A Long Drive Half Way to Cuba

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There is a road, called the Ocean Highway, that links Key Largo to Key West and several other keys in between, so we were able to drive all the way to Key West. There are of course lots of bridges, the longest of which is called the Seven Mile Bridge for obvious reasons. That was the one that Arnold Schwarzenegger blew-up in the True Lies movie, albeit the old bridge that still runs parallel to the current one.

On the way there, we stopped at the Bahia Honda State Park for a break and some snorkelling. The beach here is supposed to be the second best beach in the United States. I tried to find out where the top beach was and it seemed to depend on which website you were looking at. The top beach is probably in Hawaii, although one website did have Bahia Honda as the top beach.

The road to Key West is actually Route 1, which goes all the way from Key West to the Canadian border. The miles are counted down until you reach Mile Zero, which seems to be quite a famous landmark. Although I accept that the end of that road is a lot more significant than the end of the M1 at Staples Corner.

The apartment was the classiest place we had ever stayed in. We couldn’t believe it, not least as it had three massive plasma TVs.

Believe it or not, Key West is actually nearer to Havana than it is to Miami. At the southern-most point on the island there is a buoy announcing the fact that you are actually at the southern-most point of the continental USA and are only 90 miles from Cuba. Of course the Ocean Highway doesn't go to Cuba and given American attitudes to Cuba you wouldn't be allowed to go there anyway, so it might as well be 900 miles.

There is a point that is marked as the southern-most point in the continental United States, i.e. excluding Hawaii. The equivalent of Lands End I suppose. Nearby are the southernmost hotel in the United States and the southernmost house in the United States. The house however, isn’t the southernmost anymore as someone managed to squeeze one in just a little bit further south, which must have annoyed the hell out of the owners.

Key West is apparently the home of the sunset and there is a point everyone goes in the early evening to see the sunset. For the two days we were there, the sunsets were rubbish. There was however lots of street entertainment and the like going on and it was all very happening, so it was not a complete waste of time.

The main drag in Key West is called Duval Street and this is where most of the shops, restaurants and clubs are. There is a big gay community in Key West and some of the clubs are run by transvestites who were out in the streets getting people to come in. Jake and Freya could not help by stare and couldn’t quite workout what the situation was. Duval Street is the main drag for more reasons than one. We then had some very awkward questions to answer on the way back.

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Photos

Bahia Honda State Park
The beach in Bahia Honda State Park and the old railway bridge

Bahia Honda State Park
The beach in Bahia Honda State Park and the old railway bridge

Seven Mile Bridge
The sign for the Seven Mile Bridge

Seven Mile Bridge
The longest bridge linking the keys

Route 1
The main route from Key West and up the east coast

Mile Zero
The start of route 1 in Key West