Saturday, but it was postponed because of the COVID-19 crisis.

“We were planning on staying in Pensacola because it is closer to Lafayette,” Faul, 25, said. “All of our family was going to stay with us, and we were going to make it our big family vacation. But, since no one could come, we took our own trip.”

So, instead, they’re going to spend a week in the Southernmost City. Despite the forced change of plans, they’re happy to be traveling, Gilbeau, 30, said.

“It feels great. It’s nice to be able to get out and do some stuff finally,” he said.

Traffic was steady heading into Key Largo Monday morning.

The two checkpoints that were set up in late March to stop tourists from entering the island chain came down Sunday night.

They were scheduled to be removed at 12:01 a.m. Monday, but some tourists said they were gone by 10 p.m. Sunday.

Melissa McGuire and her husband, Harry Lopez, drove straight through from Orlando, not wanting to stop in Miami-Dade because of the curfews in place due to the police protests.

McGuire said they couldn’t wait to make the trip.

“We needed some R and R after being cooped up for so many months,” she said.

The couple is staying a week, with their ultimate destination Key West.

They were at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park on Monday, where Lopez did some fishing, catching a barracuda and a shark. He was hoping for a red snapper.

Gloria Metin and her husband, Huseyne, were on a day trip from Fort Lauderdale.

“It’s absolutely perfect,” said Gloria as she lounged on the beach at Pennekamp. “The weather is wonderful. Everyone is distancing.”

She and Huseyne planned on having lunch and dinner in the Keys before heading back to Fort Lauderdale.

For McGuire and Lopez, the trip was also a respite from the chaos happening nationwide due to the George Floyd protests.

“There’s so much ugly in the world right now. You kind of want to bury your head in the sand and pretend it’s not real,” she said. “Unfortunately, it’s very real.”

Famous Duval Street in Key West, which has been newly paved, had more signs of rebirth Monday morning as clothing shops and a large art gallery had their doors open for customers.

But the streets were still practically empty late Monday morning. It picked up by evening but shop owners complained that it was extremely slow.

Monday is never a big day for hotel bookings, though, even in the best of times.

“We don’t have any guests but tomorrow we have about a half dozen booked,’ said Phil Amsterdam, an owner of the Curry Mansion Inn, 511 Caroline St. at Duval.

Amsterdam expects things to pick up in a couple of weeks.

“The phones are ringing,” he said. “People are booking for July and August.”

Alexander’s Guesthouse, 1118 Fleming St., another Old Town lodging establishment, decided to reopen on Thursday.

“We do have lots of reservations coming in,” said general manager Laura Zequeira. “We’re only 17 rooms so we’re keeping four shut off. We’re sold out at that point.”

A plexiglass barrier is up at the front desk and sanitizing stations have been strategically installed, she said. Alexander’s rooms are spread out, not cloistered together like big hotels, she said, so that’s why they are reopening at greater than 50 percent room occupancy.

Except for the lobby, guests congregate outside on the deck and poolside.

And Alexander’s has a Key West-style take on social distancing.

“We’re going to have a sign that says, ‘Remember to keep a six-foot rainbow between you and others,’ ” Zequeira said.

All of the original staff is back except for one employee who didn’t want to return because of health concerns, Zequeira said.

”We were handing out money during the time we were closed so people could buy food,” she said. “Everybody is excited to reopen.”

In the Middle Keys, the fishing bridges along U.S. 1 were once again occupied by day trippers from the mainland hoping to bring back some snapper for dinner.

Before the COVID-19 crisis, Tony Williams drove to the Long Key Bridge to fish a few times a week. He was relieved Monday to be able to come back.

“Lord, I couldn’t wait for them to open back up,” Williams said as he loaded his fishing gear back into his car.

This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 12:31 PM.