Florida Keys & Key West Booth at Pow Wow: #709

• A 125-mile-long chain of islands that begins just south of Miami, the Florida Keys are connected by the Overseas Highway's 42 bridges over water — one almost seven miles long — over the Atlantic Ocean, Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
• The Keys have a subtropical climate with warm, balmy temperatures year-round, and even January is characterized by high temps in the 70s and clear blue skies.
• The Keys are divided into five regions: Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon, Big Pine and the Lower Keys, and Key West.
• Green mile markers along the Overseas Highway, descending in order from 127 at Florida City to 0 in Key West, often are used as address locators between Florida City and Key West.
• Paralleling the Florida Keys is the continental United States' only contiguous living coral barrier reef.
• The coastal waters of the entire island chain, including its shallow water flats, mangrove islets and coral reefs, have been designated the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
• The Florida Keys Shipwreck Trail is a line of nine historic underwater shipwrecks and artificial reefs extending from Key Largo to Key West and maintained by the sanctuary.
• Key Largo is widely regarded as the Dive Capital of the World and is home to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, America's first underwater preserve.
• Islamorada is known as the Sport-Fishing Capital of the World, where backcountry sport fishing and saltwater fly-fishing were pioneered.
• Marathon is famous for the Seven Mile Bridge (actually 6.79 miles long), one of the longest segmental bridges in the world.
• Big Pine in the Lower Florida Keys features a national refuge for miniature Key deer, where the species has come back from near-extinction to a thriving population.
• Key West, the southernmost populated island in the Florida Keys, lies 150 miles from Miami but only 90 miles from Cuba — and the 2-by-4-mile island features the southernmost point in the continental United States.
• Key West has been home to such literary greats as Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, who wrote some of their best-known works while living on the island.

For more Florida Keys & Key West travel information, including electronic brochures and videos, visit the Keys website at www.fla-keys.com.

Keys social media sites include facebook.com/floridakeysandkeywest, twitter.com/thefloridakeys and youtube.com/floridakeystv.

For personal service, call toll-free in the U.S. and Canada, 1-800-FLA-KEYS (800-352-5397).

fla-keys.com/media                              

1-800-ASK-KEYS                                  

Contact: Newman PR/Andy Newman

Mobile: 305-542-6014