Out of Marathon - BUT COOL!
Some cool places to see out of the Marathon area. From Florida Keys history to beautiful butterflies, there is a full day of adventure and learning for everybody.
| Bahia Honda is the jewel in not just the Florida Keys , but the whole of America.
It has a few tropical looking beaches covered in white sand for you to explore, which is quite unusual as most beaches in the Florida Keys are pebbly
The smallest of all is Calusa, and this one is to be found on the northwest at the other side of the island.
Of course when you are at a beach you get a bit sandy, and might want to use the showers that are found in small buildings.
The showers are outdoor, and fresh water, but I assume you aren`t planning to fully strip off when cleansing, so this should be fine. |
| Location: |
MM 37, 36850 Overseas Hwy Big Pine Key, FL 33043-3517 |
| Phone: |
305-872-3210 |
| Mission: To develop and maintain a world-class history & discovery center that accurately reflects the history of our Florida Keys community in a multifaceted and interactive environment.
Keys History & Discovery Center is open Thursdays through Sundays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and is located at 82100 Overseas Highway, MM82, on the property of the Islander Resort. General admission is $12, $10 for seniors and active military, and children 13 and under are free. |
| Location: |
82100 Overseas Hwy, Islamorada, FL 33036 |
| Phone: |
305-922-2237 |
| The Museum is dedicated to collecting, preserving, displaying, and interpreting artifacts, antiques, books, documents, photographs, and oral history relative to the History of Diving. We tell the international story of man`s attempts to explore, understand, and venture under the sea. We also celebrate the special role that South Florida and the Florida Keys played in this story. |
| Location: |
82990 Overseas Hwy, Islamorada, FL 33036 |
| Phone: |
305-664-9737 |
| Fort Jefferson was built to protect one of the most strategic deepwater anchorages in North America. By fortifying this spacious harbor, the United States maintained an important "advance post" for ships patrolling the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida. Nestled within the islands and shoals that make up the Dry Tortugas, the harbor offered ships the chance to resupply, refit, or seek refuge from storms.
The location of the Tortugas along one the world`s busiest shipping lanes was its greatest military asset. Though passing ships could easily avoid the largest of Fort Jefferson`s guns, they could not avoid the warships that used its harbor.
In enemy hands, the Tortugas would have threatened the heavy ship traffic that passed between the Gulf Coast (including New Orleans, Mobile and Pensacola) and the eastern seaboard of the United States. It could also serve as a potential staging area, or "springboard" for enemy forces. From here they could launch an attack virtually anywhere along the Gulf Coast. |
| Location: |
Go to Key West and Jump on a Ferry :) |
| Phone: |
305-242-7700 |
| Mel Fisher Maritime Museum and Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society in Key West, Florida is a museum that showcases gold, silver and treasure recovered from shipwrecks in the new World. View treasures from the Atocha, Santa Margarita, St. John` Wreck and the Henrietta Marie. |
| Location: |
200 Greene St, Key West, FL 33040 |
| Phone: |
305-294-2633 |
| Feel your stress fade away as you enter our magical world of butterflies. Relax and be amazed as you stroll through our tropical paradise. Walk through a magical and inviting environment filled with hundreds of the most beautiful winged creatures in nature. During your breathtaking journey you will experience an impressive collection of flowering plants, colorful birds, cascading waterfalls and trees that set the stage for the "flowers of the sky." Witness a variety of some 50 to 60 butterfly species from around the world, along with over 20 exotic bird species, all under a climate- controlled, glass enclosed habitat. In The Learning Center, explore the butterfly anatomy, physiology, lifecycle, feeding and migratory world of the Monarch. Also get a rare close up view of a variety of live caterpillars feeding and developing on their host plants. Browse through our unique Gift Shop offering a wide assortment of butterfly and nature related items. Wings of Imagination, the Butterfly Gallery, offers original art work by artist Sam Trophia. The acrylic shadow boxes depict the butterfly`s beauty preserved and suspended in art form in a spectrum of colors, shapes and sizes - your perfect piece of art from your vacation in Key West! |
| Location: |
1316 Duval St, Key West, FL 33040 |
| Phone: |
305-296-2988 |
| Our mission is to provide a wonderful home for our animals while sharing them with visitors in ways that inspire awareness and sensitivity towards animals, the environment, and conservation issues.
In 1905, Henry Flagler began one of the most ambitious projects in America when he began construction of the Overseas Railroad, an extension of the Florida East Coast Railway that stretched 128 miles from Miami to Key West. Initially called "Flagler`s Folly", the construction of the railroad required millions of cubic yards of material to build a roadbed through the island chain, including large blocks of coral rock. Two islands, called Umbrellas Keys, were combined as one when Flagler`s railroad crews filled the shallow space between them. The Umbrella Keys then became collectively known as Windley Key, which encompasses the village of Islamorada. This area was the first excavation site to furnish fill for the railway and bridge approaches. In fact, three separate quarries operated in the Windley Key complex. The excavation process resulted in deep quarry holes that covered large areas of land. This original rock quarry that was excavated for Henry Flagler`s railroad in the early 1900`s, has become the lagoons and lush, tropical gardens of the facility and are home to Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, California sea lions, sea turtles, tropical and game fish, sharks, stingrays, crocodiles, alligators, marine invertebrates, and birds. Twelve million gallons of ocean water are pumped in daily to supply water to the three-acre natural salt-water lagoons |
| Location: |
3410, 84721 Overseas Hwy, Islamorada, FL 33036 |
| Phone: |
305-664-2431 |
| Formed of Key Largo limestone, fossilized coral, this land was sold to the Florida East Coast Railroad, which used the stone to build Henry Flagler`s Overseas Railroad in the early 1900s. After the railroad was built, the quarry was used until the 1960s to produce exquisite pieces of decorative stone called Keystone. Today, visitors can walk along eight-foot-high quarry walls to see cross sections of the ancient coral and learn about the quarry and its operation- an important part of Florida`s 20th century history. Samples of the quarry machinery have been preserved at the park. Visitors can enjoy the natural attributes of this island while strolling five, short, self-guided trails. Picnic tables are available. The Visitor Center, open Thursday through Monday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., features educational exhibits about the history of this site. Located at Mile Marker 84.9 on Windley Key near Islamorada. |
| Location: |
84900 Overseas Hwy, Islamorada, FL 33036 |
| Phone: |
305-664-2540 |
| If you had visited Coral Castle in the 1940`s you would have been greeted enthusiastically by a man weighing a mere 100 pounds and standing just over 5 feet tall. He would have asked you for ten cents admission and introduced you to his fantasy world.
As you moved around his sculpture garden in stone, and the significance of each piece was explained, you would have been witness to the great pride Ed Leedskalnin took in his work.
Since it is documented that no one ever witnessed Ed`s labor in building his beloved Coral Castle, some have said he had supernatural powers. Ed would only say that he knew the secrets used to build the ancient pyramids and if he could learn them, you could too. |
| Location: |
28655 S Dixie Hwy, Homestead, FL 33033 |
| Phone: |
305-248-6345 |
