USA Guide
Florida
The Florida Keys
Folklore, films, and fiction have given the Florida Keys – a hundred-mile chain of islands that runs to within ninety miles of Cuba – an image of glamorous intrigue they don't really deserve; at least, not now that the go-go days of the cocaine cowboys in the 1980s are long gone. Rather, the Keys are an outdoor-lover's paradise, where fishing, snorkeling, and diving dominate. Terrific untainted natural areas include the Florida Reef, a great band of living coral just a few miles off the coast. But for many, the various keys are only stops on the way to Key West. Once the richest town in the US, and the final dot of North America before a thousand miles of ocean, Key West has vibrant, Caribbean-style streets with plenty of convivial bars in which to while away the hours, watching the spectacular sunsets.
Wherever you are on the Keys, you'll experience distinctive cuisine, served for the most part in funky little shacks where the food is fresh and the atmosphere laid-back. Conch, a rich meaty mollusk, is a specialty, served in chowders and fritters. There's also key lime pie, a delicate, creamy concoction of special Key limes and condensed milk, that bears little resemblance to the lurid green imposter pies served in the rest of the US.
Getting around the Keys could hardly be easier. There's just one route all the way through to Key West: the Overseas Highway (US-1). The road is punctuated by mile markers (MM), starting with MM127 just south of Miami and finishing with MM0 in Key West, at the corner of Whitehead and Fleming streets. As per Keys convention, addresses are given by the closest mile marker, along with the appellation of either "Oceanside" or "Bayside," depending on whether the place in question faces the Atlantic Ocean or Florida Bay.