"The Keys - Caribbean Paradise " a Florida Keys Travel Page by MikeAtSea

One of my biggest travel wishes became reality in January 2004 when I was able to do a ships visit in Key West. The offer of a plane ticket to Key West I turned down since I always wanted to drive the road down. And what a road it is!! The sunshine state offered the best weather and conditions for my exploration down South!

The Florida Keys is an archipelago of about 1700 islands in the southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about 15 miles south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry Tortugas. The islands lie along the Florida Straits, dividing the Atlantic Ocean to the east from the Gulf of Mexico to the west, and defining one edge of Florida Bay. At the nearest point, the southern tip of Key West is just 90 miles or 145 km from Cuba.

For many years the only way to get to the Keys was by boat - since they are an island chain. From 1910 onwards the today discontinued railway operated and some bridges were built do connect the Florida Keys to the mainland. 1935 was a bad year for the Keys since a massive hurricane destroyed large sections of Florida gusting with winds in excess of 250 km/h and 8 to 10 meter waves. Some 600 people died in this storm and part of the Keys were destroyed. Many of the bridges that are used today were built after the storm.