Somewhere in one of the many bars along Key West’s legendary Duval Street roams a six-toed cat named Aurora with a tiny video camera strapped to her furry head.

She’s no ordinary cat, though. First, the copper-colored feline is a direct descendant of the six-toed cats once owned by world-renowned author and former Key West resident Ernest Hemingway. In addition, Aurora is the star of the latest Key West television spot produced by Tinsley Advertising, the agency of record for the Florida Keys tourism council for nearly two decades.

With the tiny “cat cam” strapped to her head, Aurora takes the bars she visits by storm, capturing all the hoopla and revelry of Duval’s lively nightlife. Aurora struts from the funky Green Parrot Bar to Rick’s Bar to Sloppy Joe’s and other well-known local hot spots, giving viewers a cat’s-eye look at local musicians, scantily clad partiers toasting and dancing the night away and folks sitting at the bar enjoying cocktails.

Highlights include a brief appearance by local performer, diva and drag queen extraordinaire Sushi, accompanied by a fellow performer.

Aurora even licks her lips when she spots a tub of assorted seafood, including stone crab claws, lobster and oysters on ice.

Tinsley Advertising created the spot, as offbeat as the spirit of the Keys itself, in quirky contrast to their other commercials spotlighting the island chain’s natural beauty, water sports and unique architecture. With edgy cutaways to popular bars and familiar faces like Sushi, the Key West party atmosphere is expertly displayed — from Aurora’s point of view.

According to Tinsley’s creative director Dorn Martell, working with a feline made shooting tricky at times. Martell said a local “cat whisperer” was brought in to distract Aurora with noisemakers and treats (and that was just to get the camera strapped to her head!).

Not only is the “Key West Six-Toed Cat Cam” commercial appearing on TV in major U.S. cities. It’s also making waves and on YouTube and on the Keys Web site’s “Video of the Week” section, where viewers are doing double-takes, laughing out loud and replaying the piece again and again. To access the feline frolic and the Keys’ other “Video of the Week” segments, click here.

In fact, there’s only one thing more fun than watching the spot — and that’s following in Aurora’s six-toed footsteps and sampling Key West’s nightlife in purr-son.

Topics: Florida Keys, Key Largo

Stretching more than 100 miles into the open ocean, the Florida Keys can boast early settlers ranging from Bahamian fishermen to Cuban cigar makers and New England merchants. In such a rich melting pot, naturally the indigenous cuisine came to blend diverse and delicious influences — centering on the abundant fish and seafood harvested from local waters.

Most people don’t realize that commercial fishing is the second-largest industry in the Keys. What does that mean to diners? Simple — the fresh fish that graces your table at night was probably unloaded at the docks that morning. It’s no wonder fish and seafood headline nearly every restaurant menu.

Among the favorites is Key West pink shrimp, a delicacy generally considered sweeter than other types of shrimp. Whether sautéed in scampi, battered and fried, piled atop salad or pasta, or simply steamed and served with cocktail or mustard sauce, Key West pinks rank among the most popular of the Keys’ “natural resources.”

The mollusk conch (pronounced “konk”) is served in mouthwatering dishes like lime-dressed salad, chewy deep-fried fritters and spicy chowder. Please note that conch chowder can either be tomato-based or white, but don’t expect to find any consistency of recipes from one restaurant to another — Keys eateries pride themselves on creating unique interpretations of classic dishes.

You’ll also discover that conch represents far more than food. Keys residents admired the mollusk’s tough, hardy nature so much that they adopted its name for themselves. Today, conch is no longer fished in the Keys, but the word “Conch” refers to someone born in the island chain, which is affectionately known as the Conch Republic.

Stone crabs, renowned for their sweet and succulent meat, also are a popular delicacy. Because nearly all of the crab’s meat is contained in its claws, these are the only portions of the crab that are harvested. Once the claws are removed, the crab is returned to the sea where, over the course of up to two years, the claws regenerate. For this reason, stone crabs are considered a renewable resource — and the Florida Keys are responsible for about 40 percent of the state’s overall harvest.

Stone crab claws are most commonly served warm with drawn butter or chilled with mustard sauce. The meat of the claws also can be used in crab cakes, fritters and other tempting dishes. Florida’s stone crab season runs from Oct. 15 to May 15.

Florida Keys fishermen prepare and serve their harvest, like these spiny Florida lobsters, at the annual Original Marathon Seafood Festival.

Unlike stone crabs, lobsters found in the Keys are clawless. Known as spiny lobsters, they offer remarkably tender meat. Local restaurants often serve them steamed or boiled with drawn butter (heavenly!) — or their meat might be made into salad or served with exotic sauces. Lobster season runs from Aug. 6 to March 31.

