Travel and Leisure has just told everyone that the Middle Keys is one of the Best 50 Places to Travel in 2021 and they even mentioned us! If you get a chance to read the article look for #14. We’ll leave the light on for you!
Here is what they are saying about the Middle Keys.
“The closest you can get to a Caribbean vacation without leaving the continental U.S., the laid-back islands between Key Largo and Key West took the brunt of Hurricane Irma in 2017 and are where you want to visit in 2021 to connect with one of the country’s most fragile ecosystems, both above and below sea level: astronomer-led stargazing walks at the family-friendly Hawk’s Cay on Duck Key; Grimal Grove, where community organizer-turned-tropical fruit farmer Patrick Garvey is raising five varieties of nutritious breadfruit to fight hunger insecurity; the Turtle Hospital on Marathon, whose recent 911s include caring for babies beached by Hurricane Eta and endangered Kemps-Ridleys cold-stunned (like hypothermia for turtles) in Cape Cod. While unseasonably chilly water spells trouble up north, warming seas and a still-unidentified infection has bleached up to 98 percent of the Keys’ local reef — the largest in North America — but the young scientists at the MOTE Elizabeth Moore marine lab on Summerland Key are in the midst of a promising project to rejuvenate the crippled reef through lab reproduction (like IVF for coral). You can even participate in a hands-on underwater coral transplant through a new partnership with Captain Hook’s dive center on Big Pine. To balance good work with sybaritic indulgence, there’s no beating the scalloped pool and impeccable residences at Marathon’s recently reopened Marlin Bay Resort & Marina. The resort is walking distance to Keys Fisheries, the best place in the islands for stone crab, a sustainable specialty that goes for $3 a claw in season at the pleasingly disheveled upstairs bar.” —Adam Erace
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