Florida keys
Getting there: Miami is the main gateway for international visitors most of whom pick up a car and drive south on the Overseas Highway. It would take 3-4hrs to drive non-stop from Miami to Key West. Alternatively Key West is a 30min flight from Miami.
Activities: fishing, diving and snorkelling are the main activities and are catered for throughout the Keys. One of the better jumping off points for these activities and also glass-bottom boat tours of the Florida Reef is the John Pennecamp Coral Reef State Park on Key Largo. Regular boat trips also depart from Key West. A one-day introductory scuba course including a classroom and pool session in the morning and two shallow boat dives with an instructor in the afternoon costs from $125 at the Hawks Cay Resort and Marina on Marathon. Ahalf-day Scuba or snorkelling trip costs approximately $39, excluding equipment rental.
Attractions:there are dolphin centres at Key Largo, Marathon and Islamorada where members of the public can interact with these friendly mammals to a greater or lesser degree.
Key West highlights:regular hop-on hop-off Trolley tours depart from the Old Town and give a good introduction to the history of Key West and its main visitor attractions. Guided tours of the Hemingway Home and Museum give visitors an insight into the lifestyle of former Key West resident, writer Ernest Hemingway. Admission: approx $6. Mel Fisher’s Treasure Exhibit houses an impressive collection of treasures salvaged from two 17th-century Spanish shipwrecks.
Food: specialities are seafood, conch fritters and chowder and of course, Key Lime Pie. Well known chains such as Hooters and the Hard Rock Cafe rub shoulders with some quirky one-offs such as the Blue Heaven Cafe in Key West’s Bahama Village which serves Bahamian style cuisine in a ramshackle yard while cats and roosters strut beneath the tables. Amore upmarket dining experience is offered at the Pier House Resort and Caribbean Spa where diners can enjoy a candlelit meal with a view out to sea.
Accommodation: ranging from quaint inns to full-service resorts such as the 203-room Cheeca Lodge on Islamorada which offers facilities for diving, snorkelling and fishing plus a nine-hole golf course, Camp Cheeca kids club, a small manmade beach and a freshwater lagoon. Prices lead in at $129 per room in low season. The Hawks Cay Resort on Marathon is another family-oriented resort offering rooms, suites and self catering villas plus facilities for fishing, parasailing and its very own dolphin encounter programme. For details on bed and breakfast properties see the Key West Innkeepers Association Internet site at: www.keywestinns.com