ISLAMORADA - The Florida Keys

http://www.fla-keys.com/islamorada/ ^ | 03202010

[mojitojoe]

Okay, now I get it.

Islamorada is made up of four separate and inhabitable islands: Plantation Key (southern end), Windley Key, Upper Matecumbe Key (the original community), and Lower Matecumbe Key. Dissatisfied with the County’s bias toward Key West’s financial interests, the residents of the area voted for self-incorporation in 1997 and officially renamed the area the “Village of Islands.”

Legend has it that “Islamorada” means “Purple Isle,” and that the name was given to the area by Spanish explorers who noticed a purple hue to the coastline. While the area is still affectionately referred to as such by some, the truth is the Islamorada was originally named “Island Home,” after the Pinder Family’s sailboat. They settled here in the 1870s after the area was homesteaded. Even though Islamorada has changed since the days of pineapple plantations and turtle farming, it is still a quaint fishing village in many ways.

Islamorada is also known as the “Sport Fishing Capital of the World” because for of the huge variety of game fish that call the local waters home. With fishing in the backcountry, on the reef and offshore, the most world fishing records have been set in Islamorada. It’s no wonder that the Village supports the largest concentration of charter fishing boats in the entire Florida Keys (ca. 400 offshore captains and 150 backcountry guides) as a result. For more than 100 years, “real” anglers have known about Islamorada. Fishing fanspast and present—include Presidents Bush, Carter, Truman and Hoover, Zane Grey, Ted Williams, and Lou Gehrig.

Islamorada is also a destination point for divers because of the abundance of tropical marine life, the islands’ proximity to the largest living reef in the contiguous US, and the variety of underwater attractions including shipwrecks and artificial reefs. Recently, the Florida Keys was awarded the title of “America’s #1 Dive Destination.”

http://www.hungrypelican.com/doc/Islamorada.html