A Minted Location day guide
Dock & Dine in Upper Keys
Dock-and-dine in the Upper Keys follows the sun: the bayside is one long sunset row from Key Largo to the Matecumbes, and the docks that serve it range from a village marina to a tarpon-feeding legend. The verified welcomes below come from each venue's own site; the bayside landmarks that publish no dock are listed with exactly what their sites say.
The sunset row
Lorelei says it outright — arrive by boat, car or foot — and backs it with its own yacht basin behind the Cabana Bar, where the nightly Sunset Celebration is the village's living room. Up the road, Sundowners at MM 104 sends guests to its back dock for the view. The rest of the row runs on the landmark pattern: Snook's grand tiki, Marker 88's beach tables (the village-owned Plantation Yacht Harbor is the sourced tie-up a mile down), and Morada Bay's barefoot beach cafe with Pierre's upstairs — famous bayside rooms whose sites state no guest dock, so check local dockage options first. Islamorada Fish Company, the 1948 fish house at MM 81.5, keeps its waterside tables in the same landmark class — check local dockage options here too.
The working docks
Hungry Tarpon at Robbie's is the real thing — breakfast at 6:30 for the charter crowd, with the famous tarpon docks as the front porch and the rental fleet behind. At Whale Harbor, the SandBAR and Wahoo's stack dining decks over the channel where the sportfish fleet runs, with a 24/7 dock office holding the answers the websites don't.
The fuel-dock rule
Pilot House and Three Waters both pair published transient rates with fuel and food on the same property — in this stretch, the marina restaurant is usually the honest dock-and-dine, and the rate card is on the website.
Before you go
Snake Creek's bascule is the only bridge in the Keys that opens — everything else is fixed and low except Channel Five's 65 feet. Bayside approaches are thin and grassy: the seagrass advisory on the state parks' own pages is the local law, and a poled-off flat beats a propeller scar every time. Bigger plans than sunset? The form on this page reaches the brokers who run this water.
The stops, as their own docks describe them
| Spot | Where | Arriving by boat |
|---|---|---|
| Lorelei Restaurant & Cabana BarIslamorada's sunset institution — the nightly Sunset Celebration on Florida Bay, with the Islamorada Yacht Basin's docks steps from the tables. | Islamorada — MM 82 bayside | “Arrive by boat, car or foot” — its own yacht basin sits behind the bar |
| SundownersForty years of Florida Bay sunsets from the covered deck — the site sends guests to its back dock for the view, which tells you who it was built for. | Key Largo — MM 104 bayside | Its own back dock features on the site — dock rules unpublished, so hail ahead |
| Hungry Tarpon at Robbie'sBreakfast at 6:30 for the fishing crowd, the famous loaded Bloody Mary, and the tarpon rolling at the dock you tied to. | Lower Matecumbe — MM 77.5 bayside, at Robbie's Marina | At Robbie's working marina — the tarpon docks are the front porch |
| Snook's Bayside Restaurant & Grand TikiLive music nightly and every seat on the water, by its own description — the white-tablecloth end of Key Largo's bayside sunset row. | Key Largo — MM 99.5 bayside | Check local dockage options — waterfront on the bay, but its site states no guest dock |
| Marker 88Beach-table dining on the bay since 1967 — the historic special-occasion room of the Plantation Key shore. | Islamorada — MM 88 bayside | Check local dockage options — Plantation Yacht Harbor's village slips are a mile down |
| Morada Bay Beach Cafe & Pierre'sTwo rooms on one sand beach — the barefoot Beach Cafe and Pierre's upstairs polish — overlooking Florida Bay at sunset. | Islamorada — MM 81.6 bayside | Check local dockage options — a bayside beach, not a dock, fronts the tables |
| The SandBAR & Wahoo's at Whale HarborThe dining decks of the Whale Harbor charter complex, above the channel where the sportfish fleet clears the 12-foot fixed span daily. | Islamorada — MM 83.4 oceanside, Whale Harbor Channel | Check local dockage options — the marina's dock office runs 24/7, (305) 664-4511 |
| Islamorada Fish CompanyThe 1948 fish house reborn as Bass Pro's flagship restaurant — waterside tables and sunsets under the old name, a landmark of the MM 81.5 waterfront. | Islamorada — MM 81.5 bayside | Check local dockage options — “waterside outdoor seating,” per its own site, with no dockage statement |
Dockage notes are what each restaurant publishes on its own site — space is first-come and dinner-hour rafting is real, so hail ahead. Where a venue states nothing about docking, we say so rather than guess.
Planning more than lunch?
This run is our backyard — the same docks where we shortlist, survey and sea-trial boats for buyers. Tell us the mission and we'll tell you which boat, and which slip, it calls for.