As you reach the last major island of the Florida Keys, you are entering the very southernmost city of the continental United States. Key West measures 1.5 by 4 miles. It is located 93 miles north of Cuba and 153 miles southwest of Miami at 24.5 degrees above the equator. It’s tropical throughout the year with a history of frost-free weather. Key West history additionally hints of Spanish explorers, 19th Century pirates, shipwrecks and prospering salvagers, cigar factories, sponge diving, shrimp fleets and visitors ranging fromU.S.presidents to homeless wanderers.The Navy has been present on Key West since 1823.

Key West is connected to the mainland by the Overseas Highway (U.S.Highway 1), which was built on the old roadbed of the Florida East Coast Railway. The railway, built in 1902, was destroyed by a hurricane in 1935. Emerald colored waters where the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean meet below the 42 bridges of the Overseas Highway make the drive between Miami and Key West especially beautiful.

Surrounding the Island City, five miles off shore, is the last living coral reef of the North American continent. Along with a brilliant assortment of life forms, over 600 varieties of edible fish can be found in the local waters including tarpon, amberjack, dolphin, king mackerel and many others. Fishing follows tourism as the second most important industry of the island. Acting as a breakwater, the southernmost barrier reef reduces wave action which normally washes sand ashore in other regions.