Crafted in Key West Typically Means No Breaking Waves
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Keys TravelerThe Magazine The Keys’ Local Experience Keys Paddleboarding Film Festival Fun Athletic Vacations fla-keys.com Keys Beaches ANDY NEWMAN ANDY NEWMAN 10 Keys Traveler The Magazine 15 Editor Andy Newman Managing Editor Carol Shaughnessy Copy Editor Buck Banks Writers Make a Julie Botteri Briana Ciraulo Nicola Facchin splash Rob O’Neal “Keys Traveler” is published by the Monroe County Tourist Development at Keys Council, the official visitor marketing Contents agency for the Florida Keys & Key West. beaches Director 4 See the Keys like a local Harold Wheeler 8 Keys film fests showcase artistry and atmosphere Sombrero Beach in Marathon offers Director of Sales a wide expanse of sand and a Stacey Mitchell 10 Paddleboarding appeals to water enthusiasts number of park facilities. Florida Keys & Key West 12 Historic key embraces modern solar technology Visitor Information lorida Keys attractions provide visitors for Wetstock, a locals’ favorite on-the-water event filled www.fla-keys.com 13 Snorkeling is easy way to see Keys sanctuary opportunities to explore a rich environment filled with food, libations and music. www.fla-keys.co.uk 14 Monthly strolls spotlight Keys art and spirit with wooded hammocks and rainforest areas, but Several Florida State Park strands consistently are www.fla-keys.de F www.fla-keys.it 15 Keys lure athletic vacationers strolls along sandy beaches offer prime examples of voted among the nation’s best beaches. Popular spots www.fla-keys.ie 16 Where and when to fish for popular the island chain’s pristine beauty. include Cannon Beach and Far Beach at Key Largo’s www.fla-keys.fr Florida Keys game fish A small oceanside beach located at mile marker John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and the 1,200- www.fla-keys.nl (MM) 80, named Anne’s Beach and dedicated to foot beach at Marathon’s Curry Hammock State Park, www.fla-keys.be 18 Womenfest rocks Key West every September local environmentalist Anne Eaton, attracts waders recommended for sandcastle building. Toll-Free in the U.S. and Canada Little Palm Island ... An elegant Lower Keys escape 1-800-FLA-KEYS for 25 years and kiteboarders cruising along the shallows off In addition, pristine sandy expanses can be enjoyed For the free monthly Islamorada. Great views and scenic walkways please at Bahia Honda State Park, part of a 524-acre site “Keys Traveler” 19 Guy Harvey Outpost Resort debuts in Islamorada passersby and visiting families, and the shallow water located on Bahia Honda Key between MMs 36 and 37. electronic newsletter, Crafted in Key West typically means no breaking waves. Bathrooms and In Key West, popular beaches include Smathers subscribe at ‘Tweencation’ trips draw parents, preteens www.fla-keys.com/keystraveler picnic tables are available. Beach on the south end of the island and the Traveling tips to the Florida Keys ©2013 Monroe County Tourist 20 Sombrero Beach, located at the end of Sombrero oceanfront at Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park. Development Council Boulevard at MM 50 oceanside in Marathon, is a well- — Julie Botteri Printed in the U.S.A. What’s This? maintained Middle Keys gem. The free-access public BOB KRIST By Original Impressions park and beach features a kayak launch, volleyball The Florida Keys You’ll find this QR code & Key West accompanying many courts, children’s playground, shady picnic pavilions stories in this issue of equipped with cooking grills, freshwater showers, “Keys Traveler.” The QR restroom facilities and handicap access. twitter.com/thefloridakeys codes can be scanned In the Lower Keys, just off the ocean side of Little by most smartphones. Activate the app, aim your phone at the bar code and you’ll Palm Island and Summerland Key sits Picnic Island, a youtube.com/user/FloridaKeysTV be automatically taken to a corresponding popular spot for pulling up the boat for a day of playing website or video for more information. with kids and pets in the shallow water. During the For iPhones and iPads, QR readers can be Bahia Honda State Park in the Lower Keys was named among top downloaded free at the Apple App Store. “dog daze” of summer, boating revelers gather there 10 beaches in America by Stephen “Dr. Beach” Leatherman. keysvoices.com Cover photo of backcountry anglers at sunrise in Islamorada by Andy Newman and cottages with lights blossoming If you’re spending time in the MM 50, makes water access easy. in their windows and the luscious Lower Keys, you’ll probably explore Marathon-based outfitters offer scent of jasmine drifting from the backcountry shallows, a nature- rentals and trail maps for those flower-filled yards. Though I’ve done lover’s paradise. But for a weekend