Lower Florida Keys

Looe Key and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is located about five nautical miles offshore of Big Pine Key. The groove and spur reef at Looe Key, roughly 200 yards wide and 800 yards long is generally “U” shaped, and is comprised of both patch and outside reefs. It became a National Marine Sanctuary in 1981, with restrictions on spearfishing, tropical fish and shell collecting and wire fish traps. Looe Key is an excellent scuba and snorkeling site for people of all skill levels. Water clarity is mostly excellent and sea conditions are generally moderate. The reef is home to over 150 species of fish including yellowtail, angelfish, parrotfish, barracuda, sergeant majors, and moray eel. The lucky diver can also see several shark and ray species. After 7000 years of coral growth, about fifty species are present, many named for the shapes of their namesakes on land, including staghorn, elkhorn, star, brain, and fire corals.

Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1938 as a haven for great white herons, migratory birds, and other wildlife. Located in the lower Florida Keys, it consists of almost 200,000 acres of open water and islands that are north of the primary Keys from Marathon to Key West in the Gulf of Mexico. The islands account for approximately 7,600 acres and are primarily mangroves with some of the larger islands containing pine rockland and tropical hardwood hammock habitats. This vast wilderness area, known locally as the “backcountry,” provides critical nesting, feeding, and resting areas for more than 250 species of birds. Accessible only by boat. Popular picnicking destinations with locals include and . Visitor information is available in the shopping center at 28950 Watson Blvd., Big Pine Key, FL 33043, Phone (305) 872-0774.

National Key Deer Wildlife Refuge was established in 1957 to protect and preserve Key deer and other wildlife resources in the Florida Keys. The refuge is located in the lower Florida Keys and currently consists of approximately 9,200 acres of land that includes pine rockland forests, tropical hardwood hammocks, freshwater wetlands, salt marsh wetlands, and mangrove forests. These natural communities are critical habitat for hundreds of endemic and migratory species, such as Key deer, lower Keys marsh rabbit, and silver rice rat. Visitor information is available in the shopping center at 28950 Watson Blvd., Big Pine Key, FL 33043, Phone (305) 872-3675.

Blue Hole on Big Pine Key is part of the Key Deer Nature Preserve. It offers a relatively easy and short hike along trails surrounding a mostly freshwater limestone sinkhole that’s home to a variety of wildlife: Key Deer, alligators, turtles, iguanas, and a variety of birds (including wading birds), snakes and fish. There’s also an observation platform with informational displays.

The Perky Bat Tower, a true curiosity, is located on Sugarloaf Key. (The area got its name from sugarloaf pineapples, which were grown there in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.) In 1929, a real estate developer named Richter Clyde Perky envisioned a luxury resort, complete with a first-class hotel, restaurants, and a gambling casino on Sugarloaf Key. Unfortunately for him, Sugarloaf Key was well established as a breeding ground for voracious hordes of mosquitoes. Perky built a 35-foot-high, cypress-shingled Bat Tower, and filled it with odorous bat guano, which, theoretically, would attract the bats, which would devour the mosquitoes. Alas, the bats didn’t buy it. A colony installed in the tower apparently didn’t care for the accommodations or the odor, and promptly flew away with Perky’s investment money. The mosquitoes swarmed unabated and eventually the devastated Perky went bankrupt and died. (Some people have suggested the mosquitoes ate the bats.) Looking for all the world like a bladeless windmill awaiting Don Quixote, the tower still stands behind the Sugarloaf Lodge, next to the island’s small airport.”

See additional resources on local attractions in the Lower Keys at the Florida Keys’ official tourism website.

HISTORICAL WEBSITES:

• KeysHistory.org’s Specific Islands and Places for Big Pine Key, No Name Key, and Sugarloaf Key
• The Flagler Railroad and the Lower Keys

FOR KIDS:

• See activities for children at the official tourism site.
• Kids In The Keys guide

FOR DOGS:

• Big Pine Bark Park
• Dog-friendly Attractions

GOLF/TENNIS:

There are no golf courses within the Lower Keys geography. The Key West Golf Course, however, is less than a half-hour drive from any point in the Lower Keys. There is also a golf course and Har-Tru tennis courts at the Florida Keys Country Club in Marathon, about a half-hour from the Big Pine Key area.

• There are lighted public tennis courts at Baypoint behind Baby’s Coffee.
• Two newly refurbished tennis courts are available at the Sugarloaf Lodge for a modest fee.
• There are three clay courts on Upper Sugarloaf Key on Bad George Road. Contact Paul McNulty for information at (305) 923-6496.
• Big Pine Key Community Park features tennis courts in additional to other amenities.

• For restaurant reviews and suggestions, see Sugarloaf Key / Ramrod Key Yelp or Big Pin Key Yelp
• Lower Keys and Key West menus

Staff Picks For Dining

• Kaya Island Eats
• Square Grouper Bar & Grill
• The Wharf Bar & Grill
• Big Pine Restaurant

• See Sugarloaf Key / Ramrod Key Yelp or Big Pin Key Yelp
• A directory of shops from the Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce
• Lower Keys shops from the Florida Keys official tourism site

AMENITIES & RESOURCES

• See our Business Directory for information on supermarkets, drugstores, healthcare, marine supplies, government, law enforcement, veterinarians, and other Keys resources you may want to visit during your stay.