Key Largo, Florida

Key Largo, Florida is the most northern part of the Florida Keys. Originally called "Rock Harbor," Key Largo changed its name in 1948 to capitalize on the success of the movie of the same title starring Humphrey Bogart. Like all of the Keys, Largo is best seen in the water! Whether you fish, snorkel, dive, or just cruise, include some time on a boat in your itinerary.

While visiting Key Largo, make a beeline for the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the country's first undersea preserve. This 54,000 acre park is 25 miles long, extends 3 miles out in the Atlantic, and, combined with the adjacent Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, protects a 178-square-mile-nautical stretch of coastal water. The centerpiece of the park is the undersea coral reef. To see the reef, you have to hit the water in some fashion! Options in the park include a glass bottom boat tour, sunbathing at Cannon Beach, scuba, snorkeling, sailing, fishing, boating, camping, and canoe tours.

The Keys are legendary for shipwrecks. The Maritime Museum of the Florida Keys, located right across the street from John Pennekamp Park, pays tribute to this fact by showing a small display of artifacts taken from the wrecks of Spanish Galleons. Displays include those recovered from a fleet of ships that sank in 1733 in a massive hurricane that pushed the ships onto the nearby reefs. The museum also contains treasure found in the richest underwater find of all time, the Nuestra Sonora de Atocha, which sank 40 miles off of Key West in 1622.

Movie buffs will get a kick out of The African Queen. Docked at Key Largo Marina, this is the actual boat that was used in the filming of the Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn film. Although only a couple of scenes of the movie "Key Largo" were filmed here, an anonymous donor wanted to link "Bogie" to the Keys. He bought the boat from a Hollywood producer, and she has resided in Key Largo ever since. (Boats are always referred to as "she" in these parts, by the way!)

The Keys have been called a "state of mind." They are a throwback to a more relaxed era. Leave your tension at home, and let the Caribbean breezes waft over you as you spoil yourself in their natural charm.