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Local-boy-made-good Jimmy Buffett is the owner of this barrestaurant-souvenir shop. There’s live music nightly, and on occasion the Parrot Head leader himself shows up.

Displays about coral reefs and related themes. The exploits of various pirates are recounted, and exhibits include treasures recovered over the years. Many items on display were pulled up from the remains of the ship Concepción, which sank in a hurricane in 1715.

You can see a 600-yearold dugout canoe, remnants of pirate ships, a simulated coral reef cave, and the Bellarmine jug (circa 1580), a shipwreck artifact in almost perfect condition. There’s also the Florida Keys Children’s Museum and Marathon Wild Bird Center.

Fewer than 50 of these diminutive creatures were left until this refuge was established in 1957. Now there are estimated to be about 800. Drive very slowly.

This is a crafts show held in late January, but also an excuse for “Conchs” to celebrate being themselves – something they’re always ready to do in Key West.

A lantern-lit evening stroll through the mysterious streets of Key’s West’s Old Town allows you to discover a haunted island.

The chef utilizes the abundance of ingredients indigenous to the Caribbean and the Florida peninsula, but prepares them with a flourish that redefines regional cuisine. The lobster with marinated plantain is a tour de force.

These include the American crocodile, the Key Largo wood rat and cotton mouse, Schaus swallowtail butterfly, and roseate spoonbill, all of which have either been hunted to near extinction or lost their habitats due to human encroachment.

Although only a few species are natives – the royal palm, the sabal palm, the saw palmetto, and the thatch palm – a huge range of imported palms now adorn the islands.