Florida Keys is a group of small islands located in the southeast United States.  The gentle arc of islands starts near the southern tip of Florida peninsula and goes to south, south-west and west reaching the last inhabited island Key West and going on to the last uninhabited Dry Tortugas. Key West is just roughly 90km away from Cuban shore Critical Illness Cover

Through the history Keys have been populated with Native American tribes Calusa and Tequesta. First European, who reached there and charted the islands, was Juan Ponce de Leon. Later on Key West became the biggest city in Florida, as the prosperity of shipwrecking in shallow tropical waters was very high. As navigation systems developed, shipwrecking didn’t seem so promising any more despite the locals’ attempts to ruin and remove the navigation marks near the shore to attract ships to wreck due to the unexpected shallow waters Business Loan Protection

Key West’s development was noticeably regressing due to the difficult location until Henry Flagler, keen developer of Florida’s Atlantic coast, expanded his railway to Key West in the early 1910s. The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 was one of the worst in the recorded weather history of US. It stroked the constructions of new bridges to connect highway through the entire keys, even worse, it killed around 200 WW I veterans sent to construct the site because the storm evacuation train could reach veterans at the right time. The railway itself was damaged so badly that it was never renewed, but only replaced by the new Overseas Highway.

Due to the tropical climate and exotic nature Keys is a popular tourist destination. Fishing, diving and adventure travels are widespread, economy stands mostly on fishing and tourism.

As there are many islands, some of them remote and uninhabited, it has become popular destination to search freedom and better opportunities for immigrants from Caribbean countries with lower life standards or difficult political situation.

To explore keys on your own, a hired car is a great idea. Companies like Alamo, Avis, Budget, Hertz, National, Dollar, Enterprise and Thrifty offer quality car hire service worth considering.