Florida Keys Scenic Highway

Two bicyclers stop under a tall, swaying palm tree on the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail to gaze at the purple and orange sunrise on the Atlantic Ocean.

A father photographs his family in front of the giant yellow, red, and black striped, buoy-shaped Southernmost Point marker on the Atlantic Ocean in Key West, FL, on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway.

A diver delights in spectacular hues of yellow and red while swimming among reef fish, sponges, seafans, and a variety of coral on North America’s only living coral barrier reef.

Sun-bathing and volleyball are a pleasure on the white-sand, while taking a swim in the calm, clear water is always inviting at palm tree-lined Smathers Beach on the Atlantic Ocean in Key West, FL, on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway.

Ernest Hemingway’s Home and Museum in Key West, FL, on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway, is a two-story Spanish Colonial style house with tall, arched windows on each side of both floors and a wrap-around porch on the second floor.

With the sun setting over the Gulf of Mexico creating a bright orange and red backdrop, tightrope walker Will Soto captivates the crowd at the nightly sunset celebration at Mallory Square, Key West, FL.

A couple stops among the palms and other lush plants of the hammock to look up a native bird at Crane Point Museum, Nature Center and Historic Point in Marathon, FL.

A young boy tosses a handful of food to pelicans who know it is feeding time on the docks on Florida Bay at the Wild Bird Center in Tavernier, FL, on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway.

Fort Zachary Taylor State Park in Key West, FL, is edged by turquoise blue waters, features the half-hexagon shaped, Civil War-era Fort Taylor surrounded by a moat, and is separated from a sandy beach and snorkeling by a wooded picnic area.

The aerial view of 10-acre Indian Key in Florida Bay adjacent to the Florida Keys Scenic Highway reveals the foundations of buildings and cisterns dating back to the 1830s alongside a modern-day dock.

Two kayaks glide across the completely calm water of an open mangrove creek in Curry Hammock State Park, on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway at Little Crawl Key.

As vacationers picnic and beach-comb, kiteboarders take advantage of calm, shallow, white, sandy waters of the Atlantic Ocean at Anne’s Beach, Islamorada, FL, on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway.

On the Atlantic Ocean side of the Florida Keys Scenic Highway, the colorful and quaint, palm tree-lined Whale Harbor Marina hosts a variety of fishing charter boats and jet ski rentals.

A diminutive Key Deer calmly stops crossing the road to take a closer look at the cameraman at the Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key, FL, on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway.

Visitors to the Keys are provided clear directional signage for their trip south into Monroe County on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway. FDOT's highway signage provides highway information using text and internationally recognized directional symbols for the highway and directions to significant intrinsic qualities along the roadway.

At full sail in the setting sun, the majestic Schooner Western Union sets sail from the historic seaport in Key West. This schooner is one of the oldest working wooden schooners in the United States. Its towering masts support massive white sails billowing in the wind off of Key West, FL, on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway.

Seeming to converge in the distance, the Seven-mile Bridge on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway west of Marathon, FL, runs parallel to the historic Flagler railroad bridge of the early 1900s with the Atlantic Ocean to the South and the Gulf of Mexico to the North.

With small mangrove islands dotting the seascape near Islamorada, FL, on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway, two people enjoy flats fishing on calm, aquamarine water with white sand clearly visible only a few feet below.

Hungry? Thirsty? Ready for some deep sea fishing? Don’t know where to go? Check out the Whale Harbor Complex to meet all of your needs. This sign advertises one of the most popular spots in the upper Keys with this huge, brightly painted billboard. The advertiser takes full advantage of the Keys Mile Marker system by including their location right on the billboard. Because of this bit of wayfinding information, every hungry tourist knows where to go for a fishing trip or a fish dinner.

The entrance to the Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden on Stock Island, FL, on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway, hints at the lush flora to be found throughout the grounds.

The Theater of the Sea stadium, site of their live dolphin, sea lion, and parrot shows, is nestled in the palm trees of the marine mammal park located in Islamorada, FL, on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway.

These small green rectangular signs with the white letters appear every mile along the Florida Keys Scenic Highway. These signs can clearly show residents and tourists alike exactly where they are located along the highway. Mile Marker 0 sits in the historic section of Key West and marks the end of the corridor and the southern end of US 1.

A father helps his young daughter at an interactive exhibit of reef fish at the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center in Key West, FL, on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway.

A woman takes a close look a historic diving dress, complete with brass helmet, canvas diving suit, and hand-cranked air pump on display at the Florida Keys History of Diving Museum in Islamorada, FL, on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway.

The Florida Scenic Highway Program provides unique wayfinding signs to ensure travelers never get lost. These half-moon-shaped signs proudly display the Florida sunshine rising over another scenic highway. This sign along with the highway route number (US 1) that it is joined to clearly shows the way for the Florida Keys Scenic Highway.

Vacationers get a glimpse of the undersea realm without even getting their feet wet on a glass-bottom boat at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Key Largo, FL, on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway.

Somewhere along the way a visitor must end their stay on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway and head home. Even though surrounded by tropical palm trees, this green FDOT sign offers a subtle hint and a good-bye to the Keys by offering the traveler guidance on how to get back to Miami and reality.

The aerial view of Bahia Honda State Park, FL, reveals the span of white, sandy beach on the Atlantic side-winding around the historic railroad bridge and sailboats moored into the bay, with the modern Florida Keys Scenic Byway and the Gulf of Mexico to the north.

Attractive directional signs provide clear guidance on how to locate the Pennekamp State Park's facilities. John Pennekamp State Park is one of the first major parks to welcome visitors to the Florida Keys Scenic Highway. These light brown, FDOT-approved, directional signs are consistent in their information and guidance.

FDOT has brought advanced traveler information systems to the Keys. Variable message signs that stand as sentinels provide instantaneous information to visitors who travel along the scenic highway. These boards can provide information on traffic conditions, corridor event information, and emergency evacuation details.

A Goliath Grouper swims amongst sea plants in Thunderbolt Wreck off of the coast of Marathon, Florida.

A diver studies the Christ of the Deep underwater statue, a replica of the famous Christ of the Abyss statue off the coast of Italy.

A diver plunges deep into the sparkling blue ocean to explore the waters below.

A diver poses for the camera, equipped with pink and green oxygen hoses and ready to explore.

An American Crocodile basks in the sunlight at the Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Key Largo.

Two dolphins play in the clear blue water of the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon.

A Yellow-billed Cuckoo investigates its surroundings while resting on a tree branch in the spring.

Fish swim leisurely at the bow of the Benwood, which was deliberately sunk to form a coral reef on the Shipwreck Trail.

A visitor to Robbie’s Marina in Islamorada, FL, on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway, kneels on the dock and hand-feeds dozens of massive silvery tarpon, some up to six feet long.

A romantic, early-1900s railroad bridge and a state-of-the-art, 20th-Century bridge have become partners through time. The two Seven Mile Bridges that head off into the sunset are a testament to the era in which they were created, each offering regional connectivity but with decidedly different personalities. Although from different generations, together they span the turquoise waters of the Florida Keys in graceful tribute to the adventurers of their time.

Visitors to the 1847 Key West Lighthouse explore the grounds and climb the 88-step spiral staircase to the top for a view of Old Town Key West on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway.