The Florida Keys

We made the long trip south west from Miami to the Florida Keys, and to the very end at Key West. It was worth the effort, even though you have to come back exactly the same way, something which we are normally philosophically opposed to. The Keys are unbelievably beautiful, although possibly developed beyond their capacity. They consist of 700 islands, according to the guide books, many of which are linked together by the southermost part of Route US1 (a pretty good road) and dozens of bridges, many large, and one seven miles long.

As you pass down US1, the major towns are Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon and then Key West, with plenty of lesser towns in between. You can see the Gulf of Mexico on the right, and the Atlantic Ocean on the left. Lots of the Keys are reserved as State Parks, thank heavens, but where developed, there are whole suburbs of beautiful waterfront houses, and many very cute marinas. The crystal blue water on both sides is a haven for all forms of recreation, boating, sailing, fishing, kayaking and diving. It's just like paradise, but maybe a bit too crowded. US1 is just a two lane road much of the way, and it's steady heavy traffic in both directions.

Stunningly, the Atlantic coast of the Keys was quite calm during our visit, and judging from the look of buildings and seawalls etc, it is calm most of the time. Maybe it is protected by some offshore reef, but we were quite surprised to see a total lack of surf on this ocean side.

The "African Queen", the boat which starred in the movie of the same name, is in the marina at Key Largo. It seems to be available for cruises, but it doesn't look very seaworthy to us.

Key West itself is a very pleasant town which effectively fills up its island. There are streets and streets of historic and beautiful old wooden houses, some very grand (such as Ernest Hemingway's old house, and the "little White House" used by quite a string of US Presidents). There are also some very beautiful public buildings, such as the old Customs House [photo].

Key West proves to be the epitome with Florida's contact with the Cuba and the West Indies. The town seems to have a lot of Caribbean people and culture, voodoo and the works! We ate one night at Kelly's, a very nice restaurant (in Pan Am's original offices, apparently) which supposedly specialises in exotic islander tastes (but not that much on the menu reflecting this, and our waiter didn't know much about it either, he came from Argentina).

Key West is only 90 miles from Cuba, and is the southermost point in the continental USA (even though it's actually not on the mainland). A marker to this effect is a popular tourist attraction [photo]. Key West developed and grew at least partly because of the profits from "wrecking", the salvage of valuables from the numerous shipwrecks in the area: there an excellent sculpture commemorating this.

During our visit, Key West was hosting a major sail race week, so the town is full of yachties who seem to know how to enjoy themselves in the bars and restaurants in the evening. Luckily, a sponsor of this event was a Barbados rum company, so cheap Caribbean cocktails were available all over town.

The port area of Key West is very beautiful, being next door to the little White House area, and enjoying a marvellous redevelopment by a resort hotel, and an interesting market area. While we were there, there were two cruise liners disgorging their guests into the town for a day visit. We noted an exquisite luxury yacht from the George Town in the Cayman Islands, "Meteor", moored in the marina. The older part of the marina is more down to earth, and features many rustic restaurants and bars. The last photo shows a developed island off Key West, as seen through the ropes of a moored cruise ship.