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Popular Keys Activities The Keys' version of Paradise is within your reach. You may enjoy our natural wonders in so many ways: fishing, snorkling, kayaking, diving, birding, or just maybe lying on the beach. Everyone hears that when we interface with nature, no human trace should remain. However, we also know this is unrealistic. We do take from this fragile environment, be it by fishing, by contaminating the water with chemicals spilled from our boats or scarring the flats with our props, by accidentally endangering or killing wildlife like the manatees. So shouldn't we consider giving something back? There are so many ways to help. Just ask us. One thing you can do is make a small contribution to one of the organizations - some are described below - that give selflessly to our friends that grace the land, the air, and the sea. We are all guests here on this earth. All of the paradises we have to enjoy must be treated with respect if we expect them to endure. Something that you can enjoy for free and will remind you of the beatiful ocean world around you in the Florida Keys is a mural painted by Robert Wyland. Examples of his work can be found on the Kmart in Marathon and the Overseas Market building at the historic harbor in Key West. His latest and last Keys mural is on the tall building in the median of the Oversea Highway in Key Largo - you can't miss it. If you would like to consider taking his work home, visit his studio in Key West. There are many other fine artists in the Keys, capturing local landscapes, flora and fauna in oils, acrylics, wood and other media. Stop in at their shops and studios along the way as you drive up and down the Keys. You can look for free.
A relatively new attraction in Key West is the Dr. Nancy Forster Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center, an educational program with ocean exhibits and displays that will teach you about the local reefs and their preservation. A great activity for the family, the Center is free and open Tuesday-Saturday from 9am until 4pm. Next door to the Natural History Museum in the middle of Marathon is another rescue, treat and release program, the Wild Bird Rescue Center. Kelly Grinter operates the facility in the Middle Keys. Other centers are located in Key Largo and Key West. Together, these facilities provide rescue and rehabilitation services for injured birds Keys-wide. If you see an injured bird, call them. The centers are supported by donations and volunteers, and they like to welcome visitors to their facilities. They do not charge for facility tours, but do certainly welcome donations. Dolphin Experiences: The Florida Keys abound in wild dolphin. Nancy and I frequently spot pods while we are out on our boat and stop to watch. We have friends who have been fortunate enough to encounter friendly pods and have been allowed to snorkel with them in open water. If you get out on the water on a charter, it is likely that you will spot wild dolphins as well. But it is not guaranteed that you will. Although there are wild dolphin encounter charters operating currently in Key West, we will not recommend them. We have certainly seen our share of dolphins while out on the water - we consider it a sign of good luck any time we are fortunate enough to spot them. But we can't imagine being able to promise a wild dolphin encounter. So we have to suspect that the dolphin charters may be feeding some dolphins in order to habitate them to the charter. And that would be wrong. Now we could be wrong in our assessment of how they operate. But when we asked the last dolphin tour operator who called us requesting business referrals to verify he was not feeding the wild dolphins, we never heard from him again. The Keys also offer a number of licensed structured dolphin swim programs - more than in any other single location in the world. Programs are very popular - you can understand why - and relatively expensive ($80.00+ per person). If you want to swim with dolphins while you visit the Keys, please call in advance for current rates and availability. Some programs require interested individuals to sign up months in advance. The Upper Keys have two dolphin programs, both offering dolphin swims. Dolphins Plus in Key Largo has 16 dolphins in two large 15' deep pens. Call 305-451-1993. In Islamorada, the Theater of the Sea offers dolphin swims in addition to dolphin and sea lions shows. Call 305-664-2431. The Middle Keys offer two dolphin swim programs. The Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key offers a variety of educational programs in addition to very structured swims. Call 305-289-1121. Hawks Cay Resort on Duck Key also has dolphin encounters. Call 305-743-7000. There are currently no structured dolphin programs in either the Lower Keys or Key West. Sugarloaf Lodge provided sanctuary to several dolphins, but their animals have been relocated because of some controversy