A Condo in the Florida Keys

A Condo In The Keys by Wally Dobelis
From the Road –Part 2 – Condos planned, and Trip Advice For Travels to and From MIA and FLL Airports

SEVERAL CONDOMINIUM PLANS FOR THE KEYS ARE ON THE RETREAT.
Developers have been buying up campgrounds and existing restaurants in a mad rush to build &1M and pricier condos, cashing in on the eal estate boom. With the Keys’ total new construction limited to 200 units, these plans are based on scooping up existing single- and double-wides and replacing them with luxury housing, within thye existing building limitations. As of March 2007 these projects are largely collapsing or being put on hold. At MM105 Boca Developers acquired Rowel’s Marina , to build a gated communityat a spot that the county would have made into a park.This was being negotiated outside the Monroe land use regulations, and the CountyCommission blocked the plan At MM104-300 the Hobo’s Marina, Kelly’s and xx motels were razed by Coconut Grove based New Urban Places , to build a 33-unit hotel-condo.

In april 2006 Cortex Resort Living closed the AOC (American Outdoors Campground), making space for a 92-unit condo aimed at the $1.7 market, called Playa Cristal. With sales lagging, early in 2007 they starte refunding buyers’ deposits. They are replanning the site, with smaller units.
Meanwhile, at MM98 Ciudad Mar, 18 high-end home development, is under construction, not without problems.

In Islamorada, Holiday Isle (owner Ceebrand-Signal)went under contract in 2005 for a similar project., Oceanos, and they are moving ahead withy marketing.

Also in 2005 Cay Clubs bought four Upper Keys properties, with no plans submitted for its Bayside Resort and Pilot House MM100

Meanwhile a win for the buiders, US District Court has overturned the Islamorada chain-store ban, permitting Glenn Saiger of the beautiful Island Spice and Silver department store to sell thepropertyto Walgreens for $3.65M, with a $600k fine plus attorney fees.

Thaqnks to Free Press and Robert Silk.3/7/07

In November 2006 452 new listings came on market, total for preceding month being 3057 actives, avg list price 1,040K, av sold price $700K, both up from the same month (10% and 5%) ayear ago. Current inventory is 66 months worth. Islamorada /KL sales for the month were 22, at $815 avg, 215 days on the market.

Traveling to Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)
To FLL Mapquest recommends using partly on the FloridaTurnpike, then on I-95, 83 mi
From MM100 take US1 for 28 mi to FL Turnkipe
Travel on the Turnpikefor 17 miles, then
Take Exit 17 into FL-874 (Dan Shula Expressway ) 7 mi
It becomesFL826(Palmetto Expy), 3.5 mi
Turn right in FL-836 (Dolphin Expwy) 7.6 mi
into I-95 North for 21 mi
take exit 24 into I-595 E for 2.3 mi,
then take exit 12A, follow signs appx 1mi

The conventional route to Fort Lauderdale Hollywood Intl Airport, via FL turnpike, is complex and badly markedHere's the ttrue route, not available om Mapquest:

Take US1 for 28miles, then the Turnpike.There wil be four $1 tolls .
Side notes: exit 11 leads to Cutler Ridge shopping area note Southland Shopping Center ,with Penny’s and Macys,
exit 17 leads into Don Shula shortcut to Mi Int Airpt
ex 25 leads into US41 (Tamiami Trail) to Shark Valley Vis Cent, allig
toll 2 near Ex 24
Ex 26 leads into US836 (Dolphin)to Mia Int Ap nad the alt route via I-95
Toll 3 at apx ex 34
Ex 39 leads to I-75 (alligator Alley) and Naples, Ft Myers & Sarasota
Toll 4 appx ex 49

Take Exit 54 into I-595 East, follow signs closely. Most important, at the point of choosing between exits 10A and 10B (bad sign), take 10B, it will lead you directly into Exit 12A and the airport.
If you get off by error at exit 10A, follow signs to I-95 N, take exit 24 into I-595 2.3 mi,
Then take exit 12A .
At the FLL airport,there are four terminals, A-D. If you miss or are waiting, you can circle, always bearing left(good signs). If you are dropping off the rental car, after dropping your family and luggage at the terminal, circle, this time taking the leftmost "REturn Rental Cars" exit, You'll gfet back by taking the shutle bus foe B, C, D (walk to A)
Returning from FLL to Keys
Follow I-595 West into Florida Turnpike
If you miss and end up un I-95 North, take exit 20 into Hollywood Blvd and follow signs to Fl Turnpike South - easy

To Miami International Airport (MIA)
From MM100 traffic light, takeUS1 27 mi into Fl Tpke
On Turnpike , after 17 miles, (past MM11 and 12- Kendall and Caribbean, leading to shopping centers), take exit 17 into Dan Shula expressway (FL874), 7 mi
It becomesFL826, Palmetto expw?3.5 mi
Turn right in FL-826 (Dolphin Expwy) 3.5 mi
My preference is to turn right onto US953, LeJeune and follow signs into the airport, very construction-filled and cumbersome but safe . There are terminals a-H and you can circle bearing left, but watch for a hairpin turn.
Mapquest suggests that you go further on US836, and turn into NW42nd Ave, then NW21st St & follow signs abt 2.5 mi, presumably to avoid the construction.

yes it is faster (as of 1/2009)
FT Orlando/Mia Intl Airport/Airport 26.3 mi to exit 26,
onto SR836 7.7 mi
Take Lejeune Rd/Airport 1.1 mi
onto NW 42nd Av (853 N)
Ramp to Airport, go to yr terminal.
There are Concourses A-H, to find the right one, google Mia Air Port map, look up flight, or call airline.

If you are leaving the Keys for a few days, call SleepInn (see Internet) and reserve a room at US36, near the airport. For $168 (Jan 2007) you get 14 days free parking at the Inn,

Miami International has Terminals a through H. If you miss yours, circle, hugging the left. You will have a hairpin turn, for return, but persevere.

