Key West is a small town and a true melting pot. With only 25, full-time residents, people from across the country and the world have made Key West home. Running four miles long and about two miles wide at its widest, Key West is a small island. The popular Old Town makes up about half of this area. The last week of October in Key West is the Fantasy Fest celebration, a raucous party that takes over the island in a swirl of glitter, beads and costumes that dare to bear, culminating in a Saturday night parade.
The name Key West is actually a misnomer. Spanish settlers originally called Key West Cayo Hueso, which translates to bone island, referring to the bones of the Calusa Indians who had once lived in the Florida Keys.
English speakers mistook Cayo Hueso, thinking it sounded like Key West and the name stuck. Key West is not the western-most key. Key West is often referred to as the Conch Republic. This proved to be a major inconvenience to tourists trying to access the island. Today, the Conch Republic Independence Celebration takes place every April with tongue-in-cheek celebrations and parties. While key lime pie is abundant in Key West, key limes are no longer harvested in the Florida Keys.
These sweet and tangy limes are imported from Mexico, India and the West Indies. Sunset Key, which is now home to luxury homes and a resort, as well as neighboring uninhabited Christmas Tree Island are man-made islands constructed by the US Navy.
Learn More - iformation. Close X. Skip to content. I was a bit nervous! We love a USA road trip, hubby and I. Tip: look for cheaper deals on flights into other Florida airports than Miami.
For example you can drive from Orlando to Key West in about 6. Or Fort Lauderdale to Key West in about four hours.. I would have loved to stay longer as two nights in Key West was barely enough time, but if you just want to pop down for a weekend, this Miami to Key West drive will give you a few ideas of what to do down here.
The Florida Keys stretch km miles from Miami to Key West and the islands or keys are linked by a series of bridges, the overseas highway! These engineering wonders of concrete snake across the Atlantic ocean between mangroves, swooping from sea level to sky, and each key is a little different to the last.
As I mentioned earlier, the road to Key West is only one or two-lanes most of the way, so it can be slow going if you get behind some numpty who never checks their rear view mirror, or worse, get caught up in a queue of traffic because of an accident or a break down.
Hence staying closer to Miami the night before our flight. However neither of those situations befell us and we tootled down easily from Miami to Key West and back again. Second stop: then we had lunch in the fishing village of Marathon.
I wrote this post on things to do in a weekend in Miami that includes catching a baseball game and heading down to the Florida Everglades where we fed chicken parts to alligators not even kidding.
But this time we stayed at the YVE Hotel in downtown Miami as we flew in late and wanted to hit the road early the next day. It was ideal for our one-night stopover. And oh the people watching! If you have time, I loved our visit to the Miami Everglades national park where we got to feed the nashing, grunting alligators!
As part of my research of things to do and see on our Florida Keys road trip, I came upon the topic of the lion fish and the monstrous eco disaster that this very pretty, small, yet venomous, aquarium fish is wreaking on the marine life of the Keys, the Gulf of Mexico and all the way down to South America. We did blink and had to pull off at the next slip road to cross over Highway 1 and come back up again.
You may know that Key Largo is home to the quirky Jules Undersea Hotel where you need to don a wetsuit to get to your room and spend the night sleeping underwater which would freak me out! In fact all of the Keys are famous for fishing, diving and snorkeling but they are also surrounded by mangroves so while ocean sports are easy to come by, so too are kayaking and bird watching. Tip: Sunsets are something to make time to celebrate on the Florida Keys, so head Gulf side each evening for a cocktail with a view at any of the restaurants or bars around the little marinas or beaches.
But what makes it unique is that they serve up lionfish as sushi — and use the head and tail for presentation. First stop: the Key West Aquarium. Originally built as an open-air aquarium in the s, it is one of the oldest aquariums in Florida.
Home to a variety of native sea creatures, visitors can get a good view of sea turtles, tropical fish, sharks, and alligators. This aquarium is fairly small, and only took us about an hour to see everything. Educational talks and feedings occur every 30 minutes. He especially liked being able to feed the stingrays and sharks. Younger kids will like the touch tanks and craft table. Across from the Key West Aquarium is the Shipwreck Treasure Museum, which takes visitors back to the mids, the era of the wreckers.
The Shipwreck Treasure Museum combines actors, films, and the actual artifacts from the wrecked vessel Isaac Allerton, which sank in in the Florida Keys. For older teens and the truly daring, make sure you borrow an electromagnetic meter from the tour guide to detect the presence of ghosts.
With its tropical warm waters and some of the most amazing coral reefs in Florida, Key West is prime for snorkeling, jet skiing, parasailing, and other ocean adventures. Teens love being active, and this is an ideal option for the whole family.
There are several tour companies that offer fishing and watersport excursions in Key West. We did a combo sailing and snorkeling tour with Sebago Watersports.
If you prefer more action, you can request their Power Adventure excursion, with snorkeling, jet skiing, parasailing, kayaking, and paddle boarding. All tours provide food and drinks, and their staff is very attentive and friendly. Located about 70 miles from Key West, the cluster of seven small islands is only accessible by boat or seaplane.
The park is home to a wide range of tropical birds, marine life, coral reefs, and Fort Jefferson, which is surrounded by a moat and was formerly used as a prison during the Civil War. Guided tours are available. When you return to shore spend some time at Mallory Square. This tradition began in the s, and the celebration still takes place every day. You must be logged in to view this item. This area is reserved for members of the news media.
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