associated with the program's operators, and their original dolphin Sugar passed away. There is currently a lot of controversy in the Keys regarding the rescue, treatment and release of dolphins. Controversy surrounds the causes of dolphin and whale beachings, whether or not they should be rescued at all, how they should be cared for, who should be responsible for care, and what is the chance they will be successfully returned to the wild. Regardless of what will ultimately be the correct answers to all of these questions, what we see is that there are a lot of dedicated volunteers ready to stop whatever they are doing to help when help is requested. Is it appropriate? Should rescue be attempted of an animal that can, unlike birds and turtles, be habuated to and perhaps become dependent on man? Beaches: The Keys lack the long stretches of white sand beaches of mainland Florida. Anne's Beach in the Upper Keys is a popular road-side stop. In Marathon, Sombrero Beach is probably as nice a small public beach as anywhere in the Keys. On the south side of the Seven Mile Bridge from Marathon is Bahia Honda, a state park consistently ranked as one of the ten best beaches in the US. In Key West there are a couple of public beaches on the ocean side of the Island along South Roosevelt Blvd., but the nicest is the beach at Fort Zachary State Park. Shopping: Because of the distance between the Keys and major distribution centers on the mainland, the Keys are not well known for shopping. Most Keys residents go into "mall-withdrawal" from time to time and voyage "off the rock" to browse the malls and stock up at mainland prices. There are several small areas of interest in the Upper Keys including Treasure Village and the Rain Barrel near Islamorada. In Marathon, try the shops at the Quay Restaurant MM 54, where our visitor center is located. In Key West, the newer part of town along North Roosevelt is where you will find the newer, larger stores. For those nice little shops where you can find that special memento of your trip to the Keys, walk Duval from Front Street up to Truman. You might also try strolling the area around Key West Bight. Sailing: With great sheltered anchorages throughout, The Keys are a major destination and stopping point for cruisers. The typical Keys craft is not a sail boat but a 20-30 foot center console open power boat. This type of vessel lends itself to fishing and diving and anchoring of the few sandy beaches and more numerous sandbars. The sandbar just off Holiday Isle in the Upper Keys, for example, is a very popular spot for small boats on weekends. Moonlight Cruises: Excursion boats abound in the Keys. Most of the "cattlemarans" out of Key West run sunset cruises as well as dive/snorkel trips. Key West Bight is rapidly becoming the single largest location of wooden schooners on the east coast. All of them offer sunset cruises. Boat Rentals: There are a number of small boat rental companies operating in the Keys. While the waters around the Keys look calm and easily navigable, they are littered with shoals, reefs, and just plain shallow water and a weather front can rapidly turn a peaceful day on the water into a boater's nightmare. If you choose to rent a boat and head for the reef yourself, you should be a very experienced boater and spend some time learning the local waters from the company from who you rent. Water Sports: You will find a variety of water sports operations throughout the Keys. These include jet skis (personal water craft) and parasailing boats. Since these businesses tend to come and go, we can not recommend any of them. If you decide to give a jet ski a spin or hang yourself from a parasail, we recommend you ask your host accommodation for a recommendation and make sure you obtain adequate training (PWC's are far more dangerous than they appear) and learn the "rules of the road." Make sure you go with a reputable organization. Other Key West Activities: While there are certainly things to do and see outside of Key West such as Indian and Lignumvitae Keys in the Upper Keys and historic Pigeon Key on the old Seven Mile Bridge in Marathon, Key West is the place to go if you like to see the sights. A good place to start is a narrated tour of the island on the Old Town Trolley. Our other recommendations include:
Other Activities Up the Keys: In the Lower Keys, we recommend a day at Bahia Honda State Park. On Big Pine, we suggest you look for the endangered Key Deer (just drive around the back roads) and visit the Blue Hole, a fresh water lens where alligators live. In Marathon, we recommend visits to Sombrero Beach, the old Seven Mile Bridge, and Pigeon Key as well as the Natural History Museum and the Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Keys. In the Upper Keys we recommend feeding the tarpon at Robbie's Marina and visiting the islands off Indian Key, and seeing the underwater coral gardens off Islamorada.
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