David Buley's holidays and business trips: Key West

The drive to Key West from Miami takes about 4 hours and passes through Key Largo and Marathon and over the 7 mile bridge before getting to Key West, the southernmost tip of the USA. It's also a popular stopping point for many Caribbean cruises.

As you would expect Key West sits in the middle of the hurricane belt however has been lucky enough to only ever have a direct hit once (which pretty much demolished its wooden buildings).

Key West was originally a Spanish settlement after Juan Ponce de Leon came in 1521. Nowadays Key West has a large Cuban population as Cuba is only 90 miles south and many Cubans escaped various oppressive regimes since the early 1900s but especially after Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, by sailing north from Havana to the USA. Curiously I have seen more cigar shops here than anywhere else on America....and Cuba is known for cigars isn't it?

In the 1800s and 1900s Key West's inhabitants made a lot of many salvaging shipwrecks caused by the barrier reef a short distance offshore.

In 1982 the city of Key West briefly declared its "independence" as the Conch Republicin a protest over a United States Border Patrol blockade. This blockade was set up on U.S. Highway1, where the northern end of the Overseas Highway meets the mainland at Florida City. The blockade was an efforts to stop the drug and illegal immigrant trade. A traffic jam of 27 km ensued while the Border Patrol stopped every car leaving the Keys, searching for contraband. This paralysed the Florida Keys, which relies heavily on tourism. Flags, T-shirts and other merchandise representing the Conch Republic are still popular souvenirs, and the Conch Republic Independence Celebration—including parades and parties—is celebrated every April 23.

Key West also claims to have more wooden houses than most other cities, photos of which I've included below.

There's no doubt Key West is a laid back party town although there is a week long festival leading up to Halloween which has brought a lot of visitors in.

There are quite a few roosters wandering the streets of Key West. Apparently when the Cubans came, they brought with them the sport of cockfighting. When the practice was eventually outlawed, they simply let the chooks go, and they've bred for many generations. On this island they are protected but drivers need to be aware of squashing local icons crossing the road...or it could be a nasty fine.