When returning from MIA to the Keys, signs will direct you to five terminals and associated exits, depending on direction. The exit for Lejeune West and FL836 is good for the Keys, although you may not be able to get off FL 836 into Fl 826, and may have to continue to the I-41 related exit onto the Turnpike.

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From the road - Driving through the Florida Keys by Wally Dobelis

A Condo In The Keys - From the Road Part 1 – Florida City to Key Largo

Coming in from Miami on US1, after the Cutler Ridge and Homestead Shopping Malls on your left, you will also see an Office Depot, a Home Depot and a Wall-Mart, last chance to stop and shop before the Keys, which only have three K-Marts, and a Home Depot in Marathon .

Next significant point is the traffic light with a great white cross, directing you to the Keys, straigtht , and to the National Parks, the Everglages to the right, or Biscayne, left.

The Everglades side thrip is the best. Go up Route 9336, a mile or so , turning left at “Robert is here,” the fruit stand everyone knows (at the age of seven his father let him hawk bananas at roadside,, a fit startup for an entrepreneur). Follow the signs, and turn right into Florida City, past the huge Redlands fields of tomatoes and beans, Floridas vegetable basket, with Haitian and Dominical field workers out there in the heat, wearing island garb. After 10 miles you come to the stone gateway for the Everglades National Park. On your left you will see the park office building (Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center, interesting exhibits), on the left the entrance gate. You have to pay, unless you decide to buy a Golden Age Passport to all national parks (used to be $10).

If time is limited, skip the Center and shoot straight forward abouit 5 miles,, then left, to the Royal Palm Center. You are passing through the Everglades , a 40 mile wide sawgrass prairie, actually a slowly moving grass river, with islands of clumps of trees, called hammocks.

At Royal Palm walk the less than one -mile Anhinga Trail, the best excursion in the Everglades, to view alligators and anhingas, - the diving birds sharing the same ponds and rivulets with the big guys, on their hunt for fish – also cormorants, egrets, herons and the rare wood storks. During the nesting season all the world-famous nature photographers visit, their spouses lugging carts of heavy equipment.. Next to the anhingas, the Gumbo-Limbo Trail will give you a short course in tropical tree recognition.

After visting Royal Palm, back on 9336,, the 36-mile road leads west and south, through the hammock prairie, with side excursions to special bird and plant sites, to Flamingo, the jumping off point for boat trips into the Everglades. It was a small settlement, built with a motel, shops and restaurants, nearly all disabled by hurricanes Wilma and Katrina, in two 5-ft surges covering the area with mud, coming a week apart, in the Fall of 2005. Currently a marina canteen serves sandwiches and meals, there is a camping site (also at Long Pine Key near the Royal Palm), and two-hour back-country boat rides are available at 10, 1, and 3;30. The next best Everglades site, Echo Pond, with huge trees in the center, where the birds of the area come to roost, protected from foxes, has been partially restored.

Incidentally, the 3rd best Everglades Park site is Shark Valley, is about 17 miles north, on the northern boundary of the Everglades, on Route 41 out of Miami. It is located on the Mickosukee reservation territory (a gambling casino,airboat rides and Indian restaurants) in a real alligator country, where you travel around in a trolley, listening to Everglades stories told by well-informed and interesting guides (about $20).

Returning back toward the cross-marked traffic sign on US1 - on 9336, a minute or two before you reach US1 there is the Krome Avenue crossing. If you turn to the north, it will lead you though the quant town of Homestead, with decorated brick street crossings and a long avenue of tall royal palms, leading through miles of palm and flower nurseries. At the Baptist church shortly past the palms, a strawberry farm offers pick-your-own facilities, and vegetable markets will sell you tomatoes by the bushel. A sidetrip eastward on 22301 SW 162 Avenue (that means drive on Krome to 223 Street, turn East until you reach 162 Ave) leads to the Castellow Hammock Park, 112 acres of nature, with a tree favored by hummingbirds, right in front of the small visitors center – you are assured to see them.

Krome Ave and its continuations also offer the shortest way to US 41 and Shark Valley.

The left turn at the cross-shaped traffic sign on US1 will take you into the Biscayne National Park and its beach areas, nature walks, boat rides and snorkeling (not to be confused with Key Biscayneoff the Rickenbacker Cuaseway up in Miami, a rich area with beaches)

If you resist temptation to visit the Everglades and stay on US1 at the cross and continue towards the Keys, do not skip the Information Center on the right , just after the traffic sign. Ask questions, get local knowledge and reservations, if needed.

Drivng directly to the 18-mile bridge, first you have the turnoff on the left to Card Sound Road, a $1 toll bridge leading to the very private Ocean Reef Club, accessible by a members’ authorization. However right after the toll a couple of miles south is Alabama Jack’s , world famous joint for fishermen and bikers, , crabcakes (mediocre) and oysters. Get the $12.95 everything plater for lunch and watch the crabmen take their boats out.

Staying on the right, you will be on your way to the Keys, American tropics, aka Paradise., by way of the famous one-track each way 18 mile bridge, a double yellow line in the middle, with warners on both sides. Note the fatality counter at the beginning, a warning to stay awake. This is the beginning of some 126 miles of roadway to Key West, crossing x real bridges b etween islands.

About 10 miles south of the MM127 entry point, you will see dirt and stones piling on the left, You have now entered the area of a $450+M projerct to expand the road by a single-ltrsck escape lane, for evacuation of the 80K Keysians and whatever tourists are present, in case of a major disaster. .The Keys have not had a major disaster since 1935, when the Flagler railroad was destroyed, and was replaced by the present US1 or Overseas Highway, utilizing most of the old right-of-way. Addresses in the Keys are stated by the milemarker (MM), starting at Key West, ialso idebntified as bay or ocean-side.

