We conclude an inaugural foray into John Pennekamp State Park, the first major protected area, located east of where the Overseas Highway aligns with the long Florida Keys stepping stone.
An excessively strong wind causes the cancellation of the boat tour with snorkeling, which we had scheduled for that morning. So we resumed our journey.
We traveled all over Key Largo, the first of the largest sub-archipelagoes joined by concrete, by the asphalt of dozens of viaducts.
After a good while in an urbanized area, the road enters a mangrove swamp that is too flooded and swampy to accommodate structures.
The mangrove, in turn, yields to a wide, sinuous channel that intersects the Florida Keys.
Evening Arrival in Islamorada
When we crossed Tavernier Creek, we left the Tavernier region behind and, at the same time, Key Largo. From there, we are already on the island of Plantation Key and in the middle of the Islamorada sub-archipelago.
The further we go down the Overseas Highway, the more intricate the geography of these unusual and island backgrounds in Florida.
What we had left to do until the landing where we were going to spend the night continued to confirm this.
From Plantation Key we passed to Windley Key, shortly after to Upper Matecumbe Key.
The hotel was on the opposite end of this other large swampy island, on the edge of a new section of open sea, furrowed by channels drawn in the immensity of coral and crossed by the omnipresent Hwy 1.
Other Keys of Islamorada would emerge.
After almost five hours of driving and photographic stops since Miami, the priority was to check into the Amara Cay resort, to regain energy and reorganize ourselves.
We found it nestled in a coconut grove that occupied a long strip between the Overseas Highway and the Atlantic coast of the Keys.
More or less natural or imposed by the colonists' landscaping, we couldn't determine it.
What was obvious was how it stood out above the vast mangrove swamp on the opposite side of the road.
It wasn't everything.
The Historical Reason for Being of Baptism Islamorada
When we studied our surroundings, on online maps, we realized that, as expected, the nearby mangrove was lush. However, it foreshadowed a lagoon of wine-colored water and an expansion of amphibious vegetation that emerged from a surface with the same tone.
There, some chemical reaction between the bed, the water and the vegetation seemed to engulf the mangrove.
Now, without us expecting it, in a flash, we discovered what the pioneering Spanish discoverers noticed, the dye that would come to inspire the name of the area: Islamorada, that is, with the color of “blackberry”, in Portuguese, of blackberry.
The first men to notice the strange coloring were Juan Ponce de León's sailors. In 1513, the Castilian explorer led the first expedition to the peninsula he dubbed La Florida.
Ponce de León landed on the eastern coast. There it stood out Saint Augustine, the Longest Colonial City in the Americas.
From there, just as we were doing on land, he continued west, along the southern coast of the current Florida Keys and then north, to the coast of the Florida peninsula opposite the one on which he had disembarked.
And, back south and out of the Gulf of Mexico, towards the open Atlantic.
Ponce de León's Incursion into the Florida Keys
It was established in the mythology of the Discoveries that Ponce de León was looking for the miraculous Fountain of Youth.
Arriving in these parts, instead of healing water, he was faced with an unexpected “bloody” landscape.
At the time of the first European intrusion, the Calusa and Tequesta tribes inhabited them, the same ones that dominated the Floridian peninsula and its Everglades.
Now, in tune with the landscape, it is said that these natives seemed, to Ponce de León, like men in suffering.
Accordingly, the inaugural baptism he gave to the entire Florida Keys, including Islamorada, was Los Martyres.
And, in reality, both ended up claiming hundreds of victims, especially among sailors who made mistakes when navigating seas full of reefs.
Or who were unlucky enough to be caught in them by the hurricanes that have long swept the Antilles: Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and the southwestern United States.
The History of Diving Museum and the Bauer Obsession
To better immerse ourselves in the scope, we visited the History of Diving Museum, opened to the public in 2005, with displays of facts, diving equipment and a whole range of related instruments, collected over four decades, by Joseph and Sally Bauer.
The obsession took them on missions of study and acquisition, to four corners of the Earth. Thus, they made their collection one of the largest in the world.
After retiring, the Bauers moved from Cleveland, Ohio, to Islamorada. Shortly after the opening, Joseph Bauer passed away. The legacy that Islamorada left remains, between the Overseas Highway and the sea of Florida Bay.
There we entertained ourselves by analyzing the evolution of diving suits, submersible robots and other strange devices and having a breath-holding competition, measured by one of them. As the centuries passed, such equipment made even more sense in Islamorada.
Hurricanes, Shipwrecks and Ship Salvage Entrepreneurs
Let's fast forward to 1733. One of the frequent hurricanes caused an entire Spanish fleet loaded with treasure to run aground on the reefs and, little by little, become damaged and sink. This massive sinking set a precedent for the salvage business of vessels and their cargo.
In the years that followed, similar shipwrecks continued to occur. Eager to seize the treasures, the natives got to work. As a rule, the commanders or owners of the ships were furious with their arrival on the scene. Some ended up accepting that, without them, little or nothing would be recovered.
Others waited for possible reinforcements. In the meantime, they tried to expel the intruders.
This strange activity attracted a small population to the Florida Keys and Islamorada that specialized in diving, antiques and the like.
It was estimated that, in the middle of the 19th century, it had become Key West the wealthiest city, per capita, from United States.
And yet, when hurricanes bore down on the Florida Keys, wealth did little or nothing to help.
The Indomitable Labor Day Hurricane
In the final days of August 1935, authorities warned residents that a dangerous hurricane was approaching. A plane was even sent to detect and evaluate it.
When the real threat was realized, already under the event, a rescue convoy was also sent.
Winds of almost 300km/h and waves of six meters caused the train to derail and fall on its side.
At the time, a company in charge of extending the Overseas Highway kept 695 First World War veterans stationed in Islamorada. They were at the mercy of the Labor Day cyclone, the first Category 1 to hit the United States, with the third lowest atmospheric pressure: 5hPa.
The hurricane killed over 400 workers and residents. A memorial situated in the heart of Upper Matecumbe Key commemorates them. It is a short distance from the History of Diving Museum.
In Islamorada, throughout history, hurricanes, shipwrecks, diving and divers have always gone hand in hand. In the middle of the Second World War, the conflict between a greedy local shipwreck salvager, his team and indigenous people who believed they had an equal right to get rich unleashed carnage, in the fall Indian Key from Islamorada.
“Robbies” and other Unusual Islamorada Attractions
With the Overseas Highway complete and tourism intensifying, Islamorada has attracted a growing number of out-of-towners and even celebrity residents. Actor Gene Hackman and idolized sportspeople from the United States have homes there.
Apart from the eccentric marine scenes, another serious attraction of the sub-archipelago are a few airy and genuine bars that combine with a diving, fishing and tour center.
We discovered the unavoidable example of the popular “Robbies”. In its stilt domain, customers compete for tables in the sun and walkways.
In an unlikely coexistence, pelicans keep an eye on their own snacks.
In the smaller fish that avoid the Atlantic tarpon that customers pay to feed.
And those that newly arrived fishermen unload.
The inspiration for the picturesque “Robbies” was having saved an Atlantic tarpon that they detected near the jetty where they used to board, the owners are proud to report this unexpected feat.
Even though it is small and somewhat remote, Islamorada has many more things to boast about.
HOW TO GO
Book the flight Lisbon – Miami (Florida), United States, with TAP: flytap.com for from €720. From Miami you can travel in a rented car to Islamorada, taking around 2 hours.
