Lignumvitae Key: A Lost Tropical Jungle in the Florida Keys
Reachable only by boat, this small island off Islamorada preserves one of the last virgin tropical hardwood forests in the United States, a glimpse of the Keys before development.
-
-
Mangrove Tunnels: Paddling Through Florida’s Living Green Cathedrals
Red mangrove prop roots arch overhead, filtering the sunlight into a green glow while herons stalk the shallows below your kayak. Florida’s mangrove tunnels are some of the most magical paddling experiences on Earth, and they exist nowhere else in the continental U.S.
-
The Key Deer: Florida’s Tiny Island Deer That Came Back from 25
The smallest white-tailed deer in North America lives only in the Florida Keys, and by the 1950s just 25 survived. Here’s how Big Pine Key’s tiny deer fought their way back.
-
Key Largo: The Hurricane Noir That Locked Bogart in a Florida Keys Hotel
Bogart, Bacall, a gangster, and a hurricane collide in a Florida Keys hotel. John Huston’s 1948 noir is tense, sweaty, and impossible to look away from.
-
Jimmy Buffett: The Key West Troubadour Who Turned a Song into a Way of Life
How a drifting songwriter found paradise in the Florida Keys and built Margaritaville into a billion-dollar celebration of island living.
-
Flipper: The Beloved Dolphin Show That Put the Florida Keys on the Map
In 1963, a low-budget film shot in Grassy Key turned a trained dolphin named Mitzi into a star and made the Florida Keys synonymous with dolphins, turquoise water, and barefoot adventure.
-
John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park: America’s First Underwater Park Is Still the Best
In 1963, Florida created America’s first underwater park off Key Largo. John Pennekamp protects 70 square miles of living coral reef, 650 species of fish, and a bronze statue standing on the ocean floor.
-
Bahia Honda: The Florida Keys Beach That Keeps Landing on Every Best-Of List
The Keys aren’t known for beaches, but Bahia Honda is the stunning exception: natural sand, turquoise water, and the ruins of Flagler’s railroad bridge framing the whole scene.
-
Lobster Mini-Season: Florida’s Wild 48-Hour Bug Hunt in the Keys
Every July, Florida opens a 48-hour window for recreational divers to hunt spiny lobster before the commercial season begins. Tens of thousands descend on the Keys for two days of beautiful madness, sunburn, and coolers full of bugs.
-
The Florida Reef: The Third-Largest Barrier Reef on Earth Is Hiding Just Off the Keys
Most people think of Australia when they hear barrier reef. But Florida has one too, stretching 360 miles along the Keys. It is the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States.