Three miles down you will see an actual paved stretch in use, then a series of three-pillared supports for an elevated highway leading to a yet to be built bridge over Jewfish Creek, the connection beteeen Atlantic Ocean and the Florida Bay, currently served by a low drawbridge that disrupts traffic whenever a big sailboat comes through the Inland Waterway, On the other , Keys side, similar three pillar forks, much less advanced. Projected finish date is 2012.. The traffic suffers. Worse, the dug-up mangroves and other material rotting in the water have given a spurt to the development of destructive algae that extend into the Blackwater Soud, lake of Surprise and Florida Bay. There is a potential that the project may be abandoned

To describe your passage, you will have a partly open viewp through an Everglades-like prairie on the right, broken by hammocks, islands of trees. By MM118 the Project rises on your left – the four phase utility third track, being built through the Oceanside, destroying hundreds of acres of mangroves. Here you will see thre the beginnings of clearance, expanding to MM115, site of the Manatee Bay marina and a small village. Around MM114 the tight highway expands, with north-bount traffic moved to the newly created Oceanside track for two or so miles . Further south the new trail is elevated on three column supported elevated roadway – the track is slowly being filled in between the columnar trident supports. It ends abruptly at the north side of Jewfish Creek. To resume on the south side. Eventually a high bridge span will be built there, replacing the current draw bridge.The high road is fairly well progressing on the north side, while on the south it is slow. You know you are near the end when Gilbert’s sign greets you on the bayside, also a tall hotel and a Mexican-American restaurant.
Pass that and follow the right-turning road, once nore opening to two lanes width, and you are in Key Largo. Note that right there, a left turn will bring you to RT 905 the road to the millionaires’ paradise, Ocean Reef Club, of which more anon.
But stay put, on the road, to whichever hostelry nightfall will bring you. to, the Visitors Center on bayside can help.There is souvenir empire, a store that will sell you seashells, bathing suits, carvings and hostess gifts, but the essantials are bathing suits. A boat equipment place next door may be of interest. After that, diving and snorkeling shops, and a great supermarket Winn-Dixie. Get a roasted chicken, if your future at nightfall is insecure, at least you’ll survive, and a bottle of wine. They also have microwave dinners, good for the older retirees, the dieters and anyone else, and many kinds of soft drinks, including the Cubal Iron Colas, Nicaraguan and island concoctions..

Behind the Winn-Dixie store, is a road to the gardeners’ wish list, Stillwater Point North, leading past lovingly cared homes to the point, from which you can catch the sunset. You may be on private property, though, Eddir Rickenbacker’s estate. Consider leaving the car at the Winn-Dixie and walk rather than drive,.

Moving right along on US1, a church on the right, past a few residential condos, boat rentals and a few small but important divers’ resorts, you find the Caribbean Club. It is of inrerest for Humphrey Bogart fans, a few scenes of the movie that gave Key Largo its name were shot there (the town was Rock Harbor before that). Grey haired 1968 refugees with ponytails and stretch Harleys gather there for Happy Hour, a big karaoke location.

For some more mundane pleasures, on the bayside MM103.9, Sundowners (also Senor Frijoles and xx xx) where they serve not only worthy fish sandwiches (ask for baked potato rater than fries) and solid dinners, and margaritas! You may catch a Jimmy Buffet soundalike at sunset.

Next, the Key Largo Marriott, a class hostelry, with Gus’s Grill, named for the late Gus Boulis , a Greek/Canadian developer who also populated the area with Miami Sub and Gusto restaquraqnts, suspected to be financed by the you know what, and in 19xx was killed in Fort Lauderdale, by people who bought his SunCruz offshore gambling ship empire. The lobbyist Abramoff was involved. In other words, a legend, worth visiting, but don’t ask too many questions..The hotel and its spa are clean.

Moving along, the Pink Plaza,with ba Walgreen’s drugstore and liquor store and a book seller, with a local mystery rack. Not only novel s by Carl Hyassen, also Jim Dorseys and Tom Corcoran, the madcap creators of improbable characters, In the next plaza, Mack’s White Rhino antique shop can supply you with beaucoup furniture discarded by the Ocean Reef nabobs and others., reasonable

Moving along – on the left, look out for Hideout Restaurant, off Transsylvania Ave, best breakfasts, and all-you-can-eat fish-fries on Fridays , $9.99, and house boats for rent. Also, Jules Underwater Hotel next door. Further south on the left, entrance to the John Pennecamp Coral Reef State Park , (entrance fee)- but you know all about that..

Continuing on US1 - Ganim’s restaurants are reasonable – we come to Dolphin Cove Research and Education Center is on the right, no medical facilities (for dolphin cure you must go to Dolphin Plus, turn left at the red light around MM100, 451-1993), the tours provided include a boatride and swimming with dolphins (fees).

Around MM 102, is the Fish House, one of the Keys’ oldest , and Encore, its extension. Further south, also on the ocean side, sort of concealed, past the yellow bait shop, is one of the treasures, Hobo’s Restaurant, great fish, cottage fries, with Mom and Cathy her daughter, out of Great Britain, who, with their helpers, hug and you the returnee snowbird. Barbecue specials on Tuesdays. It is a welcome home, year after year, their new location notwithstanding.


Next traffic light is at the Tradevinds Shopping Center about which I have written a paean, the Publix supermarker, th public library/ Internet café, the Kmart for plants, cheap clothes, also providers of exercice, coins, boat registry at the sheriffs. But let us move along, past the Largo karaoke places, Key Largo Cafe with its keysian concerts , Jimmy Buffett inspired Note Salvatiaon Army’s thriftshop, On the right is Wheaton’s Automobile Service – good place to remember,

Continuing south, next to the Pizza Tower are animal care centers – a pet store and vet’s office. Further down, a medical office group has a good rehab clinic. And the USPS, Key Largo 33037 post office, which I had heard called the PO with the four blondes, has last mail pickup at 4:30 PM.

