We plough on through Fort Lauderdale, the retirement capital of America and quite possibly where 80's sitcom Golden Girls was based, but don't really stop to have a look round. There's clearly plenty of cash about though as mansions dot the roadside. This stretch of Florida then clearly splits in two. A large sandbar has developed off the coast which is joined numerous times by many bridges along the way. On this wide sandbar the ultra rich live, as well as the plush islands in between, unlike the mainland where people live in almost squalid housing and run down neighbourhoods with countless boarded up buildings and lonely Mexican and Cuban immigrants wandering about. The divide is enormous.
When we enter Miami this theme continues until we get into Downtown. This area is still pretty grim but has a few skyscrapers and business people walking around the frazzled homeless people. Miami is huge. The downtown area isn't but as a whole it's massive. Over the bridge onto the rich side of town is where the real Miami in the movies is. You have to go right to the beach to find it and even then it's only a small area. South Beach Miami is the place to be. Ocean Drive is the road to be on and only at one end. A clutch of Art Deco hotels line the streets and are lit up at night to great effect. This classic buildings where nearly demolished but were saved and refurbished to retain some Americanism as the floods of Cuban immigrants came here.
We stroll along the beach and into a chain burger/diner place that is within the building that featured in the film Scarface. If you know the film then you'll remember the chainsaw incident that took place here.
It's only a flying visit here, so after a burger and shake we continue south because we know we'll be back here as our flight home depends on it.
I never realised the Atlantic Ocean could look so blue and around here it almost looks like Thailand, with it's long beaches and stunning water and constant sunshine. We were told that most Americans live in Florida at least once, but not many stay longer than a few years. The humidity is a bit overbearing after a while.
We are heading to the most southerly point in the U.S.A., Key West. The Florida Keys are a collection of islands that leave the tip of Florida and extend in a curve towards Cuba beneath. A 'Key' is an island no bigger than 10,000 square metres, I think, and the Florida Keys number around 1700. The main 20 or so islands are linked by a road and many bridges, which means some islands are hardly bigger than the road itself.
Fishing and boating is very popular here and you can see why as the water is a magical pristine blue. Many islands are dotted around and are only accessible by boat so it would be handy to have one. If you see pictures of the Florida Keys you'd be forgiven for thinking it was some tropical paradise but the reality is that the busy road is never far away. Many of the islands look tired and have crumbling shacks besides beautiful palm trees. There's a continuing theme of tat and awful looking restaurants with bad lobster paintings adorning many places. We do, however, cross a fabulous 7 mile bridge that would make for stunning photographs, if only there was somewhere to pullover. The bridge starts at island level and continues for a while until arcing up and then down again to let large cruise ships through.
We arrive at Key West which has around 35% of all the Key's population and in turn is the biggest island. There's a trashy holiday feel to the place with knackered bars and beer offers abound. The streets beside look good though with countless palm trees giving the place a Caribbean feel. Some guy in a shopping centre wants people to pay him to have a photograph taken with him and his parrot. We walk out and see a group of real sponges arranged in the shape of a man.
It's scorchingly hot and after an hour of wandering we've seen enough. Around the corner is officially the most southerly point of the U.S. There's a guy trying to flog paintings and a plaque telling people of the significance of this place. Right next to it is a group of satellite dishes pointed out at sea towards Cuba. As we stand we are nearer to Cuba than we are Miami so they like to keep a watchful eye on their Communist neighbours. It was from here that intelligence was gathered about the Cuban missile crisis of the 60's when they granted Russia permission to keep nuclear missiles on Cuban soil.
We camp that evening on another extortionate state park but the pitch is literally ocean side. Unfortunately it's also roadside on this small Key and the constant traffic noise, especially from the rather slow but loud Harley Davidsons that are everywhere, make it a bit annoying. We eat tea and the rain starts. Soon it's hammering us in the tent and the wind batters the whole thing about in it's sand moorings.
The only thing stopping it blow off into the ocean is us inside.We've gone as south as we can go so we head back north wondering how much left to this trip there is. One national park to go.
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