This site last updated 01/2014
The Florida
Keys and Key West
have everything you need for
your
tropical island vacation -
scuba diving
snorkeling
sport
fishing
boating
sailing and other watersports
live
music
entertainment
comedy shows
island style cuisine
art
galleries
museums
dolphin encounters
nature trails
eco
tours
exotic bird watching
luxury accommodations
miles of beautiful
turquoise /
blue waters
the most awesome sunrises
and sunsets anywhere!
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What
are the Florida Keys?
The Florida Keys, also called the
“American Caribbean”, are made up of approximately 1,700 islands
most of
which are uninhabited. The islands, or Keys, that are populated are connected by 42
bridges
and stretch some 126 miles from the mainland to the last Key, Key
West.
The Florida Keys reef system is the only living coral barrier reef in North America and is the 3rd
largest coral
barrier reef in the world. The Florida Keys reef is located from 1 mile to 8 miles
offshore
and extends about 221 miles down the coast of South Florida and the
Florida Keys from Key
Biscayne (near Miami) to the Dry Tortugas, 70 miles west of Key
West. Because the reef protects the
shores of the Florida Keys from the Atlantic
surf, the Florida Keys have very few beaches and some
are man-made.
The
turquoise-blue waters surrounding the Florida Keys and Key West provide outstanding world-
class flats fishing, back country fishing, deep-sea fishing, scuba diving and
snorkeling, sailing and
other water related activities and makes the Florida Keys and Key West one of the
world’s most
popular vacation destinations.
The Florida Keys are located
between the Atlanta ocean and the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Bay
in the upper Florida
Keys and contains more species of fish than anywhere else in the Atlantic
making the
Florida Keys a Fisherman's Dream!! The warm gulf stream current runs just off the
coast
of the Florida Keys and creates a path for migrating species of fish. You
can catch a number of
different fish in every month of the year in the Florida
Keys.
Wherever you go fishing in the Florida Keys, you can use an array of different
fishing techniques, each
guaranteed to please any angler - novice or master.
Spend the day deep-sea fishing on one of the
three humps located off shore, spend
a half day offshore fishing aboard a party boat or if the seas are
rough or you'd just
rather have a more relaxing day, spend it in the back country flats fishing.
Scuba divers come from around the world to enjoy the Florida Keys reef
system. Since 1990, the
Florida Keys reef system has been protected by the
Florida Keys
National Marine Sanctuary.
Not only do we offer outstanding reef
diving, but the Florida Keys are
home to a wide variety of artificial
reefs for wreck diving.
Visit
our "About the Florida Keys" page and the "About Key
West" page to see very
interesting and
useful Chamber
of Commerce videos describing each
area of the Florida Keys and Key West. Other
videos are scattered through the
site, so enjoy!
This website was designed to give Internet users answers to most
often asked questions about the
Florida Keys and Key West and to assist future visitors
by providing more choices of lodgings, charter
boat
listings, scuba diving
shops, sport fishing
charters, etc., than any
other Florida Keys website for
tourism. We have gathered information from several
different sources for content for this site as well
as adding knowledge from our
personal experiences living in each area of the Florida Keys. We've
also placed
authentic photos taken in the Florida Keys and Key West throughout the
site and hope
you enjoy them!
We hope you find what you're looking for! If
not, email us and we'll try to get the answer for you.
Highway 1, also called the Overseas Highway, is the
only road connecting all
the islands together and connecting the islands to the
mainland. Because
everything is either to the right or to the left of the
Highway, we call one side
'Oceanside' and the other 'Bayside' or 'Gulf side' with the
exception of the
island of Key West because it is at the end of the string of islands.
Most of
the time when we describe where something is, we say Mile Marker and the
number. Mile Marker 0 starts the numbering and is in Key West.
We also
break the Florida Keys into three main sections - the Upper Keys,
the Middle Keys and
the Lower Keys. The Upper Keys is from MM 108 to 65
and is where Key Largo,
Tavernier, and Islamorada (the "Village of Islands")
are located. The Middle
Keys is from MM 64 to MM 40 and includes the city of
Marathon and the 7-mile bridge.
Then the Lower Keys is from MM 40 to 0
and includes Bahia Honda, Big Pine Key,
Key West and a few Keys in
between like Little Torch Key, Ramrod Key, Cudjoe Key and
Summerland
Key.
We’ve organized the Florida Keys accommodations (hotels, resorts, motels,
guesthouses, bed
& breakfast) by the area of the Florida Keys – Key Largo &
Islamorada
(the Upper Florida Keys area), Marathon (the Middle Florida
Keys area) and then Big
Pine Key (the Lower Florida Keys) and Key West.
We further separated Key West
accommodations by either resorts, hotels,
motels or bed and breakfast (questhouses).
Then sorted them in
alphabetical order.
We’ve organized the
Florida Keys scuba diving and snorkeling
charter
listings,
Florida Keys boat charters, Florida Keys real estate agent
listings,
Florida Keys restaurants and bars, Florida Keys boat rentals, Florida Keys
vacation
rentals by the area of the Florida
Keys – Key Largo & Islamorada
(the Upper Florida Keys area), Marathon (the
Middle Florida Keys area) and
then Big Pine Key and Key West (the Lower Florida Keys
and Key West
areas). Then sorted them in alphabetical order.
We’ve organized the Florida Keys charter fishing boat
listings by either
offshore fishing (deep sea fishing and light-tackle fishing) or flats fishing
(and back country fishing) and then by the area of the Florida Keys – Key
Largo & Islamorada (the Upper Florida Keys area), Marathon (the Middle
Florida Keys area) and then Big Pine Key and Key West (the Lower Florida
Keys
and Key West areas). Then sorted them in alphabetical order.
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