Insider's Guide

Chef Paul Kapsalis and wife Kris Kubik are owner-operators of South of the Seven restaurant, tucked inside the gulfside 1950s-era Sugarloaf Lodge at...

Key lime pie is synonymous with the Florida Keys, and just about everyone can describe their favorite slice. But if Key limes themselves were to have...

Author: Laura Myers, November 2025 Key West’s wildly creative Nadene Grossman Orr holds the keys to something many can’t unlock — an insider’s...

Dee Dee Vaughan Smause, co-founder of Plant a Million Corals with her parents, Dr. Dave Vaughan and Donna Vaughan, is passionately committed to restoring coral reefs and preserving the Florida Keys’ marine biodiversity. She finds great satisfaction in sharing Plant a Million Corals’ message of hope and seeing how it resonates with people.

Florida Keys lobster lovers, unite — and embrace the hobby that takes precedence over all others each August in the island chain: eating lobster. That’s because early August marks the start of the annual commercial lobster season, and savvy foodies know that fresh-caught Keys lobster eclipses all other seafood selections in mouthwatering goodness.

Florida Keys fun fact: Years ago, during an action-packed confrontation between Arnold Schwarzenegger and a pack of dastardly villains, missile strikes blew up the Keys’ Old Seven Mile Bridge. Okay, that isn’t STRICTLY factual, but it’s based on fact — one of many offbeat facts that give the island chain an engagingly colorful vibe.

A Key West vacation should be an escape from “real-world” business pressures, and a chance to remember that personal priorities are far more self-defining than professional ones. For those who can’t let go of the business-first mindset, here are three guidelines to ease potential guilt during a pleasure trip to the island.

Stone crab claws offer sweet and scrumptious meat that’s among the Florida Keys’ most popular delicacies.

Tom Sweets, executive director of the Key West Wildlife Center, discovered his calling by volunteering at the center, providing rescue and rehabilitative care to sick and injured wild birds. The center, located inside the 7-acre Indigenous Park on White Street, treats and rehabilitates about 1,400 wild birds and other Keys creatures each year.

John Mirabella, owner of the Castaway restaurant in Marathon, could well be called the “Lionfish King” of the Florida Keys. The affable natural storyteller is known as a pioneering lionfish hunter, recognized for spearheading efforts to remove the invasive non-native species from Keys waters — and for serving the flavorful fish in numerous ways.