Seven Mile Bridge – Florida Keys — Courtesy: Shutterstock — Mia2you
Just after daylight, I drive south from Miami, pack my scuba gear in the back, and turn onto Florida’s Overseas Highway, U.S. 1. In the rearview mirror, the city swiftly disappears. By the time I get to Key Largo, the sun is sparkling on the lake and the humidity has softened the saltiness of the air. Old Florida comes into focus as the mile marks get closer. The highway quickly turns into a network of bridges, skimming low over flats so shallow I can see stingrays ghosting beneath the surface. Strip malls and snorkel shops start to fade away, and the blue ocean starts to glow brighter.
The 113-mile travel might be completed in a few hours. That would miss the point, though. The Overseas Highway rewards slowing down, stopping, and pursuing curiosity wherever the water appears bluest. It is made up of 42 bridges that connect a coral kingdom of islands.
I’ve taken numerous drives around these islands, typically in pursuit of the ocean. With fins, a mask, and a regulator riding shotgun, I set out once more this summer, allowing the wild places of the Keys—beaches, mangroves, and reefs—to dictate the pace while bridging the gaps with locations that feel grounded rather than ostentatious. I let the Keys do their magic, turn down the windows, and turn on Jimmy Buffett.
Key Largo
I arrive at the Key Largo Bungalows. A former trailer park has been transformed into a luxurious getaway for adults only, complete with outdoor showers, plunge pools, individual verandas, and just the right amount of Hemingway-era romanticism. It’s dangerously easy to stay put with six bars and restaurants and a fleet of catamarans ready, but I keep my eyes on the ocean, where John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park safeguards the country’s first underwater park. The coral heads bloom like towns beneath the surface. I deposit my gear and make my way to my boat escort and the state park. As I fin by, heading to the Christ of the Abyss with my arms lifted in silent supplication, the visibility, perhaps eighty feet or more, accentuates the schools of blue tang and parrotfish grazing on the coral. I usually feel both humbled and excited when I surface here since it’s one of the few locations in Florida where the reef still feels robust and alive. The park’s conservation legacy, which dates back to the 1950s, is framed above the ocean by mangrove pathways and tropical hammocks. For those who prefer not to get wet, glass-bottom boats glide along the surface, revealing elkhorn coral, Goliath grouper, and sea turtles.
Before visiting the REEF Ocean Exploration Center, which opened in 2025, I spend some time on shore enjoying the Key Largo Conch House’s cracked conch Benedict and enormous Cuban coffee. Inside, dozens of native fish species that I know from my dives are displayed in a floor-to-ceiling reef sculpture. Volunteers discuss citizen science, fish surveys, and how regular snorkelers contribute to the preservation of the habitats they love. REEF offers free fish ID seminars every Thursday at John Pennekamp. These 45-minute sessions will forever alter your snorkeling experience. What’s the best part? The public can use the center and whatever they do for free. Before my last destination, a cocktail at The Armory Speakeasy at the VFW Post 1021, where a changing password grants me entry for one of their renowned key lime pie martinis, I cap the evening with a Florida spiny lobster roll at Key Largo Fisheries, overlooking the Gulf.
Islamorada
The road becomes closer to the water as I head south toward Islamorada. Using vintage helmets and early scuba equipment, I explore 4,000 years of underwater exploration at the History of Diving Museum. As I return to the heat, I can’t help but be thankful for contemporary regulators. A few miles away, at Robbie’s of Islamorada, enormous tarpon burst out of the water in a display that blurs the distinction between performance and nature, with pelicans hovering overhead and their silver bodies gleaming.
The Morada Way Arts & Cultural District comes to life every evening. A formerly peaceful area has been converted into the Keys’ closest thing to a main strip outside of Key West thanks to galleries, wine bars, and live music. While live music is playing in the palapa, I grab a taco from Jalisco Taco Truck and a pint of Florida Keys Brewing Company’s Spiny Hopster, a juicy IPA. I spend the night at Pines & Palms Resort, a collection of coastal cottages from the 1930s that Bryan and Sarah Baeumler of HGTV renovated. It’s like Old Florida with finer bedding, complete with free bikes, a tiki bar, and breezy porches.