Yellowtail snapper, hog snapper, mutton snapper, grouper and dolphin or mahi-mahi are just a few of the Keys’ scale fish preferred by chefs. At restaurants throughout the island chain, you can find sautéed yellowtail or snapper with a variety of sauces and side dishes, along with fried grouper or mahi-mahi sandwiches, broiled or blackened fish entrees and much more.

In addition to offerings from the sea, Keys cuisine reflects a multitude of cultural influences — particularly Cuban in Key West. Migrating across the water by the thousands in the late 1800s, Cuban aristocrats and cigar makers brought the flavors of their homeland with them.

Ropa vieja, a name that literally means “old clothes,” is actually shredded beef in a tasty sauce. Other favorite dishes are picadillo and roast pork or pork chunks. Cuban entrees are most often served with traditional black beans and yellow rice, sweet plantains and Cuban bread (warning: this is so good it can be addictive).

In fact, many Keys residents can’t start the day without a breakfast of toasted Cuban bread and Cuban coffee, which packs a ferocious jolt.

When it comes to desserts, it’s almost impossible to spend time in the Keys without sampling Key lime pie. Just as New Orleans is famed for its gumbo and Chicago for its pizza, the island chain is known for its signature dessert.

Key lime pie is the perfect finish to any Keys meal. Photo by Bob Krist, Florida Keys News Bureau

There are no commercial Key lime groves in the Florida Keys today, but Key Largo boasted a large Key lime industry until about the mid 1930s. Restaurants throughout the Florida Keys and Key West continue to use Key limes and their juice to enhance seafood dishes and sauces, as well as in pies.

According to the owner of Key West’s Curry Mansion Inn, a woman named Aunt Sally — the cook for estate owner William Curry — made the first Key lime pie. Key West historian Tom Hambright, on the other hand, suggests Aunt Sally probably perfected a delicacy created by area fishermen.

Today, each restaurant places its individual hallmark on this special dessert, but its primary ingredients are condensed milk and tiny yellow Key limes. (The true Key lime pie you’ll find in the Keys is not green, by the way, but is actually butter-yellow.) Often nestled in a graham cracker crust and smothered in whipped cream, Key lime pie is a sinfully indulgent finale for any island meal.

As rich as Key lime pie is, however, it can’t compare to the richness of experience that awaits you in the Florida Keys. Whether feasting at a water’s-edge seafood shack or a gourmet haven with linen tablecloths, you’ll find a warm welcome, an easygoing atmosphere and unique and memorable cuisine.

Topics: Big Pine Key & Lower Keys, Florida Keys, Food, Islamorada, Key Largo, Key West, Keys History, Local Color, Marathon

To travel throughout the Florida Keys, an arc of islands drifting effortlessly off the southernmost tip of Florida’s mainland, you must drive across 43 bridges.

Some extend mere feet; one is an astonishing seven miles long. All stretch between small islands of vastly diverse character, and all boast the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other.

Yet even after you navigate the 43rd span, there’s one more bridge to cross. It’s a bridge from one culture to another. The Keys combine the features of a welcoming American small town with those of a Caribbean destination rich in manana mindset and irreverent humor.

I crossed the last bridge in 1977, and since then have spent happy years learning about the Keys’ seafaring past and living their freewheeling present. As a thirty-year resident with an enduring passion for the area, I have a true insider’s perspective about the place.

I also have a wide knowledge of things that only a long-time resident would know. Like the secret ingredient in America’s tastiest Reuben sandwich (fresh-caught Keys lobster — really). Like which gravestone in the picturesque Key West cemetery bears the inscription “I told you I was sick.” Like where you can dive into an underwater music festival, paint with a dolphin, feed flashing tarpon or be greeted by a canine concierge.

Those might be small things — but they’re part of the indefinable Florida Keys magic that burrows its way into the bones and the blood, turning casual visitors into long-term residents.

Here in the Keys, the setting sun merits a nightly celebration. Treasure hunting is a legitimate (and respected) occupation. And if you ride your bike down a quiet street at dusk, you’ll catch a scent of nighttime blooms and saltwater that can’t be found anywhere else on earth.

That’s the atmosphere I hope to communicate in this blog. Here you’ll find insights into the Florida Keys’ places and personality, characters and camaraderie, history and heart.

There’s a Keys legend that says once visitors get sand in their shoes, they’ll come back to the islands again and again. Become a reader of this blog, and chances are you’ll sense the Keys’ offbeat, magical appeal — and you too will feel the grit and promise of sand in your shoes.