On the ocean side nearing MM100, is the sign of Holiday Inn, a worthy stopover, with its harbor full of day fishing boats and huge yachts Walking down the harborside, see the African Queen, the1912 river boat that carried Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn down the Ulanga-Bora, to blow up the German Navy, in the 1951 John Huston epic. Reastored in 1982 by hotelier James Hendricks, the licensed 15-seater it has since participated in a WWII Dunkirk evacuation reenactment, and may be on hand to take you around for a slight fee. The harbor is filled with sleek deep sea rental fishing boats (champagne included), working diver boats, and you will find a tender to take you to the outside US limits anchored SunCruz gambling ship, a nice sunset cruise to the slot machines .If you have a free ticket, the cruise costs $3, price of the tax. That’s the Upper Keys’ sin city, unless you include the naughty video emporium at MM102. If you add nightlife, there are 15 restaurants and bars that feature Jimmy Buffet-like singers and groups nightly, the musicians moving around within the entire circuit

Along the harborside, on Marina del Mar, is Coconuts, where eating a half-dozen of oysters at the railing of its upstairs bar overlooking the boat harbor is de rigeur. Further into the harbor, a good breakfast place is The Galley,, above Sharkey’s, a diver’s joint Diving and snorkeling marinas abound all along US1.

Turning left past the Holiday Inn, before the Waldorf shopping center, is the road leading to Key Largo Municipal Park, a well kept walking venue (two circles equal a mile), with free tennis, a huge YMCA-run swimming pool and a superb free skateboard park, if that’s your game. On weekends local familoies gather for sports and picnics...

Passing through the MM100 traffic light, doing south (decent Burger King and Wendy’s alongside), the roadside eating places are Key Largo Café (Italian) and, in back, Bayside Grille upstairs, Snooks the beachfront barefoot restaurant, and at MM99.5, Mrs Mac’s , an oldtime much beloved diner with a huge menu , the walls of the rooms covered with old license plates, vanity and otherwise. If you had turned left at the light, a hew hundred yards down Ocean Bay Drive will take you past some decent restaurants (Pilot House, Calypso) to the KL Fish Market, good for fresh local grouper and crab as well as Bay of Mexico mahi-mahi,

Driving down US1, .here the bay-side road is has one motel after the other, many requiring a minimum two- or three-day stay. On the median, to your left are such local standbys as the Ballyhoo on the median and Mandalay , MM97.5, on ocean side , both restaurants well ensconced in local lore

Around MM98 the bayside motels thin out, and US1S becomes a thicket of thick green bushes and small trees, broken by interesting narrow roads . It is a real thick jungle. Do not hesitate to explore them – not the private drives – and you may run into charming communities such as Sunset Cove. The Rock Harbor sign , around MM97, introduces you to the old name of the island, before it was changed to Key Largo, cashing in on the popularity of the movie. Also, note the Key Largo Grand, former Sheraton hotel that has a public nature walk, good for learning the names of trees. Around MM95 is the Florida Bird Center, a sanctuary for wounded pelicans, egrets and roseate spoonbills. Drop some money in the collection bucket and visit the birds, and the mangrove island with a clear view of the bay. AtMM94.5 turn oceanside to Snapper’s a waterfront eating place of renown..

By MM93 the road becomes more commercial, we are in Taverner. , with the Fishermen’s Hospital (good emergency room) and Taverner Towne, a huge shopping center with a Winn-Dixie and a five-screen movie house, the only one for many miles.. Take Burton Drive to the left and visit Henry Harris park, with its natural sand beach, good swimming.

Cross Taverner Creek with attractive marinas on the right – one of them has a snack shack, and you can sit on the dock and admire the scenery. You are now on Plantation Key, start of Islamorada.. Continuing on, at Coral Shores High School (ggod for concerts and performances), the road narrows to single track each way, with a wide center frack for turns . Further South on the bay side is the Plantation Key Government Center, for building permits and tax problems. There, Marker 88 is a restaurant reviewed by Gourmet, with a major wine list..

Near MM86 the comfortable Islamorada Founders Park has a sandy shallow beach, an Olympic swimming pool and other facilities, some costing money, the locale of such events as the Annual Marine Flea Market, in March. Next to it is Rain Barrel, an artists’ village, has shops and a kiln in a pleasant jungly environment, a nice cool walk. On the ocean side, Treasure Village has changed into a Montessori school.

Crossing into Windly Key, past MM85, look for an immediate left downhill, and park at Island Grill, a pleasant boat friendly café, wher you sit on the deck and watch small fishig boats pass. It has island music nightly 6-10PM (a guitar regular is Micah, very non-PC, with a sometime harmonica companion Dean), as do 15 different bars in the KL-Islamorada stretch, a major industry. The next entertainment , Theatre of the Sea with a waterfall has also dolphins. Past it Holiday Isle, a destination by itself, has yacht harbors, restaurants, bars, hotels, and now also a condo development, Ocanos. Unless you want to visit it, the best way to view it is from across the Whale Harbor canal, from the upstairs deck of Wahoo, the snack bar/café of Whale Harbor Resort. The café is for views and easy eating, the WH restaurant is for major buffet eaters with thick wallets, the Mariina is for fishing trips .

Here we now cross into Upper Matecumbe Island, the main Islamorada ceter, chock full of pastel colored charming shops. Chain stores were barred, until a
In March 2007 a 2007 US District Court decision. The Oceanside Island Spice and Silver, a Bermuda-style upscale department store, (like Triminghams and Brown’s) is now going to make way for a Walgreens. Bayside Anthony’s is good for swimsuits. Further bayside Morada Bay restaurant has a sandy beach with tables, and celebrates full moon with a bonfire. Music, music, of course. Tall Bass Worldwide sells gear and has a tank with tarpons an other ocean creatures, some homilies to Hemingway and such. It abuts the great Islamorada Fish factory, aor Market, best known for its bayside open air dech, selling baskets of gtouper , conch and yellowtail with two kinds of fries, expect waiting time, both lunch and dinner. Further south Green Turtle Inn at Oceanside, with you know what on the menu..

Getting towards MM98, Outback at the XX Hotel, with a beach, freely used by customers, Next, Lazy Days, the Keys major favorite, reservations needed, sometimes a day in advance. Best time is late, late lunch, before the Happy Hour, then you have the deck to tourself, with a major ocean view, and the beach, with rattan chairs from the restaursnt.

