Islamorada and the Florida Keys: A Perfect Location for HGTV Dream Home 2008

This ribbon-thin string of tropical islands offers all these things and much more. But nearly everyone who visits is taken by the laid-back atmosphere that seems a world away from big cities and theme parks. Many visitors immediately start hatching plans to become permanent residents.

Sandy Moret moved down to Miami in 1972 to turn around a struggling beer distributor. He'd always been an outdoorsman, and a year later he started saltwater fishing in the Florida Everglades. By the mid-1980s, he surrendered to the lure of the Keys.

"I sold out in '85 and moved down here to goof off and fish," Moret says from the floor of his shop, Florida Keys Outfitters in Islamorada. The first time he saw an 80-pound tarpon take a fly and come exploding out of the water, he was as hooked as the fish was.

"It’s one of the most unique places in the world, and the only place in the United States where you have bonefish. Our bonefish are the biggest in the world, for some reason we don’t understand," Moret says. When he discovered he couldn’t fish all the time, Moret branched out to a tackle store in 1993 when he noticed "all these people buying rods and reels."

The Florida Keys begin at the southeast tip of the peninsula and extend a little more than 100 miles to Key West. There's only one way in or out by land, and it's the Overseas Highway, which includes 43 bridges carrying traffic above the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. The coastal waters of the entire chain have been designated the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Key Largo, the longest of the islands, is home to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the first underwater preserve in the country and part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The park shelters 55 varieties of delicate corals and more than 600 species of fish.

Islamorada bills itself as the Sport-Fishing Capital of the World for the astounding diversity of angling opportunities and fighting fish including everything from sailfish, marlin and grouper in the open waters and tarpon and bonefish in the shallow coastal areas. And it's also the location of HGTV Dream Home 2008.

Marathon is considered the heart of the Florida Keys and also contains one of the area's most familiar landmarks, the Seven Mile Bridge. The area is also home to Crane Point, an important historical and archaeological site that contains evidence of pre-Columbian and prehistoric Bahamian artifacts.

Big Pine Key and the Lower Keys are known for the amazing shallow-water diving opportunities of the Looe Key Reef. The Bahia Honda State Park features beaches that regularly rank in the top 10 in the United States. Big Pine Key also features a national refuge for miniature Key deer, tropical forest and even a few alligators.

Finally your journey ends with the sunset at Key West, where you're closer to Cuba than to Miami. The tiny 2 by 4-mile island is noted for its artistic community, galleries, popularity among writers and of course the legendary dining and entertainment opportunities along Duval Street.

Visit Ernest Hemingway's former home where some 60 cats now prowl the grounds, many of them descendants of the author's famed six-toed tabby. Other wonders include the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, displaying more than $400 million in gold and silver from the Nuestra Señora de Atocha, a 17th-century Spanish galleon that sank 45 miles off the coast.