Topics: Big Pine Key & Lower Keys, Florida Keys, Highlights, Islamorada, Key Largo, Key West, Keys Quirks, Local Color, Marathon

Harriet Stokes, only the third owner of Largo Lodge since it opened in Key Largo in the late 1940s, remembers the sleepy years of the Florida Keys.

“I bought Largo Lodge between 1967 and 1968,” Stokes said. “The road Largo Lodge is on was a narrow road back then. We could sit right in the middle of it, read the paper and not be bothered by cars or people.”

Stokes

Although the Florida Keys are much more populated now, maintaining the destination’s laid-back atmosphere is important to Stokes and is something she strives for at her property.

It was originally conceived as a small casino, so the first owner built cottages to house the gamblers. Many casino visitors were troops from Florida training camps, readying for World War II, who needed a release from their military duties.

“The troops trained in Florida because of the year-round good weather, so the owner figured with a card table and some cards they could get a game going,” Stokes said.

Stokes has a wealth of memories of her history in Key Largo — including the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce meetings the group held in her back yard.

“That’s how we started. We put a trailer near the road and we used that as our first chamber office,” Stokes said. “We had an agreement with the land owner that, if we fed her cat, she would allow us to use the property the trailer was on as our visitor center.”

She also recalled the regular blackouts that occurred in the late 1960s because of area thunderstorms — especially one in 1968.

“The editor of ‘The Atlanta Journal Constitution’ and Charles Portis, who wrote ‘True Grit,’ the novel that became a John Wayne classic, were guests at the lodge then and I remember them staying up all night during the blackout, shining their headlights in my garden,” commented Stokes.

Many local politicians also stayed at Largo Lodge including Harry Harris and Senator Larry Plumber when they needed a quiet place to relax.

While Stokes prides herself on keeping the Old Florida feel at Largo Lodge, which comprises seven units housed on the property’s three acres of land, she said maintaining that look gets tougher by the day.

“Because of the décor in our rooms, I often have to shop on Miami Beach to find the Art Deco look that works,” she said.

The property still uses pea rock for its driveway, which she feels enhances the atmosphere, and they continue to plant trees to keep the lodge quiet.

“Our driveway is very beautiful and we make the landscaping this way to keep the noise level down,” Stokes explained.

A Midwesterner who married a South Floridian back in the late 1940s, Stokes has seen a world of changes since her first days in the Keys.

“I don’t think people realize how primitive it was back then, particularly the openness and the electricity going out,” she said. “Where we are now is a long way from the 1957 Chevy that brought me here.”

Topics: Florida Keys, Highlights, Key Largo, Keys History, Local Color, Profiles

He may be more than 60 years old, but Will Soto still walks a tightrope three evenings a week, juggling and bantering with crowds as the undisputed star of Key West’s famed sunset celebration at Mallory Square.

In fact Soto, who has the lean physique and quick enthusiasm of a much younger man, is one of the founders of the nightly celebration that draws scores of people to Mallory to watch buskers perform, browse vendors’ wares and applaud the sunset over Key West Harbor.

But just as the sunset gathering wasn’t always such a widely recognized spectacle, Soto wasn’t always an acrobat. He was a New Orleans–based artist, traveling the show circuit, when he was hijacked by a friend after a Coconut Grove art festival (and a few cocktails) and transported to Key West.

“I woke up in the back of his van crossing bridges,” Soto confesses.

He had seen Key West once before, in 1966, when his Navy destroyer escort briefly visited the port. But the second time, 10 years later, the island’s appeal took hold during his first early-morning walk.

“In those days, nothing was really rehabbed,” he recalls. “The houses were all funky and in a state of glorious disrepair. I said, ‘Wow, this is my place — where I want to be for a while.’ I just had some magical feeling about it.”

Almost immediately, Soto discovered Mallory Square and its nightly sunset celebration. At that time, it was simply an eclectic gathering of locals — a handful of artists selling trinkets, fishermen returning from a day on the water, hippies, a few musicians, a lone performing act and whoever else happened to wander by. Once the sun went down, the action began.

“Two or three or four drummers came together, and somebody would bring their guitar or a flute,” Soto says. “People started playing music, doing the limbo and partying, passing around wine and rum. There was a palpable magic in the air — it was the kind of wild, unabashed tropical party that you always wished you could stumble upon.”

The artist from New Orleans was hooked. And shortly, his new home inspired a new profession.

Soto already had a background in gymnastics and an ability to juggle. Tempted by the wide open stage of Mallory Square, he abandoned the visual arts for the performing arts.

“That exchange with the audience … felt so good and so right,” he says of his first attempts at performing. “Everything was so immediate and so magical that it said something to my soul that I needed.”