Crossing the Turntable Channels (two miles), the road leads into the nearly three-mile long Indian Reef a, partly landfill, to reach Lower Matecumbe Key. At the north tip, MM78 you can take a ferry from Robbie’s Marina to the Standalone Indian Key Historic State Park ($15 round trip), see some prehistoric material, or to Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park ($20).. At MM73.5 oceanside is the pretty Anne’s Public Beach, with secluder coves, swimming and picnic areas.

Three miles down the bridge/land coneection, is Fiesta Key, with a KOA campgrpund, not accessible for casual visiting. Next, Long Key with Layton as the residential center,and oceanside. Long Key State Recreational Park, with swimming , fishing and snorkeling. Admission fee charged (MM67.5). Check out also the Anglers Cove, but save your money, for Sombrero (free) or Bahia Honda (fee) beaches further south.

At MM67, start a five-mile bridge trip, very serene. At MM 62 pass the Conch Key, private, and at MM61 on Oceanside is the round and totally built up Duck Key, occupied by the Hawk’s Key Resort. Drive in and cruise through, there are restaurant and coffee shop facilities. Try the marina for a quick bite, while enjoying the view.
Grassy Key begins your Marathon experience, with Curry Hammock State Park, MM56.
Dolphin Research Center?? Note the Island Fish Co., at MM54, a substantial restaurant with beautiful dockside eating. Yoy will pass through the commercial areas, including furniture stores, good eateries and the Marathon Airport, wth many executive jets, single engine Pipers and such parked on the taramac, and a car parking lot. Executives fly in for the weekend, and on Monday go back to mainland, leaving their cars there. Good life.
At MM50, (K-Mart and Publix) turn left and follow FL931, the road that takes you , past nice residences, to the Sombrero Beach, where you can park and enjoy ocean swimming and snorkeling . Great value.

AtMM47 you enter the long Seven-Mile Bridge hop, with open water on both sides. The old bridge is on your right, open for bikes, walking and fishing If you are just riding around from your mainland or Upper Keys base, this lap is worthy, for the opportunity to bask at the Bahia Honda beaches, a world-class destination. There are two miles of ocean-side beaches, some rocky, with camping sites along the way. People cross knee-deep water to reach the extended sandbar, good for long walks. At the southern end is a spur of the 19xx railroad bridge, destroyed by the hurricane of 1935 The nearly solid span is cut to permit boat passage, and you can admide the solid work that cost many lives during its construction. On the bay side is a half-moon beach, sandy

Traveling to Key Largo by Wally Dobelis

Whether you are an owner or renter in the Keys makes a load of difference. Renters drive, because they bring clothes and tools and books, sometimes a winter’s supply. Owners fly because they keep the gear locked in their closets all year round.

The East Coat driver comes down I-95, some 1350 miles from New York City. The trip can be divided easily into three 450 mile segments with stopovers in Rocky Mount, NC and Kingsland/St. Mary’s in GA on the Florida borderline. Both towns have lots of hotels, Best Westerns, Day’s Inns and such, with discount coupon books available in the states preceding – thus, you will find NC coupons for I-95 at roadside food stops and gas stations in VA, and they will be honored if you do not delay your checking to after nightfall, since budget rooms are limited. Animals are accepted at $10 or so extra per, but these designated rooms are somewhat less clean – but do not smuggle, you can be fined.

Flying is easier, Miami Airport is 50 miles away, and car rentals are a snap. Ft. Lauderdale (FLL) is 20 miles further north, but the fares are cheaper on Spirit, and the car rental specials are better. If you are staying for the winter, say two months, try to ask for a short-term or mini-lease. Don’t be surprised if Avis or Hertz at times offer better numbers than Alamo and other second-line vendors. If you are planning to bicycle while in the Keys or are depending on friends’ transportation, take the Keys Limo service, at $70/person, or better yet, rent an Enterprise car, to be dropped off at the destination rental station. They will deliver you to your condo colony.

Return to FLL via the Turnpike is easy, we pay four $1 tolls at exits 11, 23, 36 and 49, then take Exit 54 into 595, and follow exit signs to the FLL airport. Normally, the 20 miles across the bridge and the 54 miles to the Turnpike exit take 1 ½ hrs, and the balance of the trip and return of the rental car (now mostly in the airport annex), a short bus ride away another ½ hr.

Coming from FLL airport, take 595 and watch for the exit to the Florida Turnpike, the tolls as shown above, or else you will end on the busy I-95, then the even busier and slower US 1with frequent traffic lights. The MIA exit 4.will pot you on 836, the Dolphin Expressway, busy but easy to follow, leading to the Turnpike South at its exit 17.

Returning to MIA, take exit 17 into 874 the Don Shula Expressway (Miamians take their Dolphins leadership seriously). It leads into 824,Palmetto Expressway, then turn right into 836 the busy Dolphin Expressway, and watch for the left turn into the Airport access, Lejeune Rd., and car return.???

There are interesting cruises leading out of Ft. Lauderdale. Park?
If your cruise of Panama Canal, Honduras, Guatemala or Belize requires a flight out of MIA, store your car at the airport – Dolphin or Flamingo long-term parking; whichever is closer to your airline terminal, for $12/day.

The Turnpike will end and drop you on US 1 just before the Florida City traffic light with a white cross, marking, to the right, entry to the 993x, access to the Everglades national Park, Here is Roberts, the legendary fruit stand, and Krome Avenue, doorway to Homestead, all importsnt places, to be discussed later. Drive right through towards the Keys, unless you want to stop at the Tourist Information center a 100 yards down, for maps and guides and hotel reservations. Stay on the right, unless you are going to the rich Ocean Reef condos.

Now, the famous 18-mile causeway, or bridge, to the Keys. It is a road through the Everglades-like prairie sites on Florida Bay, pink clouds and a sunset if you are arriving in the afternoon, then some open water , blue on the ocean, green on the bay side, a boat basin on the ocean side at MM , In January the initial bridge posting highlighted 18 deaths this year, intended to scare us. It worked. The one-track each way road presents a clean, double yellow stripe, broken when passing is permitted) all the way, and four –deep raised caution bricks across them, to warn the dozing driver that he is crossing into opposite traffic.

