The Pirate Soul Museum in Key West is owned by Pat Croce, former owner of NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, and is delightfully curated, featuring items from Croce’s own collection (a real treasure chest, a real pirate flag), as well as doubloons and pieces of eight and torturous instruments of various kinds and the back stories on real, true pirates (Blackbeard’s entire career was only 18 months long, and he was uggggggly…).
Fun for adults and spectacular for grandchildren, for whom pirates have subsumed dinosaurs. And best of all, it’s convenient to the new Beachside, the finest multigenerational resort to come along in a while. We lounged by the elegant pool in wide, comfy chaises (many in thatched side shelters) close to a snack-and-full-bar service; we lived in “kitchenette” suites with oversized furniture into which we could have sunk for a year or so, and we moved languorously for refreshments from a sub-zero refrigerator.
Among the Beachside’s amenities is Key West itself — the wild and crazy town up-island with bars open until 4 a.m. for the parents to party and remember why they fell in love while we get to stay Beachside and play with our grandchildren in the shallow end of the pool or on the resort’s private Gulf of Mexico beach, seemingly designed for toddlers with sand buckets. We won’t even mention the five-star level of food available in the resort’s restaurant but to say it was completely incompatible with looking good in a bathing suit after a second day of feasting.