Fueled by the response from his small audience, Soto learned how to work a crowd. He took his juggling and comic patter to new heights when he ascended a tightrope high above the audience.

As the years passed and Key West’s tourism industry grew, the sunset celebration became a must-see event for virtually every visitor to the island city. Soto helped nurture its development into the internationally recognized “happening” it is today — and his photographed silhouette, standing on the high wire against a blazing sky and the waters of Key West Harbor, became an iconic symbol of the nightly gathering.

More than 30 years after his arrival in Key West, Soto’s trademark ponytail and mustache might be graying, but his body is as trim and limber as ever. His performances still sparkle, though he never imagined he’d be working the wire at his age.

“In fact, I would have told you that a 60-year-old acrobat probably wasn’t a possibility,” he admits. “The only reason my body can still handle what I’m doing is because I work out five days a week. I’m up early and I do kickboxing, tai chi, tae kwon do …”

As well as teaching martial arts, he maintains his physical strength by kayaking with his wife Amy.

Equally strong is his continued passion for Key West.

“There are always a million little things in Key West that are funky and you love,” he says. “Like coconuts falling in your yard that you can pick up and eat, or walking out your door and seeing a three-and-a-half-foot white heron standing in your front yard.”

After three decades of performing for sunset audiences, Will Soto is just as enthusiastic about it as he was when he attempted his first shows.

“I have never lost that love of that spontaneous magic you can create when you’re working with a live crowd,” he states.

For the innumerable people who applaud him at the sunset celebration, that’s very good news.

Topics: Events, Festivals, Florida Keys, Highlights, Key West, Keys Quirks, Local Color, Profiles

Islamorada artist Stacie Krupa, a native Floridian, did her time in the Northeast before discovering the lifestyle in the Keys suits her — and her art — far better.

“I am very inspired by wildlife, ocean and fish,” says Krupa, who has made her home in the Keys for 10 years. “I painted fish when I was in the Northeast, and people thought I was weird.”

Originally from Orlando, Krupa studied art in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York before opening a gallery in Winter Park, Fla. In 1997, she decided to move to the Florida Keys.

“I came here because if you’re going to live in Florida, you should live in the Keys,” she says. “Moving here also gave me the opportunity to bring the mentality and the essence of fine art from the Northeast to the Keys.”

When she first arrived in the Keys, Krupa used a limited palette of colors — gray, white and brown — which gave her work an industrial feel. Once she embarked on earning her masters degree, which she completed in the Keys, she became interested in creating abstract expressionist images.

“I noticed the Keys artists’ use of color and figured out in graduate school I wanted to do this with acrylics,” she says. “Rather than just seeing the image and its shapes, I started seeing the colors around me.”

Krupa, whose background includes a degree in psychology, knows well the effect color can have on a person’s life. She credits the colors in the Florida Keys with determining her moods. The island environment, coupled with the colors, she says, provides a source of self-therapy for her.

“As a very energetic and hyper person, the intensity of the natural beauty here serves both to soothe and inspire me,” Krupa states.

Krupa’s art, showcased at her gallery at mile marker (MM) 83 oceanside in Islamorada, depicts ocean life as well as animals and people, and incorporates iridescent colors layered with drips and sparkles. She works in oils, oil sticks and acrylics.

Krupa encourages visitors to the gallery to come in, ponder and converse about the pieces, and watch her as she works.

Her art, influenced by the abstract expressionist movement of the 1930s and 1940s, can also be seen at the new Redbone Gallery, MM 81 oceanside behind the Green Turtle Inn Restaurant.

Although Krupa likes to venture to the Florida mainland, after a short time away she longs to come home to her familiar surroundings.

As strong as her passion for the Keys is, however, it can’t eclipse her passion for art. She first explored painting when she was 3 years old, and began painting professionally at age 12.

Art has served as a major confidence builder and a constant in her life, something she could rely on, yet change if she felt the need to.

“In other words, I could never mess it up,” Krupa says. “Where people and life disappoint, my art has never disappointed me, and this has always driven me to paint.”

In fact, art is so important to Krupa that her paintings become like human beings to her.

“Sometimes I yell at my paintings,” she confesses. “I speak to them as if they were alive — and they are always a male or female when I am done, almost as if they were a sibling.”

Siblings or not, the paintings of this creative Keys “sister” are well worth discovering.

Topics: Animal Ambassadors, Arts, Florida Keys, Highlights, Islamorada, Keys Environment, Profiles

From working on Volkswagens to rehabilitating and releasing injured sea turtles, Richie Moretti has led a diverse and challenging life.

