We stayed in the Duck Key Villas at Hawk's Cay, which was beautiful. It was extremely well-maintained, very clean, gorgeous and very spacious. Great for a family with 2 young boys! Being on the water in the Marina was really fun, and having some open space to walk and run around was fantastic. The resort itself is amazing. There is SO much to do for families. The Indies Club is really fun (we did not leave our kids in the kids club, but used the amenities as a family), and all of the pool options throughout the resort helped us not be bored. The lagoon is a great place for sand play and kayaking as well. The restaurants are delicious and the service in every area of the resort is exceptional. Everyone is SO friendly and very helpful. We will absolutely be back. It's very clear that they are working hard to ensure everyone has an amazing time.

I took my 14 year old and three friends to stay at a villa for the weekend. It was well turned out, clean, had a jacuzzi and enough room for the weekend. However, the two bedrooms/two baths would be a bit crowded for a week.. The Resort has a main complex with a beautiful view of the Bay, a small (very) lagoon where kids can kayak or ride a board ($20 and $10 for 1/2 hour) ; get their hair braided, tie dye t-shirts ($30)or even next to the lagoon, play or swim with the dolphins ($155 for less than one hour with like 10 minutes of swim time or $60 to be dockside). The main pool is just a lovely regular pool, but the fun thing is that they employ really nice people to work with the kids (including adult kids) to put on relay races or treasure hunts. My 4 teens had a lot of fun playing by themselves or participating in the competitions. In addition, there is the Indies Club which has again really nice people employed to supervise and play with the kids. There is a basketball court outside, a Pirate's Kiddie Pool for the under 12 crowd (although my crew were allowed to play at the end of the day when the little ones had departed) , another warmer pool and lots of games inside. They have a market to buy very overpriced food if you want to cook in the villas which you might want to do as the restaurants are pricey although we ordered two pizzas which at $13 apiece were good and not unreasonable as well as sufficient for the table with an appetizer. There is a lot of walking to do if you stay in the villas, but transportation is there if you call. I think that there are 6 pools in total with a great gym, tennis courts and a spa.

Altogether, it was a nice weekend, but not too inexpensive. I have stayed regularly at Disney Resort hotels which are probably comparable pricewise and do not have as much to do at the resorts in so far as activities outside of Disney parks.

Stay in the Sunset Village at Hawks Cay. There are some other options that are "upgrades" in terms of cost, but the views, water access is best at the Sunset Villages. Plus, pool right outside. Clean, well cared for, full kitchen with granite, 3 tv's, 4 porches,etc... I have been everywhere and this is by far my favorite place. Make sure to rent through the resort or you won't get access to the spa, fitness area, kids area, pools, etc...The resort is absolutely top of the line.

We stayed in the Marina Villas July 2-5th. The resort is very nice. The good was that we arrived at 7am and our villa was available. The villa was very nice overlookjng the marina, which was nice. The villa was very spacious w/2 bedrooms and a upper and lower deck and 2.5 baths. The problem was that everytime you set any kind of food or drinks out , there were swarms of little nat like bugs that appeared probably from little cracks. We didn't eat anything in the villa after that. The main pool was very nice. The saltwater lagoon was great. The one problem was that they use a cashless system so everything gets charged to your room. They put a large hold on your credit card on top of the 200 per night I knews about. We were only there 2 nights and still had a week of vacation in Orlando and the money wasn't released until we came home. Just be aware of this. There is not much to do outside of the resort unless you visit a beach or go to key west. Everything is very expensive. The place is nice, but I am not sure I would stay again.