The scenario plays out on any beach.  It’s instinctive and universal.  Walk along any beach just along the waterline where the waves roll rhythmically in and you’ll catch yourself doing it:  looking down.  Suddenly, right there, tumbling in sand and foam, you see it!  A fleeting hint of color, a minute rippled edge.  As the water recedes pulling a layer of sand and shell with it, it disappears.  Now you see it, now you don’t!  With impressive reaction time you reach down and grab the illusion.  Slowly you open a dripping handful of sand and peer inside, hoping for the perfect keeper – an intact shell, a wonder nature, strikingly beautiful, elegantly scrolled, perfectly fluted, delicately patterned.

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In the Florida Keys, there’s water, water, gorgeous turqoise-hued water, everywhere – but where are the beaches?  If you’re expecting expansive, picture-postcard beaches for sunbathing, swimming, shelling, you’ll find those on the “mainland,” but not in the Keys.

Lined up like green gemstones over crystalline water for 120 miles, the islands of the Florida Keys offer awesome water activities: incredible snorkeling and diving on the magnificent coral reef, deep-sea fishing in the azure Gulf Stream, kayaking ecotours through mysterious mangroves, snorkel safari tours in the pristine backcountry, exciting wild dolphin sighting adventures, bonefishing on endless flats, reef discovery from glass-bottom boats, romantic cruises aboard sailing schooners but, contrary to expectations, there a few “traditional” beaches.

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