Richie Moretti (right) releases a green sea turtle with Florida Keys Commissioner Mario Di Gennaro (left) and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.

Owner of what he says was “a very fast boat,” he first came to the Florida Keys from Orlando in 1980 and helped rescue Cuban people during the Mariel boatlift. The following year, he started fishing in Marathon.

His trips to the Middle Keys became more frequent as he fished, worked on his boat and familiarized himself with the area.

“I ended up buying the Buena Vista Motel as it was going into foreclosure,” said Moretti, who added that, in 1984, the people living at his newly acquired motel helped him make the decision to move to the Keys permanently.

“I realized the folks living in the motel were happier than I was fixing Volkswagens in Orlando, so I decided to move down to the Keys full-time,” he said.

Built in the 1940s, the small motel included a saltwater swimming pool —and Moretti quickly turned it into a home for marine denizens. The first pool resident was a tarpon he caught in 1984. Slowly he began adding more fish. A school of tarpon came next, followed by snook, Goliath grouper, a sawfish, lobsters and eels.

Once the local schools learned about the pool’s residents, they approached Moretti about bringing groups of students for educational tours.

“The groups would come and we would put a conch or a starfish in the kids’ hands so they could see it was a living animal,” he said. “Then, when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show became popular in the mid-1980s, we decided to put a turtle in the pool.”

That proved to be quite challenging. Moretti lobbied the state for a turtle for the educational program, but the request was denied because he was told there was no turtle rehabilitator in the Florida Keys.

Not about to let that stop him, Moretti recruited Dr. Elliott Jacobson from the University of Florida, who later became the Turtle Hospital’s first veterinarian. Moretti credits Jacobson and his fishing buddy, Captain Tina Brown, as his first hospital crew.

Today the Turtle Hospital, located at mile marker 48.5 bayside in Marathon, is the only facility of its kind in the world — it even has a turtle ambulance for patient transport. Moretti and his staff treat injured sea turtles and, when possible, return them to the wild. If release isn’t feasible, the creatures become permanent residents.

Educational tours of the facility are offered to introduce visitors to the resident sea turtles and to the hospital’s curative programs for loggerhead, green, hawksbill and Kemp’s ridley turtles. Moretti credits Dr. Doug Mader, the hospital’s current staff veterinarian, for bringing the facility to its present level.

In addition to turtle rehabilitation and public education, the Turtle Hospital’s goals include conducting and assisting with research that aids sea turtles in conjunction with state universities, and working toward environmental legislation that makes beaches and water safer and cleaner for sea turtles.

As the heart and soul of the Turtle Hospital, Moretti has bonded with many of his patients over the years.

“I look at every turtle as something special,” he said. “I love them all.”

Among the hospital’s rescued, rehabilitated and released turtles was a 350-pound green sea turtle that was tangled on a trap rope. Thanks to a report from an individual who spotted the animal, and the Florida Fish and Game Commission’s figuring the coordinates of its location, the Turtle Hospital was able to rescue the animal.

“It was very tough to get her in the boat because of her size — she struggled to get in the boat,” Moretti said. “I remember her taking a deep breath as she lay on me, like she knew she was in good hands.”

Moretti and his staff recently released the turtle off the Marquesas in the Keys where they found her, making sure to observe her as she swam away, ensuring she would survive in her environment.

The turtles and his life in the picturesque Keys keep Moretti content, satisfied and most of all calm — a welcome feeling for the self-confessed hyperactive man.

“When you live out in a string of islands that is the Keys, you realize how insignificant you are — it’s a real ego check,” Moretti said. “I love my life in the Keys.”

For more information about Richie Moretti’s Turtle Hospital, its continuing work and educational programs, visit www.turtlehospital.org.

Topics: Animal Ambassadors, Highlights, Keys Environment, Local Color, Marathon, Profiles

When Howard Livingston and Mile Marker 24 step onstage to perform their trademark tropical rock, they bring along an unusual “instrument”: a 1952 Johnson 5.5-horsepower outboard motor used to blend margaritas for the audience.

Odd as it might appear, the funky hybrid blender is the perfect accompaniment to the band’s infections melodies, which bear titles like “Blame It On The Margaritas” and “Livin’ On Key West Time.”

Yet even more appealing than the free margaritas is the passion Livingston projects with every lyric he sings and every chord he strums — a passion for the Florida Keys that inspired the dissatisfied Chicago manufacturing company owner to become a carefree, fulfilled musician who lives on the water in the Lower Keys.

Livingston first visited the Keys in the early 1980s. A sailing enthusiast who had a boat on Lake Michigan, he rented a sailboat in Islamorada and began exploring the area.

