Quick! The first two pictures…can you tell which is the Atlantic and which is the Caribbean??? Of course not, as it is all the same water, when only separated by 0.5 mile or less! If you look at an online map of the US, the Florida Keys aren’t even visible! Driving with two different bodies of water on each side is very interesting, and very pretty. But, see if you won: the first photo is on the Caribbean side, and the second is on the Atlantic side. In fact, the second, third, and fourth photos are all from Mike’s diving tour, and they visited two sites: one they called Aquarium and the other, Renee’s Ledge. It was a fun afternoon, but no sea life of great note was spotted, even though Key Largo bills itself as The Diving Capital of the World.
Key Largo gained its fame from the Bogart/Bacall movie, of course. We were going to watch Key Largo in Key Largo, as we watched the movie In Bruges when were were in Bruges, but we found out that outside of an opening shot, the entire movie was shot on a Warner Brothers sound stage in Hollywood. After the movie’s release, and popularity, there was pressure by local businesses to rename the post office and have all the addresses in the area postmarked as Key Largo.
The rest of the photos were taken along the Caribbean side, near our hotel. Notice the name of an iconic key lime pie shop here…the Blond Giraffe! Do you see the blue hammock in one photo? We thought it very funny that its location is Hammock Beach, and that wing of the hotel is the Hammock Wing. The thing is, it is the only hammock on the beach! We thought we would find 20 hammocks in which to lounge..but no! We put together three of the more fun mailboxes we saw. The terrific warning signs are on the grounds of our hotel. The last photo was taken at a seafood restaurant, which also sold their fresh items. Overall, the atmosphere here is beach-happy, laid back, low key, relaxing, no worries…perfect for a few days away from cities and problems.
