Jeff Klinkenberg Richie Moretti, the famous sea turtle man, is one of the great environmental heroes of the Florida Keys. More than three decades ago the Volkswagen repairman moved to Marathon in the Central Keys to run a little motel and to do some fishing. He fished for mahi mahi and tarpon and…
Read MoreJeff Klinkenberg A rooster crows in the distance. A palm tree sways. A tourist hands me his camera in front of a concrete marker on the corner of Whitehead and South Streets. For the record, I am taking the photograph at 24 degrees 33 minutes north latitude and 81 degrees 45 minutes – it’s…
Read MoreJeff Klinkenberg Writers have always loved the Keys, none more famous than Ernest Hemingway, who bought a beautiful Spanish colonial home at 907 Whitehead Street in 1931 and stayed eight years. It’s a major tourist destination. I always go. I like to walk around the tropical gardens and imagine…
Read MoreJeff Klinkenberg Kneel on the dock. Hold the minnow just over the surface of the water. Keep your eyes open. Something silver and gray emerges from the depths under you. Gad, it’s six feet long. Gad, its silver-dollar sized eyes are focused on that minnow grasped by your puny hand. If you want…
Read MoreJeff Klinkenberg No need to be scared. Go ahead and drive over the Seven Mile Bridge. It’s modern now. Finished in 1982, the longest bridge in the Florida Keys is wide enough to give a motorist room to pull over to change a flat tire and steal many glances at the perfectly green water. The…
Read MoreBy Lauren Tjaden A National Park and a national treasure, Dry Tortugas promises a remote tropical paradise, a symphony of private beaches, crystalline waters and turquoise fish. Dominated by Fort Jefferson, the largest brick building in the western hemisphere, the park invites you ditch your…
Read More
By Kara Franker There's never a shortage of spectacular things to do in The Florida Keys. October, though, is a particularly full month for Florida Keys events, featuring everything from the Key Largo Song Fest to Key West's Fantasy Fest. Check out this list of events in and around the Florida…
Read More
By VISIT FLORIDA staff The Florida Keys are a chain of barrier islands extending off the southern tip of Florida in warm, tropical waters. Though the Keys don't boast the wide, expansive stretches of beach that other parts of the state are famous for, there is an abundance of small, sandy beaches…
Read More
Jeff Klinkenberg My dad was a piano player in Key West when I was a small boy. During the day, we fished. That’s how the Keys got into my blood, through the snapper, grunt and grouper. They were wild and beautiful and pulled hard on your line. They fascinated me. When I got older, and we lived in…
Read More
The “Tour to Land’s End” isn’t yet complete. But even a partial passage along this Florida biking trail is more than worthwhile. By Herb Hiller Today, completed sections of the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail chiefly attract locals with shopping baskets on fat-tire bikes they pedal to nearby…
Read More
