After leaving the everglades, we headed south and down towards the Florida Keys. The Keys are a 113 mile long archipelago of coral and limestone islands that are connected by 42 bridges until you reach the final island which holds the town of Key West and is the southernmost point in the United States. This is Jimmy Buffet world. It’s a world of year round sunshine, beautiful blue/green clear warm water, gentle breezes, yachts, sailboats, and fishing. Life slows down here with a sort of “island time” taking hold of you. It’s easy to spend the day sitting in a chair with a drink in your hand, taking in the warmth and mesmerizing vistas. It’s touristy though and more so at this time of the year as thousands of snowbirds escape the frozen north and descend on this tropical paradise to get a reprieve from the winter. Our first stop was Key Largo, which is up at the beginning of the Keys. It was really just a way station for us so we didn’t have to bang out the whole drive in one clip. We stocked up on groceries, got much needed haircuts (really good ones), organized and cleaned the RV and settled down for our Valentines Day dinner of lobster tails and wine. It was a beautiful evening. Key Largo was crowded and had lots of traffic and I was glad to hit the road the next morning. Although its only 113 miles to Key West, much of that is one lane in each direction and the traffic can be stifling. Heading down through the Keys treated us to continuous views of the beautiful gulf waters to the right and the Atlantic to the left. It was amazing how close the water level was to the road and it’s easy to see how storms can swallow up much of the Keys with flooding. Even now, there are projects underway to try and raise the road levels as the oceans continue to rise and threaten these islands even when there isn’t a storm brewing. We passed through towns like Marathon, which is a town in the Keys which took much of the brunt of Irene when it passed through. Many of the homes are gone and there was still much evidence of the devastation that took place a couple of years ago. Many lots have had their destroyed homes removed and some still sit there in a condemned state. After two and a half hours, we reached the end of the Keys. Actually, our campground was on the small island just before Key West called Stock Island. It was only a few minutes across the bridge from Key West so our scooter became our main means of transportation for the 5 days we were there. Our campsite was literally right on the water and provided beautiful views of the bay accented by ocean breezes. We were extremely fortunate to get the site as we have traveled our entire journey so far with flexibility in mind and have not made any reservations in advance. We weren’t however, smart enough to realize that that doesn’t work in Florida at this time of the year as the snowbirds make reservations for their southern hiatus months in advance and campgrounds are fully booked for three month stretches. The Gods were smiling on us though as a cancellation opened up and we were able to secure a highly sought after site during prime time!

I expected Key West to be a tourist mob scene and one that would leave me wishing I was here thirty years ago when it was still unspoiled but I was pleasantly surprised. It’s not that there weren’t a lot of tourists, it’s just that there are so many places to go on the island that you can find plenty of beautiful spots without them. We enjoyed a number of outstanding restaurants and of course the obligatory stop at Sloppy Joes, which even on a Sunday afternoon was packed with revelers and live music. Duval Street was a tourist logjam so after leaving Sloppy Joes, we headed a block south and took a seat at the Hogs Breaths outdoor bar. We enjoyed some delicious though expensive Stone Crab claws and listened to an outstanding musician play for a couple of hours. We also enjoyed a tour of Ernest Hemmingway’s estate which was really worth the visit.

The highlight of the trip to Key West though was our trip out to Dry Tortuga National Park. The islands were named by the Spanish because there isn’t any fresh water on them (dry), and, when they discovered them there were hundreds of turtles (Tortuga) which they captured and ate. These small islands are located approximately 70 miles west of Key West out in the gulf and the only way of getting there is by the National Park ferry, a private boat, or a seaplane. We took the ferry. The ferry is actually a large catamaran style boat which was modern and comfortable. Our ferry fee also included a nice buffet breakfast as well as a lunch and the two hour trip out included talks by the crew about the history of Fort Jefferson, (located on the island), as well the importance of the Louisiana Purchase and why you would build a fort so far from the gulf coast if you wanted to protect your shipping interests going into New Orleans. Fort Jefferson is the key landmark in Dry Tortugas, and it is the largest brick structure in the United States taking over 16 million bricks to build it. It used to be the largest brick structure in the world, and it was at the time it was built, but the rangers said it was now only the third largest in the world. He didn’t know who had knocked it from its perch though. The pentagon shaped fort is huge and is surrounded by a water filled moat in addition to the ocean. It was armed with an array of cannons and it’s construction was completed sometime around the civil war. The layout of the few islands that make up the park provides it with a well protected bay that is a safe haven for boats in bad weather. If you are a boat that is passing through the gulf, this bay is pretty much the only location outside of the coast that provides you with a spot to sit out a storm. That was one reason for building the fort here. The other is that if you were a boat that was passing through the gulf and heading towards New Orleans with “bad intentions”, you would not be able to travel along the coast because of all the deadly coral reefs along it. All of the shipwrecks along the coast are a testament to those reefs. Those waters are fine for small boats with little drafts, but large boats have to travel the coast further out at sea and that brings them well within range of Fort Jefferson. Building the fort was a massive undertaking and yet in spite of its location and fire power, it never saw any action. After the Civil War, it was used as a penal colony and at one point held the doctor who had treated John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, who a few years later was pardoned and left.

We were provided with free snorkeling gear while at the island and were able to swim in the beautiful waters that surround the islands. On this particular day however, there weren’t many fish and the waters were somewhat stirred up which limited visibility. That was somewhat of a disappointment. Swimming in the warm waters on a sunny day however was delightful! We had an opportunity to walk around the fort and along the 3 story upper walls which provided beautiful vistas of the waters and the harbor. The outer island was also a nesting location for thousands of migrating Terns as well as hundreds of Frigate Birds. The Frigates are really quite incredible birds. Their up to 8 foot wingspans relative to their body length of about 2 feet is a record in the bird world. Those incredible wings allow them to soar for up to months at a time over the open ocean. They have short legs with small feet which make them quite awkward on land and their unusual feathers which aren’t water proof prevent them from landing on the water less they get saturated, causing them to sink and drown. Their long beaks allow them to snatch fish off the surface of the water. Here on the dry Tortugas they use a different strategy for eating. They harass the migrating Terns in the air so much that the Terns get stressed out and vomit the fish they have eaten. The Frigates may catch it then in mid air, or scoop it off the water. Clever! You can tell the sexes of the Frigates apart as the males are black and have a large red pouch under their neck that they inflate in order to attract females. The females don’t have a pouch and instead have a white breast. All of the Keys as well as the Dry Tortugas are inhabited by small lizards and among them are Anoles. I didn’t see any Iguanas there but they are common throughout the rest of the Keys.

It’s no wonder that there is a massive migration of humans from the north to come here in the winter as between the warmth, sun, blue skies, and warm, inviting waters, you could hardly pick a better place. I also got to celebrate my birthday here with a sunset on the bay in Key West and then an excellent seafood dinner with my best friend and mate, Laurie. The Keys are a great destination, probably any time of the year, but mid February was perfect timing for us. Just make your reservations well in advance before heading to Buffet country.