A brilliantly colored cockatoo cried out somewhere in the jungly tangle of Nancy Forrester’s Secret Garden and temporarily shattered the quiet of a late-September morning.

Posted - Friday, January 15, 2010 12:31 PM EST

Four hours is hardly enough time to visit the tiny chunk of the Dry Tortugas that holds Fort Jefferson.

Posted - Friday, January 15, 2010 12:31 PM EST

“Who do we have here?” asks John Baltzell, captain of the 31-foot catamaran Patty C, as we approach two young dolphins rubbing bellies and spy-hopping. Baltzell has been studying the local dolphin ecology for six years while driving the Patty C, an inspected vessel out of the historic Key West seaport that takes passengers out to explore their habitat then snorkel the patch reefs in the Key West National Wildlife Refuge.

Posted - Friday, January 15, 2010 12:31 PM EST

Among all Florida state parks, the Keys have some of the best.

Posted - Friday, January 15, 2010 12:31 PM EST

Of all the wondrous spectacles the Keys have to offer, the first thing my mother wanted to see on her inaugural visit to the islands was the world-famous Key deer. Of course, she was assuming they would be in some sort of enclosure, readily available for viewing and photo opportunities.

Posted - Friday, January 15, 2010 12:31 PM EST