For the legitimately nervous drivers who re worried about being pushed by other beyond the 55MPH limit, there are two passing zones where you can let the fast movers pass you. Once past the Jewfish Creek draw bridge and into Key Largo, the road turns two lane each way, with a wide median, planted with palms and orange-blossoming Geiger trees. Access paths widen to many points to crossing lanes, permitting you to slide in at high speed, without impeding traffic. Exits from condo colonies and most restaurants and the tiny malls along the way have short access lanes, to wait for lulls in the ever-present traffic, so that you can pick up speed and slip into the stream. Stop signs are rare, you are expected to be cautious and safe. Even the most cautious drivers have enough space and time to wait until they feel absolutely certain of their safety. The notorious Florida slow driving old-timers are not part of the Keys scene.

The two-lane roads are only in the main towns, Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon and Key west, otherwise it is single track, through some of the most beautiful seascapes, picturesque settlements with white two story verandahs, egrets on the roadside and boats in the distance – not too many of those, since Wilma. Traffic moves fast, unless you are stuck behind an orange school bus making pickup or discharge stops. Most people going to Key West for the day will choose their travel hours with care.

More about The Seven Mile Bridge tk

A Condo in the Keys, or My Boat Is In My Closet and Other Simple Pleasures of Life in Key Largo by Wally Dobelis. Copyright M. C. Dobelis

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis, excerpt from a forthcoming book with the above title

The Florida Keys are rocky outcroppings in the Atlantic Ocean, not very sandy. For beach life in Key Largo we depend on the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park's small sandy halfmoon at MM 102, the Harry Harris State Park near MM 92.5 and, particularly, the beautiful Sombrero Beach in Marathon, turn left at the traffic light at MM 50. Most of the time we swim in the bay, right off the marina pier, ignoring the tarpons who live under it.

Most pleasant swimming companions are the manatees, who come to the pier in search of sweet water, and the kids, squealing with joy, lower the water hose right into their open mouths.

Swimming with the manatees is another pleasure, touching their rough and cold skin. A friend and real esstate broker, whose father has a house on a canal where th manatees come frequently, in search of discarded wilted cabbagess and other enticements, often sjumps in the water to scrub their backs, freeing them of barnacles and other adhesions. All of the above activities involving the protected gentle giant sea cows are illegal, but manatee lovers just cannot desist.

The big water activity in the Keys is boating, whether you fish, trap crabs, catch lobster, snorkel or scuba dive. Snowbirds often arrive with boat trailers, bringing their cabin cruisers along, some of them quite large. My friends have 16-footers, good for the bay and also the ocean, on easy days. The canal at MM 104 connects the two.

Boats are a pleasure and a care. Having a dock site is great but you also have to store your trailer (a seasonal rental fee), and find a winted docing space, unless you are willing to pull them up and down the North American continent every season I say continent because some of my fellow condo people are from Quebec. Professional three-story boat storages can be found all along US 1 , a scary sight when one thinks of the high wind seeason. During Wilma they survived. People who want to save money, find storage with locals who have back yards, the same people who will store your trailer during the season, a source of small but steady income.

Some years ago, wanting the pleasure of boating upon demand but not willing to have the trouble of boat care, this family invested in a 10 1/2 ft. Zodiac, a chambered inflatable and rebuilt one closet in the 2nd bedroom, to accomodate it, as well as an 8 HP outboard engine.
Evry season we drag it out, inflate it with a foot pedal, drag it in the water, down the condo's boat ramp, attach the engine and hold our breaths while pulling the cord to start the works. Since the tank gets thoroughly drained in an environmentally sound way (the Hobo boatyard people accept our leftover oil and gasoline), we have had no trouble. The license is renewed by the Monroe county tax people by mail every year, we attach the sticker and hang out the boot number, on a board, toss in our life jackets and paddles. The engine has enough power to plane, skimming the bay's surface, and we cross the Blackwater Sound towards the Duesenberry Gap, an alley leading through the mangrove islands, with many narrow channels, where you can slowly troll, nearly soundlessly, observing the fish and the birds at leisure. The only other mankind are the rare fellow boaters, although a dereligt boat was anchored for years in one of the channels, housing some homeless people who would not respond to being hailed, we were told. We respected their solitude.

Homelessness in the Keys is present, in Key West, while sippig tea at the Pier Hotel's deck you can observe some similad derelict boats, desk covered with worn household items, people living on whatever income comess their way, perhaps by doing juggling or telling stories on the Mallory Pier at sunset. In Key Largo the homeless are invisible, the town park does not have such residents, and only once on an early walking visit, have I seen an unkempt youth furtive ly slide into the immaculate bathrooms, for morning washup.

Back to boating the canals and meeting crocs and aalligators -to be continued

A Condo In The Keys, or My Boat Lives in My Closet, And Other Pleasures Of The Simple Life in Key Largo, by Wally Dobelis. Copyright M. C. Dobelis, 2006.

A CONDO IN THE KEYS

It is in the darkening and cold nights of early New York December that I begin to daydream of Key Largo, its public library and Publix supermarket near Mile Marker 102.

I visualize driving down the dusty US 1turning into the spacious Fairview shopping center parking from the North exit and deciding whether to move into the left – near the K-Mart, the sheriffs office where you pay taxes and get your boat sticker, and the library – or the right, near the Publix, the ice cream parlor, the ATM – the bank now charges $1, it used to be free for out-of-town accounts – and the watch shop where they sell Spanish silver, doubloons form the Atocha wreck of mid-1650s.

The parking decision involves not only the destination but also finding a shady spot under the big elms and palm trees, with easy exit

Palm trees are more prevalent in the flower decorated Winn-Dixie supermarket, North of my condo, slightly under the weather because the chain is in Chapter 11.

Both markets are equally desirable for access to blood pressure machines, and Xerox equipment, at 10 cents a page, but the Publix also has a large walk-on scale. Last time the latter’s blood pressure machine had a crowd of four around it, two to get readings and two to kibitz. I politely declined their offer to go through, as at a checkout counter, and stood by, through their entire session, listening to the disbelieving woman coming to the conclusion that her good reading was close to the expected, and the others supporting her. My own readings, after a lot of walking and swimming exercises and some weight loss, were hopeful.