“I went up and down the Keys and fell in love,” he said. “Every waking moment from that point on was spent in wondering, ‘How do I move there? How do I live there?’”

In the early 1990s, Livingston bought a piece of land on Summerland Key and built a house. Though still tied to his northern corporate life, over the years he spent increasing amounts of time escaping to Summerland.

“I just felt like the Keys were the place I should be,” said Livingston.

While he came from a musical family and enjoyed writing songs, he had put his love of music on hold for most of his adult life. Then, during a business trip to China, his yearning for the Keys inspired him to write a song he named “Livin’ On Key West Time.”

Lighthearted and melodic, it would become one of his signature tunes and the title of his first CD.

The song helped crystallize Livingston’s desire to live the Keys lifestyle full-time. Four years ago he moved permanently to the house on Summerland, located near Mile Marker 24 of the Overseas Highway that spans the island chain. The move gave him the freedom and inspiration he needed to launch his music career.

Today, Livingston and his Mile Marker 24 band — composed of core members Jason Miller on guitar and vocals and Dave Herzog on percussion and steel drums, plus additional players for touring and recording — are debuting their first live CD/DVD combo and finishing the tracks for their fifth CD. Previous CD releases include “Meet Me In The Keys” and “Blame It On the Margaritas” as well as the career–launching “Livin’ On Key West Time.”

Their tropical rock sound is so popular that their recent summer tour included 20 states and more than 20,000 miles. In great part, Livingston says, that’s because the music is an expression of the Florida Keys experience.

“Being in the Keys is the biggest single influence on me as a person and on my music,” he said. “We probably don’t realize how fortunate we are to live here, because just about everybody in the world wants to be doing what we’re doing — whether they’re a doctor or a lawyer or a street cleaner.”

In fact, one of Livingston’s greatest songwriting challenges is distilling the Keys’ attitude and atmosphere into three or four minutes of music and lyrics.

“That is the most difficult thing to do,” he admitted. “I can sit down and write a song about the Keys that can be 20 minutes long, and I wouldn’t have started talking about how wonderful it is.”

To make the process manageable, Livingston focuses on capturing small snapshots of Keys life and his experiences in his island home. He and the band have shared those snapshots with national audiences during performances on CBS’ “The Early Show” and ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Whether his listeners are television audiences, concert–goers or CD purchasers, Livingston hopes the music will evoke one fundamental emotion in them: happiness.

“We just want it to be feel-good music, and perhaps a little bit of escapism,” he said. “No matter how crazy the world gets, that warm, safe, tropical place of the Florida Keys is always there.”

Livingston shares his life in the Keys with Cyndy Wayt, who he describes as his soulmate, and their three dogs. Wayt and the canines — two golden retrievers and a Portuguese water dog — accompany him on tour.

Also along on every tour, and prominently featured at concerts, is the Johnson outboard “blender” used for concocting margaritas onstage. The prized machine even has its own travel case to keep it secure on the road.

Livingston discovered the outboard on a scrap heap at a Keys marina.

“I had an ex-neighbor in Chicago who builds race cars, so on my next trip to Chicago I took the motor and the canister of a blender, walked into his house and said, ‘Make this fit on here’,” Livingston said. “About a week later, he called and said, ‘Next time you come to Chicago, bring some tequila’.”

To learn more about the man whose music captures the essence of margarita–kissed days in the Keys, visit www.milemarker24.com.

Topics: Arts, Big Pine Key & Lower Keys, Highlights, Local Color, Profiles

They’re everywhere: Key West history books, Conch cookbooks, affectionate descriptions of Cayo Hueso and life among its inhabitants. The island has become a favorite literary topic and islanders have become authors. Residents can be glimpsed wandering the streets of Old Town, eyes glazed in creative thought and fingers permanently curled as though poised over a computer keyboard.

Some of the crop of Key West reminiscences are truly wonderful. June Keith’s “Postcards From Paradise” is a prime example. And Christopher Cox’s “A Key West Companion,” published in 1983, remains an outstanding, entertaining history of the island and its atmosphere. Fiction too offers an enlightening vision of the city, as in the Alex Rutledge mysteries penned by Tom Corcoran.

Overall, Key West has been romanticized, downgraded, glorified, and libeled in print (sometimes all in the same piece of prose). The author of the first book about the island could never have known what a precedent he was setting.

Actually, he never intended to write a book at all. Had it not been for the erratic course of a cannonball, Walter C. Maloney’s “A Sketch of the History of Key West” would not now exist.

