Usually when you start talking about the weather, it means you’ve run out of ideas. Except when it comes to the Florida Keys, one of the few spots in the country where summer made a permanent stop.
It might be the southernmost region in the continental U.S., but the Keys’ climate is not the nation’s hottest by any means. In summer, temperatures are held in check by ocean breezes coming off the Atlantic Ocean, Florida Bay and Gulf of Mexico, while subtropical winters are mild. (Just don’t be surprised when you see the locals bundled up against temperatures in the upper 60s.)
If it sounds like paradise, you’re close. Closer, in fact, than you realize, as the Keys are just an hour’s drive south of Miami.
“It feels like the Caribbean, except you don’t have to deal with customs or clearance or passports,” says Jack Meier, destination sales manager for the Florida Keys & Key West, the promotional brand of the Monroe County Tourist Development Council. “You’ve gone as far as you can without going offshore, yet you’re in an entirely different world.”
It’s a world of diving, snorkeling, fishing, boating, eco-touring, golfing, shopping, and seafood feasting, along with historical attractions that remind you the Keys are very much a part of the U.S., and in fact were a strategic stronghold during more than a few military skirmishes.
While the only skirmishes today might take place outside a pub along Key West’s Duval Street, the Florida Keys are probably the most laid-back place you’ll ever visit outside the Caribbean, which is one reason they’re so popular among meeting and incentive groups, Meier says.
“Attendance is always so much stronger when [planners] pick the Keys,” Meier says. “You always see a spike. It’s that desirable a destination.”
Made up of hundreds of coral reef and limestone islands—some large enough to sustain entire cities, others nothing more than small mangrove islets—the Keys head off the Florida mainland in a southwesterly direction and are bisected by one major road, the Overseas Highway, which is literally the only way in or out (unless you fly into Key West).
But it’s such an incredible drive—over bridges and past marinas and mangroves, with seabirds soaring overhead—that getting there is almost as good as being there in the Florida Keys. One thing you’ll notice along the drive are the mile markers (MM), the guideposts that serve as local addresses along the Overseas Highway; they run in descending order from MM 126 south of Florida City and end at MM 0 at the corner of Whitehead and Fleming in Key West, a countdown to something special and unexpected at the end of the road.
Upper Keys
First and longest of the Keys is Key Largo (MM 106-91), bordered on the west by Florida Bay and the “backcountry” of Everglades National Park, and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream.
Key Largo gained a romantic aura when it was featured in the 1947 movie classic of the same name, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, and the bar that was featured in a number of the movie’s scenes, the Caribbean Club, is still open.
Today, though, Key Largo is better known as the home of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the first underwater park in the U.S., whose 55 varieties of coral and 500 species of fish make for some of the best diving and snorkeling in the world. The park also offers sunset, eco and glass-bottom boat tours, nature trails, a beach, camping, and canoeing.
In addition to this and other attractions, including dolphin encounter facilities and an underwater hotel, Key Largo welcomes meetings and conventions at resort-based facilities that are among the islands’ largest, including Ocean Reef Club, offering 30,000 square feet of meeting space in a variety of settings; the Marriott Key Largo Bay Beach Resort, where 15,000 square feet of function space includes a waterfront conference center; and the Hilton Key Largo Beach Resort, offering 10,000 square feet of gathering space.
Following Key Largo is the group of islands known as Islamorada (MM 91-65), or “purple isles,” a name bestowed by the Spanish who were enamored with the islands’ violet sea snails and purple bougainvillea flowers. Encompassing Plantation, Windley, Upper and Lower Matecumbe keys, and Long Key, Islamorada is known as the “Sportfishing Capital of the World,” and it’s no mere boast. Ernest Hemingway, Zane Grey and Harry Truman all fished Islamorada’s waters, and today the area claims the Keys’ largest fleet of offshore charter boats and shallow-water backcountry boats.