The main charm of the Publix is its clientele. The Keys, despite a real estate boom that has pushed out a lot of locals, poor retirees and refugees of the 1968-generation, still has many interesting types. This year I noted, among the food stamps people, a disheveled timid thin man with a scraggly long beard with white ID card on a chain around his neck, buying cheap beer and essentials with a debit card, following instructions from his equally sad faced wife. He pushed the laminated ID card at the unimpressed checkout clerk, who eventually told me that it was a Veterans Administration issue.

Beards are everywhere, from the bushy white Hemingway types, on bulky older men in shorts, accompanied by leggy aging blondes, to the scraggly chin whiskers on younger men, whose companions are more likely to be in short shorts and bikini bras. The Harley types and the deeply tanned bicycle riders are more prominent at the Winn – Dixie, where the goods are less upscale, and the frozen TV dinners from Weightwatchers, South Beach Diet as well as more conventional suppliers, mostly on sale at upwards of 3 for $5, occupy two impressive long rows of frozen food display cases. The oldsters, who limit their cooking to microwave work, can have varied meals in cardboard boxes, a different dish daily, for weeks.

Women do dress for the supermarket visit, some wearing heels, with only an occasional youngster running in straight from the beach, bathing suit covered by a huge towel, sarong- style.

Why the public library? Well, for one, it has the best balanced air-conditioning system of the shopping center, and you can spend hours dipping into the local reference library, or sample Keysian mystery writers, looking for newish works, not yet read, or rereading Travis McGee and Hiassen. You can keep slow-reading books for weeks; the friendly librarians will renew your two-week books on the telephone. Most importantly, the library is the free Internet café of the island, with some 10 computers available for visitors’ e-mail sessions, in 30-minute stretches. The wait is not long. I would sign on with the local ISP, xx for subscriptions by the month, until Earthlink acquired a local phone number for dial-up. If you want DSL, the Key Largo Café at around MM101, has a for-rent service – they also have local music (anyone can sit in, jazz, rock and Jimmy Buffet) on Saturdays and poetry readings on Sundays.

I would also dream of driving the US 1 on a Saturday night, coming back from dinner at lazy Days, or Outback, or the open deck of the Islamorada Fish Market, where they serve baskets of oysters, clams or xx, with plain of spicy fries, under the light of the moon; the occasional boats coming in for dinner from the utter darkness across the Florida Bay casting spooky lights, and the tarpons that the kitchen help feed fish scraps occasionally jumping out of the water, rulers of the sea. They would have a Bahamian steel-drum musician serenade the dinners, by oil flare light, softly singing Belafonte and Marley their own tunes. The deck was ripped off the wood pilings by Hurricane Wilma in 2005, and will not be rebuilt, developers are claiming the bayside for docks, and diners will henceforth eat on firm land. But the charming car ride back to MM 104, across bridges with the ocean on both sides, shimmering in the moonlight, and soft jazz from WLRN Public Radio in the air, they can’t take that away from us.

I also dream of swimming in the Florida Bay, climbing down from the iron ladder in the concrete peer in front of our condo colony. It had a palm-frond covered teepee with a long picnic table and benches, where the visitors would gather every day at dusk, with plastic glasses and baskets of chips and popcorn, to applaud the sun going down. This was also torn down by Wilma, when its water surge and windstorm destroyed the entire marina, and it is now a construction site, off limits for the 2006 season. The visitors now gather at the cookout site on land, and we the bay swimmers had to find another venue.

The chief swimmer and health-through-exercise fanatic, my friend Micro, a retired pediatrician from Chicago, who had run some 15 marathons, a like number of semi-matahons and triathletic (run, swim, bike) events had found an access to the bay thet involved a bit of trespassing, an abandoned motel. Kelly’s that had been purchased by a condominium builder, along with another property, both surrounding Hobo’s Restaurant and Marina, favorite walk-to lunch and dinner spot and a distinct loss to our winter ambiance. Run by a chubby British woman known ass Mum and her cheery daughter, Kathy, wife of the owner, it was highly regarded as one of the best in the Keys, nightly attracting a waiting crowd from all over, particularly on Tuesdays, the barbecue event. The Hobo’s people promptly parlayed their condo millions in a property around MM102 on the Oceanside, building a larger restaurant with a huge parking space and outdoors waiting area. This rush to condo riche is happening all over the Keys, despite ROGO, the regulation that restricts the annual new construction in the islands with their year-round population of 80,000, to 200. The developers simply buy up the trailer parks, send their low-income retiree renters packing, tear down the double-wides and elect an equal number of town houses. The Mariner’s Club, around the old Mandalay Restaurant, a simple Oceanside food and music joint, advertises $1,750,000 condos, with clubhouse, gym and marina, only an hour from Miami (understated). It seems, though that the marina, under stringent rules, can accommodate only 2/3ds of the condos, and the developers are frantically searching for off-premises marinas, a matter complicated by a rule that each 100’ for shoreline can accommodate only two boat slips. The Hobo’s property presumably has grandfathered marina provisions. Another development of 12 homes in Islamorada, $1,975,000 to $3,600,000, 3,500 sq. ft. units, features individual heated swimming pools surrounded by white picket fences, as well as all of the above amenities.