Walter Maloney arrived in Key West from Georgia in 1837. He soon married and settled down, and was employed as (among other things) a schoolteacher, a postmaster, a U.S. Marshal, an attorney, editor of the “Key West Dispatch,” and vice-consul for Sweden. (How an Irishman named Maloney became vice-consul for Sweden is no doubt a tale in its own right.)

Maloney delved into Key West civic affairs not long after his arrival on the island. He became so well-liked and respected that at one point he was elected mayor — and among the civic improvements he was involved in was the building of the new city hall.

In 1871, Maloney persuaded Miss Florida Simonton, heir of one of the island’s first settlers, and her trustee to donate the land for the city hall building. Not unnaturally, when the Greene Street edifice was completed, he was asked to make a speech at its dedication.

The ceremony took place on July 4, 1876 — the centennial of the Declaration of Independence — and Key Westers were ready for a party. The day was hot, as the island always is in July. The firecrackers began at daylight, and the first parade got underway at 9 a.m. Children stood excitedly on tiptoe to see the high-stepping Hook and Ladder Company marching to its new quarters at the city hall. The firemen were proud in their new uniforms, and the fire engine shiny. Excitement was as tangible as a fragrance in the air. Cannons went off periodically, adding their noise to the celebration.

Arriving at the city hall, citizens saw the American flag snapping smartly in the breeze above the frame building. Shortly, the speeches began. First Mayor Carlos de Céspedes gave the actual dedication and spoke at great length. Then the Honorable William McClintock, president of the board of common council, read the Declaration of Independence. A hymn was sung … a prayer was read … the pace of the celebration got slower and slower, and the audience got more and more restless.

Finally Walter Maloney stepped to the podium, having consented to relate a brief history of Key West, from its founding in the 1820s to its fame as the largest city in Florida. As he placed his notes in front of him, the assembled crowd looked a bit startled at their volume. In actuality, the notes for the “brief history” ran to 68 pages.

During the opening of Maloney’s speech, his listeners stirred and muttered. They were tired of speeches. They wanted more fireworks. They wanted some excitement. And it wasn’t long before they got it.

It seems that one of the cannonballs shot exuberantly off during the morning’s festivities had lodged in the roof of the home of George Alderslade, owner of the Gem Saloon. It started a fire that smoldered merrily along unnoticed for some time. Finally, the flames were spotted by the fidgeting crowd at the city hall several blocks away.

Immediately, the Hook and Ladder Company rushed into action, dousing the fire so enthusiastically that more damage was done by flood than by flame. Nevertheless, George Alderslade politely thanked the firemen. The crowd, having followed the firemen at an excited trot, cheered vigorously. Walter Maloney, deprived of his audience, put away his speech and went to watch the afternoon’s parades along with everyone else.

Maloney, however, was a practical man who couldn’t see wasting all the work he’d put into that speech. So he added an appendix and a page or two here and there, and sent it off to Newark, New Jersey, to be published.

The city hall of 1876 is gone now, burned down in the great fire of 1886 — and those who might remember its dedication ceremonies are long gone as well. But Walter Maloney’s “accidental” book remains a rare glimpse of Key West’s early days. No matter how many new books about the island should appear, “A Sketch of the History of Key West” will always be secure in its position as the very first.

Topics: Arts, Highlights, Key West, Keys History, Keys Quirks, Local Color

First-time visitors to the Florida Keys comment almost immediately on the island chain’s unique laid-back atmosphere. And no wonder — it’s a world away from the bustling big cities and theme parks that define other parts of Florida.

In fact, it’s the kind of atmosphere that lured famed novelist Ernest Hemingway to make Key West his home throughout the 1930s, and provided the inspiration he needed to write many of his most famous works.

Beginning just south of Miami, the Florida Keys are connected by the Overseas Highway’s 43 bridges — one stretching almost seven miles — over the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.

Almost everywhere in the Keys, the view is dominated by emerald-green harbors, deep-blue seas, nodding palms and mangroves spreading twisted aerial roots. Inhabitants include white herons, roseate spoonbills, pelicans, sea gulls, ospreys and countless underwater creatures. The coastal waters surrounding the 125-mile island chain, and the coral reef that parallels it, have been designated the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

The Keys are divided into five regions: Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon, Big Pine and the Lower Keys, and Key West. Each has its own special flavor, attractions including historic museums, seafood restaurants, fishing, diving, watersports and boutique-type shopping experiences.

Key Largo

The longest island in the Keys, Key Largo lent its name to the famous movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall — and, in fact, portions of the movie were filmed there. Bogart’s Key Largo connection lives on even today, since visitors can see the African Queen, the actual boat the actor skippered in the movie of the same name.

