Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/406441
waa.ca Be here. Connect here. Pine Key, a 40-minute drive from Key West, the former bait and tackle shop, general store and brothel has been a local secret since the 1930s. Now it's known for its homemade pizzas and walls covered in dollar bills – a tradition initi- ated by a customer who was so smitten with one of the waitresses that he handed her his phone number on a George Washington. Filled with pizza and down a dollar bill, I jus- tify my lunchtime carb-load by taking a kayak tour with Bill Keogh, author, environmentalist and operator of Big Pine Kayak Adventures. Over the course of two hours, we glide across a calm expanse of turquoise, above shal- low sponge flats, down hidden tidal creeks and into the secret mangrove forests of No Name Key, where anti-Castro activists set up head- quarters in the 1960s to plan the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion. e excursion not only burns off the calories but gives my somewhat hedo- nistic exploration of the Keys a much-needed sense of integrity. Please Feed the Fishes e dollar bill décor is also in effect at Hungry Tarpon in Islamorada, an hour east of Big Pine Key next to Robbie's Marina. In addition to dockside dining, fishing and an arts and crafts market, where any- thing with a drinking joke is a big seller, the marina offers one of the more unusual fish- feeding experiences. For a few bucks, I am led to the end of the dock, past mooching peli- cans, fishing boats and pirate paraphernalia, and given a bucket of bait. As I hold a tiny fish over the water, a school of silvery, prehis- toric-looking creatures called tarpons begins to gather below the surface. In a flash, the ocean opens up as one of the five-foot-long, gummy-mouthed sea beasts swallows my arm up to my elbow until I drop the bait down its slimy gullet. "Just don't forget to let go of the bait," one of Robbie's tarpon wran- glers reiterates. No problem. I thought about this oddly intimate marine moment an hour later as I stared wistfully towards the mangroves from the waterfront patio of Zane Grey's Long Key Lounge, also in Islamorada. Located above a pro fishing shop containing a full-scale rep- lica of Hemingway's 38-foot wooden fishing boat, the Pilar, the second-floor lounge pays exclusive travel tips from caa A Key site. "If you're visiting the Florida Keys, take the ferry or seaplane to Dry Tortugas National Park. For wildlife lovers, it's a bird and marine life sanctuary, and history lovers will appreciate seeing Fort Jefferson." –Sue Blair, CAA Travel Consultant Visit Sue at our McPhillip's Service Centre or call 204-262-6000 for more travel tips.