Anyway, Dr. Miro and I now walk out our gate, down the road a hundred yards, through the open entrance of Kelly’s (blocked off for vehicle access), through a net passageway past the cottages, to the launching ramp, where we drop our towels and wade in through the muddy bottom, beginning to swim at waist –high, avoiding the dangers of the artificial rocks and reefs surrounding thee little laguna, occasionally watched by the few cottagers in two other small motels dedicated to serious scuba divers and snorkelers, who do not swim in the algae-green waters of the lower Bay. The current attack of the algae seems to be part of a recurring 10-year cycle, but we ignore them. I for one swim side-stroke, thus voiding taking the water in, unavoidable when you swim the fast crawl stroke.
Once out in the Bay, a hundred yards, we turn North, to swim past the motels’ marinas, until we reach our condo’s concrete pier, a hundred yards of thick plate, over 40-odd paired verticals, capped by crossbars whose concrete has been delaminating. The plates have been shifted although slightly, by Wilma, forcing the engineers’ conclusion of instability. Replacing them will cost at least $250,000, in addition to the ½ million already allocated to replacing the three dock causeways, hurt by Charley and carried away by Wilma, elevated 18” and built with material that permits surges to flow through, without ripping them off the newly reinforced posts. The concrete piers now house seagulls, observing us closely while perched on the three bolted-down benches that we used for fishing and looking at the passing boats crossing our Blackwater Sound on their way to the fancy homes west of the Winn-Dixie and Jewfish Creek, the passageway to Miami.
Once past the peer, we cross the condo’s launching pad, on the far side adorned with mangrove trees, their multiple roots reaching into the water, and are at the mouth of a manmade lagoon, an artificial harbor surrounded by trees of all descriptions, the former property of a director of the M Arboretum in Miami. There is a long sailboat in the harbor and a deck with tables and chairs, and a helicopter in the distance, through the trees. It is the property of a former airline pilot, purchased in the old days. I can admire the trees than make up the boundary of his four plus acres, from my back entrance. They did not suffer much from the hurricanes; neither did the broadleaf that shades my entrance, except for salt spray damage.

The keys have been fortunate. Since 1935 there have been no major hurricanes, neither Andrew nor Charlis and Wilma did much. More later.

A CONDO IN THE KEYS by Wally Dobelis

If you want your inner child- cheerleader category – come out, go to a Marathon, and cheer the participants.

The Miami Marathon is a terrific opportunity, because you can see your darlings at more than one station. We came to South Beach, because the whole Marathon group, starting at the American Airlines Stadium at 6Am, has a 5th mile passing point near our hotel, Betsy Ross , at 14th street, and we saw our darlings there, near 6;30, lit by a street light, about 10 minutes apart.

Now you must understand that both the Rickenbacker Causeway, by which the marathon runner enter South Beach, and the Venetian, on which they exit, are closed for traffic, so we had no exit, to get to another observation point at the Miami Natural History Museum on Biscayne Blvd, which we had spied as a joint spot where you can see runners at 15th and 25th mile points. It took ingenuity to discover this place, and planning and luck to get there. At 14th Street the runners went west two blocks, to continue on Washington Ave and circle Miami Beach, leaving the center, Collins Avenue open, with traffic stranded, including some taxis. I went shouting down Collins, to attract a stranded empty taxi ready to turn around and get back to action in downtown Miami, stopped it and had him take is to the only open causeway, Alice Tuttle at 41st Street, to the 15/25 mile spot, a $45 ride.

Once there we saw no spectators except for three red-shirted volunteer women from Chicago and Cleveland, with cups f drinks, pretzels an clickers, and long inflated rattle balloons, that could be slapped together. The first winner types, gaunt skinny men and women with foreign faces and insignia, were already there, unbelievable phenomena, totally framed in their task and non-responsive to our shouts of encouragement passing through while we were unpacking the cheer boards with the names of our darlings lettered on, and the happy face balloon bought last night at the local Walgreen’s and filled with helium at no extra charge. Name boards set on the ground, with the balloon overhead, we three parents spread out along a median, with our rattle balloons and digital cameras in hand, to greet the marathoners.

Cheerleading does not come naturally, and it took us a while to get into the language of the red-shirted ladies, who danced, clapped and shouted encouragement: you’re looking good, keep it up, you going to make it! We stared experimenting wit Like your stride (good), no pain no strain (discarded), you are all winners (produced smiles and grimaces), ignore the red light1 ( some guffaws).

The latter was interesting because we were at the intersection of two parallel roads reserved for runners and a major two way crossroad, which was accumulating angry drivers, blowing horns. Walking into their midst with a Marathon sign quieted them down and made most of them turn around, and eventually, toward the end of the two and a half hours we were theirs, the straggler marathoner traffic thinned and the local cops were able to send little spurts of one to three cars through.

Once our two runners were through, half an hour apart, we paced and crossed the road to the 25th mile point, where single speedsters were racing through, seeming no more distressed than when we first saw them at the 15th.. I tried to concentrate on the stragglers coming through the e 15th, with a different cheer: It’s your day, don’t rush, baby, enjoy your day in the sun, which seemed to produce smiles through the palpable pains. At this point the participants, who paid $75 for the pleasure of getting a number and running or walking through the 26.2 mile full course (the 13.1 mile half-marathon racers were already finished), were elderly couples or stout or unpracticed non-runner community AIDS or training organization members doing their own fundraisers, who felt the pain, as much as the 25-milers.

Many of the latter had drawn faces, and would stop, rub their legs, or resort to a walk. They need more of such words as You are almost there, you are really amazing, you’re going to make, it’s just a round the corner ( a lie we regretted when we had to walk in the last 2.2 miles to meet with our runners,). The least perturbed where the amputees who raced on wheels, amazingly agile, and the blind, accompanied by bicycle riding volunteer guides. There one or two visibly distressed runners, one who carried on bent sideways, and another who staggered. I tried to send the bicycled observers after them, to unknown results.

We found our runners after we quit cheerleading four and a half hours into the day, after the last of our kids had passed through. We then walked the last torturous 2.2 miles, alongside the late runners . When found, our team had had heir free massages or rubdowns, solid portions of chicken or beans, oranges or cold drinks, and were reclining under the tent of the massage area, our agreed meeting point, ready to tell us tales of their pains and glories.The elders, happy with the safe outcome, were willing to listen, forever.

Walking in, we also passed a Cuban band (there were some 15 music and dance groups playing along the course) and squads of schoolchildren volunteers with tables and tables of liquids (there were 20such) who offered the runners cups of soft drinks and water, and poured, when asked, some of the cool stuff over the runners’ heads. We too could have used some, believe me.