First Time in The Florida Keys

We recently visited the Florida Keys for first time. This post is the first of a small series of posts regarding our visiting the Florida Keys in the latter half of July.

Wikipedia's description of the Florida Keys describes them as "a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States." I like the presentation of the maps of the Florida Keys that are available at fla-keys.com. From these maps, it is easy to see how the Florida Keys extend from "mainland Florida" through Key West on the southeast with the main areas being (in order from northeast to southwest) Key Largo, Islamorada (Isla Morada), Marathon, The Lower Keys, and Key West. Although we stayed in a rental home in Islamorada ("Village of Islands") that we found on VRBO, we had the opportunity to drive though each of these areas and to experience some activities in most of these areas.

Activities in the Florida Keys

We had hoped to snorkel the legendary reef off of the Florida Keys on each of the seven days we were there. Our hope had been to snorkel a different location along this long reef on each of the different days. Because we had 6 people in our party, we had the perfect party size for using private charters which typically allowed up to 6 passengers for the same fixed price as we'd have paid with fewer passengers. However, several of our charters had to cancel due to unusually brisk winds that we experienced during the week that made snorkeling far less than ideal for most of the days. Fortunately, the Florida Keys has much to offer and we found some nice alternatives for the days we could not snorkel the reef.

These are the activities we participated in during our week in the Florida Keys during the latter half of July. Each of these listed items will eventually link to a blog post with more details on that specific activity.

• Seaplane to Fort Jefferson at Dry Tortugas National Park for sightseeing and snorkeling (and Key West).
  • This was the one prescheduled excursion to snorkel the reef that we were able to do and it was fantastic.
• Florida Everglades
  • Not part of the Florida Keys, but easily drivable from Miami International Airport
• Kayaking the mangrove canopies near Robbie's of Islamorada
  • Also enjoyed key lime pie at The Hungry Tarpon and feeding the tarpons.
• Dolphin Research Center and "Meet the Dolphin" Program (Marathon)
• Theater of the Sea and "Swim with the Rays" Animal Interaction (Islamorada)
• Jet skiing through mangroves and bay near Robbie's of Islamorada
• Anne's Beach (Islamorada)
• Sailing the Blue Ice (Key West)
  • Also visited a few tourist-oriented sites in Key West.
• Turtle Hospital (Marathon)

Lodging in Islamorada for Week in Florida Keys

We used VRBO to rent a house in Islamorada for the week. This house is managed by Freewheeler Vacations and can be rented directly from their website as well. This house was perfect for our party of six and was a welcome home to return to each day after various outdoor activities.

The house features a nice kitchen, three bedrooms (master bedroom is very large), a large living area and dedicated TV/game room. The house is located on a small street off of US 1 (Overseas Highway), just south of Robbie's of Islamorada.

The views from this house and especially from its wrap-around decks is fanstastic.

Not only was the house itself fantastic, but our experience working with Freewheeler Vacations was also very positive. They provided contact-less key pickup and dropff and even called me about my options to purchase several types of house insurance to ensure that I really meant to purchase each policy. This discussion helped me save premimum money on insurance I did not need.

Getting to and Around the Florida Keys

There is an airport in the Florida Keys' most well-known city (Key West International Airport, "Gateway to the Florida Keys"), but it is about the same distance from our lodging choice in Islamoara as Miami is and we had more options flying into and out of Miami International Airport. Traversing between towns and cities in the Florida Keys is straightforward because US 1 ("Highway That Goes to the Sea") is really the only option from Key Largo in the north (Upper Keys) to Key West in the south (Lower Keys). Having just a single highway makes it easy to understand where one needs to go to travel between towns, but it can lead to congestion, especially in the southbound direction at the beginning of a weekend.

Driving along the scenic Overseas Highway is an attraction unto itself with dramatic bridges and views and with fun little towns along the way each with their own set of attractions and characteristics.