Islamorada is also home to some great reef and wreck diving as well as tennis facilities, bicycle trails, dolphin-themed attractions, and a state park—the Long Key State Recreation Area—that features camping, canoeing, nature trails, a beach, and picnic grounds.
Groups staying in the “purple isles” can consider the Cheeca Lodge & Spa, a self-contained oasis of tiki-lined beaches, a Tahitian-style lagoon, a soothing spa, and a 4,000-square-foot conference center.
Middle and Lower Keys
Next along the Overseas Highway are the Middle Keys, or the Islands of Marathon (MM 63-47), made up of Duck Key, Vaca Key and Grassy Key, among others; and as their name suggests, this midpoint of the island chain is an hour’s drive from both Key West and Key Largo. With protected Sombrero Reef lying a few miles offshore, the Middle Keys brim with activities, from abundant water sports and mysterious hardwood hammocks to golf, tennis, theater, and dining.
Duck Key, meanwhile, is home to one of the Keys’ most comprehensive meeting centers, Hawk’s Cay Resort, offering a variety of accommodations—including hotel rooms and villas—along with 25,000 square feet of meeting space and a host of group activities ranging from dolphin interaction programs to private boat charters and wakeboarding lessons.
The Seven Mile Bridge separates the Middle Keys from the Lower Keys (MM 40-5), which lead off with Sunshine Key and end at Stock Island. Known as the “Natural Keys,” the Lower Keys are home to a number of wildlife areas, including the National Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key, the offshore Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary, the Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge, and Bahia Honda State Park, featuring camping, picnicking, water sports and one of the top beaches in the country. Drive slowly or you might miss Perky’s Bat Tower on Lower Sugarloaf Key, built in 1929 for purposes of mosquito control before modern pesticides took over the job.
In the Lower Keys, small groups and incentive winners can escape from civilization altogether at Little Palm Island Resort off Little Torch Key. Accessible only by boat or seaplane, the private island resort offers thatched-roof bungalow accommodations and total seclusion.
Key West
At the end of the road, MM 4-0, another world begins in Key West, the country’s independent, irreverent subtropical paradise, whose balmy climate and anything-goes ambience have long provided a haven for writers, artists and other assorted free spirits. Closer to Cuba than the U.S. mainland, Key West is known as the southernmost city in the continental U.S., yet it has its own distinctive vibe—part tropical New Orleans, part old-time Florida, part laid-back beach retreat, part frontier town.
“Key West is a destination unto itself,” Meier declares. “The Upper Keys are great as far as resort destinations, but you get down to Key West and the whole city is your playground.”
Indeed with its compact size—roughly just four miles by two—your own two feet will suffice as vehicles to historical attractions, cultural activities, shopping, water sports, and that famous Key West nightlife, which includes the rough-and-tumble bars of Duval Street (“Hemingway Drank Here”), as well as incredibly diverse restaurants and activities ranging from ghost tours to clubbing, an activity offering “spirits” of its own.
Another fascinating aspect of Key West is its military legacy, spotlighted in a number of Civil War-era forts, including Fort Zachary Taylor on the island’s west side, East Martello Tower and West Martello Tower on the south shore, and Fort Jefferson, located 68 miles off Key West in the Dry Tortugas.
Not to be missed are the daily sunset celebrations at Mallory Square, featuring a street’s worth of performers such as flame swallowers, tightrope walkers, mimes, musicians, palm readers, and other characters, all celebrating the sun’s descent into the ocean.
Large compared to the other keys, Key West is also where you’ll find a variety of meeting facilities—all hotel or resort based—from intimate guest houses offering gracious parlor rooms for small group gatherings to full-service properties with extensive meeting space, including the Ocean Key Resort & Spa, the Doubletree Grand Key Resort, the Casa Marina Resort & Beach Club, the Westin Key West Resort & Marina, and the new Beachside Resort & Conference Center.
For More Info
Monroe County Tourist Development Council 305.296.1552
www.fla-keys.com
