

Swim with Atlantic bottlenose dolphins at the resort's Dolphin Connection center, or while the kids are being kept busy, relax at the Calm Waters spa with a signature Key lime-mojito body treatment.
#WEST MARINE KEY LARGO FLORIDA PLUS#
There are five swimming pools, plus outings such as nature hikes and scavenger hunts to keep everyone from getting bored. As you surf down the waves, be prepared to make a sharp 90-degree turn to starboard into a quiet canal that leads to the marina.Hawks Cay is a family-friendly resort with lots of activities geared toward kids and teens. The entrance channel is not for the faint-of-heart mariner when the wind and seas are up and they happen to be on your stern.

Next stop is Duck Key or, more specifically these days, Hawks Cay Resort & Marina at Duck Key. The marina offers dockage for vessels up to 100 feet, and, thankfully, you can still enjoy a cocktail at the muchloved Holiday Isle tiki bar.

On the ocean side, the Postcard Inn Beach Resort & Marina (formerly Holiday Isle at MM 84) has been undergoing extensive renovations and improvements. It is an excellent base from which to start your exploration of the local restaurants and galleries. The marina is well protected from the weather and located within a municipal park that has a swimming pool and tennis courts. Turn up Snake Creek to the Florida Bay side of the Keys to find Plantation Yacht Harbor at MM 87. However, if your interest in sea life is more up close and personal, visit Theater of the Sea to swim and interact with dolphins, sea lions, sharks and stingrays.As you head down Hawk Channel looking for a marina to berth your yacht, you'll pass Hens & Chickens, a well-marked group of shoals off Plantation Key. Whether your angling leans toward bonefish, tarpon or sailfish, you can have it all here. Bush, then a frequent visitor and avid fisherman. Islamorada is also the Sportfishing Capital of the World and was made famous by President George H.W. Today, Islamorada is also known as the Village of Islands and actually encompasses five isles, from Plantation Key in the north to Lower Matecumbe Key in the south. Why the early Spanish explorers named this cayo purple has been lost to history. Quick: What does Islamorada mean in Spanish? Time's up! Purple island is the answer. The marina offers just about every amenity you can imagine: golf course, spa, tennis courts, watersports, and even a cooking school for kids. Dry Rocks is home to the foot bronze Christ of the Deep statue, which sits below the surface.Dock your boat overnight at the Ocean Reef Club and experience the megayacht lifestyle. Pick up a mooring ball at Molasses Reef or the perennial favorite Dry Rocks Reef and put on your mask, snorkel and fins. The upland park on Largo Sound offers kayaking and canoeing through mangrove swamps and tropical hammocks, and snorkeling and diving at its marine park out on the reef. Allnut while cruising the Key's canals.But the real star of Key Largo is John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. (By land, locations in the Keys are noted by their mileage from Key West, which is Mile Marker/MM 0). She departs five times daily from Marina Del Mar located at Mile Marker 100 along Highway 1.
#WEST MARINE KEY LARGO FLORIDA MOVIE#
Strangely enough, there is another Humphrey Bogart connection to Key Largo: The original African Queen, the steam-powered star of the Bogart and Hepburn movie of that same name, has been restored to its original Hollywood splendor and now gives tours around Key Largo. Key Largo offers a relaxed atmosphere during the winter boating season and, obviously, shares a name with a classic 1948 Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall movie. And fortunately for boaters, the Keys are easy to transit in all weather, day or night, because the naturally formed Hawk Channel is well marked for buoy hopping and offers comfortable passage when the seas are raging outside the reef in the Gulf Stream.We'll begin our cruise from the Miami area and head south, keeping the prevailing easterly winds first on our beam and then on our stern as the Keys turn westward. If you mention those two magic words the Keys to any boater in Florida, immediately what springs to mind are visions of sparkling clear waters, snorkeling, scuba diving, tickling for lobsters, deep-sea fishing, back-bay flats fishing, and simply relaxing and letting go.A coral rock archipelago and accompanying barrier reef that stretch 200 nautical miles from Key Biscayne to the Dry Tortugas comprise this national marine sanctuary. The Florida Keys are aptly named, because they do offer the keys to a boating paradise unmatched anywhere in our lower 48 states.
