A Jet Ski Tour Around Key West, Florida

If you're looking for something to do in Key West, consider taking a jet ski tour. I did one through a company called Fury, which cost $129.95 per jet ski (you can go tandem for the same price) although they have a discounted price of $99.95 you manage to snag the first tour out at 8:30 am. You can also get a discount if you book online on http://www.furycat.com/mobile/jet-ski-tours.php

Too bad I didn't know beforehand!

When I rented jet skis in California they usually tell you can go around a small area of the ocean, which is fine for trying out jet skis. With this tour, though, they actually take you on a 28-mile loop around the island of Key West!

You take off along with about ten other jet skis, forming a well separated line, slow at first until you exit the marina. Then they will tell you that the minimum speed you should maintain is 30 mph and that the faster you go the easier it is to make tight turns. Those who want to go full throttle (that's 45 mph) go first behind the first guide.

For the first half of the tour you enter the Gulf of Mexico. The waves are smaller here, so the ride's not too bumpy. "This is easy", I thought! Until I entered the open ocean ...

Trying Hydrobikes in Long Beach

What's a hydrobike? Just like the name says, it's a bicycle you ride on water. Basically it's a bike propped on top of floats and instead of wheels the pedals connect to a little propeller in the back. You can rent hydrobikes in Long Beach from https://www.lbhydrobikes.com/for $20 per hour (as usual, I got a Groupon and the deal is still available for $10 an hour here) per person, and you can either get a single bike or a tandem.

It works just like a bike, except for turning on a tandem bike. To turn right on the tandem, instead of steering to the right, the one on the right stops pedaling while the one on the left pedal. 

They give you a map to tell you where to go for that one hour, which is around this inlet of Naples Island - a three-island neighborhood in Alamitos Bay. You will pass under five bridges and see some nice homes and boats, along with people kayaking, paddle boarding, and swimming.

Someone had a Bob's Big Boy statue next to his boat, nice!

It turned out to be quite a workout, though - pedaling through water wasn't all that easy! But, hey, a much better view than spin class. I even saw a seal on the way back, the little guy was playing near the beach!

Nice view, nice workout - not bad for $20.