I’m sure this is accidental.

But how strange is it that on Sunday, a sick loggerhead sea turtle seemingly found its own way to the doctor, almost landing on the doorstep of the Turtle Hospital in the Florida Keys?

Ryan Butts examines the loggerhead turtle that swam to the hospital on its own.

Sunday morning, staff members of the Turtle Hospital, which is based in Marathon, saw the 80-pound turtle swimming near a dock, just 20 feet away from the turtle rehabilitation pools. At first they didn’t think too much about it, but the turtle hung around and wouldn’t leave.

Later in the day, Turtle Hospital administrator Ryan Butts decided to take a closer look and determined the reptile was not well. So he and other staff members rescued it to examine and treat it.

“He has a bacterial infection in his bloodstream,” Ryan told me earlier today. “He’s very very thin, very weak and very emaciated,” he said. “He just needs TLC.”

Ryan said that blood drawn from the teenage turtle has been sent to a laboratory for further diagnosis and, in the meantime, the reptile is being administered antibiotics and fluids.

“We’ve went out and rescued several thousand turtles over the past 25 years, but this is the first time a turtle has ever tracked us down and showed up at our doorstep waiting to be admitted to the Turtle Hospital,” Ryan said.

One thing about the Keys’ Turtle Hospital, the only licensed veterinary facility in the world that solely treats sea turtles, is that no turtle ever gets turned away. Even if it doesn’t have health insurance <G>.

Topics: Animal Ambassadors, Florida Keys, Keys Environment, Keys Quirks, Marathon, On the Water

They say that too much kindness can kill.

And in that’s absolutely true in the Florida Keys when it comes to the region’s wildlife.

In the Lower Keys, tiny Key deer roam on Big Pine Key and neighboring islands in the National Key Deer Refuge. But although they are incredibly cute and many are easily approachable, it is not appropriate to feed them.

Why? Because feeding normally occurs along the edge of the road, putting the deer at risk of getting struck by a car. Regular feeding can also cause the deer to congregate making them susceptible to spread of disease and poaching.

The same applies to other species in the Keys.

Recently, a group of environmental organizations, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, released an animated public service announcement that preaches the importance of not feeding wild dolphins.

The PSA speaks directly to visitors who might encounter the gentle marine mammals while swimming, snorkeling or fishing. Although they’re truly wonderful to watch, feeding them is not just illegal — it’s harmful to the dolphins. It alters their diets, interferes with their natural role as hunters, and can result in dolphin injuries if they venture too close to boats looking for handouts.

Merina, the dolphin

An almost three-year project, the PSA was created by Tinsley Advertising, the Keys tourism council’s marketing agency. Tinsley art director Dorn Martell coordinated videotaping of Merina the dolphin as a model for animators. Merina, a 20-something dolphin, was born at and lives at Dolphin Research Center in Marathon and has plenty of film experience.

To learn how to behave responsibly when encountering wild dolphins, visit www.dontfeedwilddolphins.org.

The site’s resources include a downloadable Dolphin SMART brochure, tips for fishermen and a variety of valuable FAQs.

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

He peddled tacos from a three-wheeled bicycle when he first moved to Key West — and Tom Corcoran has never forgotten the irreverent, weird, magical island he discovered from that vantage point.

Author Tom Corcoran

It’s that island that he portrays so faithfully in his series of mystery novels: “The Mango Opera,” “Gumbo Limbo,” “Bone Island Mambo,” “Octopus Alibi,” “Air Dance Iguana” and the brand-new “Hawk Channel Chase.” Countless readers have become fascinated by Corcoran’s Key West, walking the island’s streets with his protagonist Alex Rutledge.

Alex’s creator first saw Key West as a Navy lieutenant when he was sent down for an eight-week training course. As he puts it, he “somehow slipped into island mode without an instruction book.”

Returning after his discharge, he was quickly adopted by Key West’s renegade literati — among them legendary poet/novelist Jim Harrison and author Tom McGuane.

