Pilot House, Key West: Monique - May, 2005

We visited the Pilot House in Key West in the middle of May.  We do prefer the guesthouses over the motels/hotels/resorts in Key West.  This was our seventh trip and we have stayed at a different place each visit.  This was also our first time at any type of place that allowed some form of nudity.  The Pilot House is not a nudist resort or a clothing optional resort.  It is just a quaint guesthouse that gives you the option of being nude in/around the pool, hot tub, and lounge chairs.  Anywhere else within the compound you must cover up.  
 
The guesthouse has 8 rooms in the main house and a 6 room poolside cabana.  We stayed in one of the poolside cabanas.  Even though we are not nudists, it would have been nice to walk from our room to the pool nude.  But those are the rules, we knew the rules, so I am not complaining.
 
The Pilot House was full our entire stay, we stayed for a week.  I got the impression most visitors to Key West may not stay an entire week.  About half of guests who used the pool were nude.  Most of our visit there were between 2-4 couples at the pool at any one time.  It was never crowded.  Due to the trees, walls, and surrounding houses you had to move around as the day went on to continue to be in the sun.  This was not a problem at all.
 
The Pilot House is in a perfect location to visit Key West.  It is a short walk to everywhere and anywhere.  It is very clean, well kept, and the staff is very friendly.  I don't have any complaints about any of the places we have ever stayed in Key West, but this is our favorite.  We will definitely be back.  Most guesthouses serve some sort of breakfast and maybe an afternoon happy hour, the Pilot House does not.  This is not important to us.  The selling point was the clothing optional pool area.
 
If you are looking for anything more than a clothing optional pool area this place is probably not for you.  For us it was perfect.  I guess I like the idea of being seen by others as well as being nude.  In this type of facility you are around people who are not nude and that added to the "excitement" for me.  Weird I guess.
 
There website does not do it justice, I was pleasantly surprised with our stay.  Key West is a great place no matter where you stay, but the Pilot House definitely made our trip.
 
Monique