Report from Key Largo

It almost seems like a parody of retirement. Here I am in Key Largo, at the north end of the Florida Keys. Golf carts buzz up and down the road in front of our VRBO bungalow. Palm trees wave lazily in the  mid-morning breeze. I’m actually wearing flip-flops and a Hawaiian shirt as I write this. Cue the Jimmy Buffet song. The pressing question of the day is, should we go to the beach before or after lunch? (After as it turns out).

A year ago I was prepping for the final leg of my 18,000 km motorcycle journey through South America, to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. Somehow that seems more noble than riding the 160 km from our house here in Key Largo to Key West, the southernmost point in the Continental US. I did it anyway. (I brought my Ténéré 700 on a trailer, since riding down wasn’t feasible in the winter).

Don’t get me wrong, it’s very pleasant here. The temperature has been hovering in the low 70’s for the last month – cool for the locals, but perfect for us. Navigating through day to day life is a lot easier than it was in South America. It’s very white and people speak English, with sprinkles of Cuban and Puerto Rican Spanish and everyone is very friendly. But there’s still a weird low level  culture shock just below the surface. I think it’s because I expect the US to be just like home, and it’s not. We don’t lock our doors at home. We do here. And there’s no Timmies.

The Florida Keys style themselves as “The Conch Republic”. They are a unique milieu socially (somewhat hedonistic and very libertarian) and environmentally.  The Keys are a chain of coral islands (Quays, americanized to Keys) that arc 120 miles SW from the tip of Florida towards Cuba. The islands, are strung together by US 1 the “Overseas Highway” which  does literally run over the sea on causeways and bridges. The longest bridge, in the photo at top, is seven miles long. It’s really the only major road. Except for a handful of the larger Keys you can only venture a couple of hundred yards off either side. It’s not a freeway and traffic is usually heavy, but it is a stunningly beautiful drive.

It’s a fairly urban environment. It’s not Times Square. There are no highrises, but dry land is at a premium here. The houses are packed close together and strip malls line the highway in the towns dotted along it’s length. Still, there’s an abundance of wildlife. The waters along the entire length of the Keys are a national marine sanctuary, with abundant fish, dolphins and the only coral reef system in the continental US. We have manatees grazing in the canal right across the street from our house (the dark bump in the photo). The Keys are part of a major flyway and so birding is a big thing here. I can recognize ospreys, frigate birds and pelicans. The rest I just admire. Despite being so close to the megalopolis of Miami, there are still large protected areas – mangrove swamps and tropical hardwood forests, including half a dozen or so State Parks along the length of the Keys.

Our VRBO rental is a modest concrete block bungalow. It’s not much to look at from the outside, but it’s the nicest furnished and best equipped holiday rental we’ve had anywhere. We especially like the screened-in porch in the front. It also came with two kayaks and a golf cart (handy for dragging our beach chairs and other gear to the beach). There’s a small beach at the end of our street, a supermarket within walking distance, lots of nearby restaurants and other services.

And there’s lots to do. Liz does aqua-fit three times a week at the community pool. She’s also joined the local ukulele group – a fun bunch who get together to practice and perform at local farmers’ markets, vaccination clinics and such. We both go to a local gym to try to at least maintain the status quo and compensate for too much ice cream and guacamole (not together!). I’ve met some great people through the local recovery community. There’s a weekly bio-eco lecture series at a nearby State Park on topics ranging from monarch butterflies, to dolphins. Tonight we’re going to the first of a series of chamber music concerts.

We’re also doing some of the typical tourist stuff. Last week we went to a place where, if you like, you can feed the tarpon. Tarpon are huge goggle-eyed fish, some five or six feet long, and much prized by sport fishermen. The fish are free to come and go as they please – the skirting and netting you see in the picture are to keep the pelicans out. Liz just got a mask fitted with prescription lenses, so we’re looking forward to doing some snorkelling and diving on the reefs. And we also plan to do a “swim with the dolphins” at a nearby facility. In short, there’s no lack of things to do.

We’re also getting in lots of R & R & W – rest, reading and writing. For those of you who read The Spark  (shameless self-promotion) you may be interested to know that I am, at last, putting the finishing touches on the first draft of the sequel (working title – Swift Justice). There’s still a lot to do in rewriting and polishing, but I hope to have good news on that front in a year or so, if I can… Squirrel!!!

Compared to some of our other adventures, life in the Keys is decidedly more pedestrian. Still, we’re enjoying it immensely. The proof of that is that we’ve already booked to come back in 2026.

Click here to see these and other photos larger. Hope you’re all having a great winter.