“My first job was selling tacos from a three-wheeled bicycle, three for a dollar,” said Corcoran. “I used to go around to John Brown’s Bar and Tennessee Williams would buy rounds of tacos for his entourage, as long as anybody would eat them.”

Later, Corcoran began a friendship with singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett, whose Key West experiences inspired his best-known songs. Corcoran shot cover photos for some classic Buffett albums, and the friendship has endured for more than 30 years.

Besides his mystery series, Corcoran is also well-known for his photo collection depicting his friend Jimmy Buffett's Key West years.

“I learned a lot from being around Jimmy — he was a natural businessman as well as an entertainer,” Corcoran said. “Between the lessons to be learned just watching him work and the encouragement he’s given me, it’s been a great relationship.”

Although he had imagined becoming an author in his teens, in Key West Corcoran sampled careers including bartender, disc jockey, and photographer. A well as Buffett’s album covers, his photography adorns book covers for such well-known writers as McGuane, James W. Hall, and Les Standiford.

Eventually, Corcoran moved to Alabama and edited a magazine called “Mustang Monthly.” Yet he couldn’t get Key West, or the desire to write books, out of his mind. In the 1990s the two melded into his first published mystery, “The Mango Opera.”

“’The Mango Opera’ reconnects my heart and brain to Key West,” wrote Buffett at the time of the book’s 1998 release.

Corcoran set the book in the island city not just because he knew its people and places so well, but because he thought it wasn’t being depicted fully and fairly.

“Other than James Hall’s and John Leslie’s, there just weren’t enough good books about a place that deserved better,” said Corcoran. “I wanted to tell stories that hadn’t been told, and I wanted to help the world get close to the island’s soul.”

Corcoran’s Key West has a strong, elemental appeal. He portrays the steamy, raffish, independent island with a wry affection and a bone-deep authenticity that leaves readers practically able to smell the seaweed on the beach.

Corcoran is known for intriguing titles as well as intriguing tales.

His lead character, Alex Rutledge, shares his love for Key West and his talent for photography — a talent that propels Alex into the midst of mystery with great regularity.

“I didn’t know enough about police work or being a private eye to make Alex a policemen or a detective, but I wanted to have him have some ties to the law enforcement community,” Corcoran explained. “So, since photography had been my profession, I decided Alex would be a freelance photographer who would do the city and county forensic work.”

In “Hawk Channel Chase,” Alex encounters a real estate broker with a missing daughter, an inexplicably off-limits crime scene and an old friend with secretive new habits.

Readers who know Key West will recognize its streets, bars, landmarks and lifestyle in the book — just as Corcoran intended. Though he now lives elsewhere, he visits Key West frequently for inspiration, relaxation and periodic book signings.

“At a book signing at the Blue Heron, a young man who was in line to get his book signed said to me, ‘I’m a Conch and I grew up on this island, and you got it right’,” recalled Corcoran. “That’s one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received.”

Want to know more about Tom Corcoran and his Alex Rutledge books? Visit www.tomcorcoran.net.

Topics: Arts, Florida Keys, Highlights, Key West, Local Color, Profiles

When guests check into Kona Kai Resort, they find far more than a relaxed, charming oasis fronting on Florida Bay. They also discover an art gallery of international repute, whose featured artists range from revered Florida photographer Clyde Butcher to French painter and sculptor Vincent Magni.

The gallery is just a few steps from the resort's pier and the turquoise waters of Florida Bay.

The gallery is the creation of Kona Kai owners and art collectors Joe and Veronica “Ronnie” Harris, who purchased the property in 1991 and took over its day-to-day operations in 1994.

They debuted the small, exclusive Gallery at Kona Kai in the resort’s lush garden, just steps from a private white-sand beach, in January 1997. The gallery opened with the work of some of South Florida’s most significant artists including Butcher, whose stark, spectacular black-and-white photographs of Florida’s wetlands evoke comparisons with legendary nature photographer Ansel Adams.

Greg Sobran's paintings are a perfect match for Kona Kai's relaxed vibe.