eager to explore on their own, as it hundreds of times, roaming those “sport” enjoyed by locals, head for well as escorted eco-tours through residential lanes at dusk still carries the Big Pine Flea Market at mile Sister Creek and the Boot Key a quiet magic. marker (MM) 30.2. Nature Preserve. Don’t forget your Speaking of favorites, a trip to the Open Saturdays and Sundays camera, since the quiet winding Hogfish Bar & Grill, a hard-to-find from October through July, the trails lead through mangrove hideaway on Stock Island just off outdoor market draws scores of forests alive with native birds like Key West, tops my list of treats. people searching for bargains. herons, egrets and cormorants. Most customers at the funky Friendly vendors raise pop-up And while the Keys are famous for locals’ watering hole sit outdoors at “stores” featuring everything from their blazing sunsets, many Middle weathered picnic tables overlooking nautical gear and lobster floats to Keys residents favor the sunrise. picturesque vessels moored at the semiprecious jewelry, comfortable For an unrivalled view, join early adjacent dock. Sample the world- T-shirts and sundresses. Exploring risers — some accompanied by class smoked-fish dip and fresh the lively marketplace has been a their dogs — strolling along the Old hogfish, a diver-caught fish with a Lower Keys tradition for more than Seven Mile Bridge over the Atlantic light flavor. 25 years, and the socializing is as Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. After eating, stroll down the dock, much fun as the “treasure hunting.” A historic landmark that parallels greet the resident dogs and cats, In the Middle Keys — a boating the modern bridge, the span was and discover offbeat sculptures by hotspot that’s home to the famed the centerpiece of the Florida Keys local artisans living and working in Seven Mile Bridge — downtime Over-Sea Railroad from 1912 to dockside lofts. This small haven means being on the water. Kayaking 1935. Today a 2.2-mile section for live-aboard houseboats and is a preferred pastime and a of it is open to pedestrians and sailboats is a true hidden gem. popular launch at Sombrero Beach, bicyclists. Karrie Carnes, left, and Jenni Franke enjoy their bicycle ride in Key West. Al Nelson and Lindsey Rader take a stroll along the dock near the Hogfish Bar & Grill. BySee Carol theShaughnessy Keys Lead likePhotographs a by Roblocal O’Neal wo days after arriving in the into longtime “locals” who create attitude is entirely different. Sit Florida Keys, as I strolled satisfying lives close to nature and down at a bar or coffee house in Talong the Gulf of Mexico far from the mundane pressures of the Keys and you might find yourself shore, the realization hit me: I had the “real world.” next to a local shopkeeper, dive found my home. This crescent of Surprisingly, you don’t have to instructor or second-generation subtropical islands, where blue- be a local to share some of the fishing guide who is happy to green water unrolled to the horizon elements that make Keys life so suggest activities and places to and palm trees rustled in the balmy happily addictive — as long as check out. February breeze, was where I you’re willing to explore, experience For example, I often encourage belonged. and embrace the unexpected visitors to try one of my favorite Key Forever. people, places and moments you West pastimes: biking or strolling Unlikely? Not encounter. through the Old Town neighborhood really. That sense of While many destinations as evening falls. Just off Duval absolute belonging encourage vacationers to stay Street, the island’s lively shopping has turned scores of in “tourist areas” removed from and dining center, you’ll pass Shaughnessy casual Keys visitors favorite local hangouts, the Keys’ lovingly restored Victorian homes 4 fla-keys.com • fla-keys.co.uk • fla-keys.it • fla-keys.de • fla-keys.ie • fla-keys.fr • fla-keys.nl • fla-keys.be Keys Traveler Keys Traveler fla-keys.com • fla-keys.co.uk • fla-keys.it • fla-keys.de • fla-keys.ie • fla-keys.fr • fla-keys.nl • fla-keys.be 5 Steve Bly the place. All dishes and sauces are homemade from scratch with Keys flair — and the “World … the turquoise waters Famous Key Lime Pie” sign is not an exaggeration. are a constant and Whatever you choose to do in the Florida Keys, necessary part however, make sure you indulge in plenty of water activities. For seasoned of life. Keys denizens, the turquoise waters are a constant and necessary part of life. Free time is often spent snorkeling the shallows, stalking gamefish in the backcountry, diving a starkly beautiful shipwreck Loren Rea casts to a site, lazing on a secluded bonefish as the sun beach or hitching a ride slips below the horizon off the Lower Keys. on a friend’s boat for an impromptu cruise.