Big Pine Key and Marathon
I never miss the Johnny’s Rambler (catch of the day on grilled swirling rye) sandwich and homemade limeade at Fish Tales Market & Eatery, which is the first stop on the road into Marathon. To support my exploration, I can’t help but grab a container of key lime pie and conch soup. Marinas, bait shops, and worn docks characterize this working area of the Keys. I spend an afternoon at Turtle Hospital seeing rescued sea turtles, some with wounds from boat hits and others without flippers, as they glide through rehabilitation pools. The tours are poignant, instructive, and well worth the time, and it’s the only state-licensed veterinary facility in the world dedicated exclusively to sea turtles. I wheel into Keys Fisheries before nightfall for the renowned lobster reuben, which is so well-liked that it has its own sign and counter (in June, I ordered number 418,581). I head to the adults-only Little Palm Island Resort for a fantasy stay on the only private island resort in North America after securing a slice of rum cake and a small cooler of Key West pink prawns for dinner.
As I pass past Big Pine Key, I’m back on the road south, where Key deer move lightly through the brush, unaffected by cars or cameras. Here, surrounded by pine rockland woods and influenced by tides, life seems more tranquil. One of the Keys’ most famous scenes can be found nearby at Bahia Honda State Park. Looking out over water so clean it almost seems unreal, I stand beneath the rusty arches of the historic Bahia Honda Bridge, which was formerly a part of Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railroad. Three sugar-soft beaches make it easy to lose track of time, paddlers skim the shoreline, and snorkelers drift over seagrass meadows.
I refuel at Good Food Conspiracy, a natural café that’s popular for turmeric shots and smoothies. The path I always look forward to the most comes next. A ribbon of asphalt poised between the sea and the sky, the Seven Mile Bridge unfolds in front of me. Parallel to my left and heading toward Pigeon Key is the Old Seven Mile Bridge, which is historic and worn and is designated on the National Register of Historic Places. On earlier excursions, I’ve ridden the train to discover more about the development of the Florida East Coast Railway, the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” and visited restored structures that provide insight into the lives of those who constructed it. This time, however, I take a moment to silently honor Fred the Tree, which is most likely growing directly out of concrete on the deserted span, before continuing on to Key West.
Key West
Before a welcome sign appears, roosters crowing from front yards indicate that you have arrived in Key West. There are more bikes than vehicles, and every neighborhood has layers of history. I head straight to 5 Brothers Grocery, a modest house turned deli that has been providing what I consider to be the best bites in Key West since 1978. The bollos, or garlicky black-eyed pea fritters, are the star of the Cuban sandwich. I check into the pink grande dame where Hemingway once wrote, the La Concha Hotel, full with food. For dinner, I head to the Hogfish Bar & Grill on Stock Island, which is tucked away behind a marina. Piña colada bread pudding, fried hogfish, pink shrimp, and Bahamian conch ceviche all have Keys-like flavors.
Moondog Cafe & Bakery is the place to go for breakfast. Everything here sings with flavor, so it’s usually difficult to decide, but I go with the shakshuka because I know I’ll fill up at the pastry shop on the way out. I go through the Hemingway Home and Museum in between meals, where the writer’s workshop continues to pulse with creative energy and six-toed cats stretch on shaded porches. Later, I get away from the masses to kayak Lazy Dog Adventures through the mangrove tunnels off Stock Island. The water is glassy and the air is quiet. Beneath my kayak, upside-down jellyfish beat, and the island is held in place by the mangrove roots that stitch the ground together.
The entire community congregates in Mallory Square at dusk. As the sun sets into the Gulf for another Sunset Celebration, strangers lean shoulder to shoulder, street entertainers get ready, and artisans set out their creations. Not for anyone in particular, but just for being here, together, at the border of the nation, applause breaks out.
I make one last trip out onto the water on my last day. Some tourists continue their journey by boarding seaplanes to Dry Tortugas National Park, where Fort Jefferson appears as a mirage rising from impossible-to-believe azure water. Others stop by the Southernmost Point for a picture with the famous buoy or dive the Vandenberg, a huge artificial reef that was formerly a naval ship and is now covered with coral and schools fish. Instead, I choose a sunset cruise with Danger Charters, where the captain blows the conch as we toast a rum punch to one last day in paradise, hoping for the fabled green flash, and the sky is bleeding orange and pink as Key West fades. With salt remaining on your skin, dive gear drying in the trunk, and already making plans for your return, the Keys feel more like a place you keep with you than a place you complete.
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Born and raised in South Florida, Krystal is a recent graduate from the University of Miami with professional writing experience at the collegiate and national news outlet levels. She’s a foodie who loves all things travel, the beach, & visiting new places throughout Florida.