Guests who stay in the resort’s 11 guestrooms and suites, each named for a tropical fruit, find their accommodations alive with original art. For example, the work of Florida artist Greg Sobran, who has painted more than 70 Keys watercolors for the Harrises, is displayed in rooms and suites — enhancing and complementing Kona Kai’s cottage architecture.

In recent years, the gallery’s roster has evolved to focus on established European and international artists who work in various mediums. The Harrises travel widely, seeking artists with unique visions, talent and style to represent.

Kona Kai owners Ronnie and Joe Harris preview a gallery opening.

“Our goal in part was to attract some of these artists to the Keys to see how they would express our islands in their work,” said Joe Harris.

Today, the Gallery at Kona Kai represents more than a dozen artists from France, Italy, Israel, the Netherlands and Venezuela in addition to the United States. The Harrises choose only those who do original work, rather than prints or giclees, and are personally responsible for all aspects of their work. They have visited the studios of all but one of the creative spirits they represent.

Among the featured artists are French painter Dirk Verdoorn, a former ship captain who now creates maxi-realist scenes of ships; Italian landscape artist Franco Passalacqua, renowned for his visions of trees as objects; French sculptor of bronzes Pollés, who focuses on the human body; and sculptor and painter Magni, who displays his unique figurative oils at the gallery.

The Harrises proudly represent the stellar photography of the legendary Clyde Butcher.

The Gallery at Kona Kai remains a leading showcase for the work of Butcher. His large-scale photographs, printed on selenium-toned archival paper, capture the attention of virtually everyone who enters the clean-lined gallery.

“The hotel guests find the gallery quite impressive and interesting, but so do the many visitors who stop in during their Keys vacations,” said Ronnie Harris. “We have been lucky to have the gallery draw us a few guests who might have otherwise passed us by in their search for a hotel room.”

For more information about the Gallery at Kona Kai and the resort, visit www.konakairesort.com or www.g-k-k.com.

Topics: Arts, Highlights, Key Largo

We’re sorry to confirm that, as you may have heard or read, a fire recently destroyed three businesses in the 500 block of Key West’s famed Duval Street. However, despite the loss of the popular La Creperie Café and two art emporiums, firefighters worked heroically and kept the flames from harming two Key West landmarks beside them: Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville complex and the historic San Carlos Institute.

Jimmy Buffett, whose music epitomizes the easygoing Key West lifestyle, performs in a recent appearance at his Margaritaville Cafe.

The Margaritaville Café and Margaritaville Store, a mecca for “Parrot Head” fans of the multi-talented Buffett, reopened just a few hours after the fire was doused. Eager Parrot Heads swarmed in to savor “cheeseburgers in paradise” and purchase gifts and casual garb — all reminiscent of the singer/songwriter/author, sometimes known as Key West’s “pirate laureate,” whose greatest hits were inspired by his life in the island city.

At the San Carlos, some cleanup was necessary before things could get back to normal for the historic Cuban heritage center. However, a scheduled concert series by beloved Keys singer/songwriter Howard Livingston is going on as planned.

The majestic San Carlos building is unique and somewhat surprising to find alongside Duval Street’s colorful shops, galleries and cafes. Rich in Cuban history, it was the site where Cuban patriot Jose Marti launched his drive for his homeland’s independence in 1892.

Island troubadour Howard Livingston hosts a popular concert series at the San Carlos -- going on as planned since the fire spared the landmark building.

Sadly, the fire blew out a window at the San Carlos that came from Cuba in the 1920s, making it irreplaceable. Other treasures including documents and art were untouched — thanks in great part to firefighters and police officers that carried art pieces to safe locations to keep them from harm.

Shortly after the fire, San Carlos administrator Alex Pascual and Margaritaville’s management team, along with many Key West residents and visitors, talked regretfully of the destruction of La Creperie, the art sign shop Montage and American Royal Arts.

Yet with hungry Parrot Heads crowding the Margaritaville Café and shoppers exploring nearby stores, it’s probable that the businesses will rebound with support from the community — and Key West’s resilient spirit will continue to flourish along the 500 block of Duval.

Topics: Events, Florida Keys, Key West