But Key Largo’s star attraction is John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park — the first underwater preserve in the United States — now incorporated into the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. These protected areas feature 55 varieties of delicate corals and more than 600 different species of fish.

Pennekamp Park’s water-related activities include scuba, snorkeling and glass-bottom boat excursions to the reef. Off-park dive charter companies also conduct dive sojourns — and a few even feature underwater weddings.

After the wedding reception, newlyweds can choose to remain submerged for their honeymoon at an underwater motel in Key Largo, with full amenities among the Keys’ marine life.

Key Largo also is home to the Spiegel Grove, a retired U.S. Navy ship that’s one of the largest vessels in the world ever scuttled to create an artificial reef.

Islamorada

Islamorada is the centerpiece of a group of islands called the “purple isles.” Legend says Spanish explorers named the area from “morado,” the Spanish word for purple — either for the violet sea snail or the purple bougainvillea flowers found there.

Known as the Sport-Fishing Capital of the World, Islamorada features the Keys’ largest fleet of offshore charter boats and shallow-water “backcountry” boats. Scores of celebrities visit Islamorada each year to compete in fund-raising fishing tournaments.

The Keys boast more sport-fishing world records than any other fishing destination in the world, according to the International Game Fish Association. Anglers can find sailfish, marlin, dolphin (the fish, not the mammal), kingfish, snapper, barracuda and grouper in the ocean. Tarpon, bonefish, redfish and other species can be found in shallow coastal waters.

Marathon

Home to the Seven Mile Bridge, Marathon is centrally located between Key Largo and Key West. It’s home to Crane Point, a 63.5-acre land tract that’s one of the most important historical and archaeological sites in the Keys. Crane Point contains evidence of pre-Columbian and prehistoric Bahamian artifacts, and was once the site of an entire Indian village.

Marathon also features Dolphin Research Center, one of several Keys facilities where visitors can swim and interact with the friendly, intelligent marine mammals. Reservations for the dolphin encounter programs must be made in advance, and participants must follow strict guidelines to safeguard the wellbeing of both dolphins and humans.

A drive across the new Seven Mile Bridge, the longest segmental bridge in the world, leads to the Lower Keys. But don’t pass up the chance to explore Pigeon Key, a small island below the middle of the old Seven Mile Bridge (accessible from a visitor center at the west end of Marathon).

In the early 1900s, Pigeon Key housed workers who were building the Overseas Railroad from mainland Florida to Key West. Essentially unchanged since then, the tiny island is a historic treasure complete with a museum chronicling the construction of the Seven Mile Bridge.

Big Pine Key and the Lower Keys

The sheer sweep of the Straits of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico can be seen from the Bahia Honda Bridge. Bahia Honda State Park, whose beach was named one of America’s top 10 by several travel studies, is a prime example of the Lower Keys’ pristine beauty.

The Lower Keys are also known for Looe Key Reef, one of the most spectacular shallow-water dive experiences anywhere. West of Looe Key, the 210-foot island freighter Adolphus Busch Senior rests on the ocean bottom as an artificial reef, providing habitat for marine life and a fascinating dive experience.

In addition, Big Pine Key features a national refuge for miniature Key deer, shy creatures about the size of a large dog. Popular nature tours, many by kayak, offer unforgettable opportunities for viewing the unique plants and animals that flourish in the Lower Keys.

Key West

Key West, where the land meets the sea amid 19th-century charm and contemporary attractions, is continental America’s southernmost city — located closer to Cuba than to Miami. It features picturesque palm-shaded streets, ornate hundred-year-old mansions and a relaxed citizenry of self-styled “conchs” (pronounced “konks”).

This 2-by-4-mile island has probably nurtured the talents of more writers per capita than any other U.S. city. Ernest Hemingway’s former home is open as a museum, and literally scores of published authors live in Key West either full- or part-time. The island is equally noted for its artistic community — with dozens of galleries exhibiting artwork in varying styles and mediums.

Every evening in Key West, visitors and residents gather at Mallory Square to experience the “sunset celebration.” Musicians, jugglers, mimes and other performers entertain while the sun sinks below the horizon as cruise boats sail by in Key West Harbor.

Food in the island city is as enticing as the sunset. Cuisine choices are widely varied, but most restaurants feature great regional seafood such as sweet pink shrimp, Florida lobster, local fish and stone crab claws — and Key lime pie is a heavenly end to any meal.

Want to know more about the Florida Keys & Key West? Keep reading this blog to discover the people, places, events and flavor that make the island chain so appealing.

Topics: Big Pine Key & Lower Keys, Florida Keys, Highlights, Islamorada, Key Largo, Key West, Keys Environment, Marathon