Key West is renowned for its fun-loving, laid-back lifestyle, but images of sun-drenched revelers on Duval Street make it easy to forget that this island city is on a small slip of land—about 4 miles long and 1.5 miles wide—that’s home to a fragile ecosystem worth preserving.
Earlier this year, the Florida Keys debuted the Eco-Experience Trail Pass to encourage travelers and locals to experience the area sustainably. The mobile platform includes nearly 50 eco-conscious activities and businesses throughout the Keys, 8 of them in Key West. Passholders can check in to earn points, which then can be exchanged for prizes, such as Keys-branded bags and accessory totes.
Here are five of the best ways to have an eco-friendly experience in Key West using the Trail Pass.
The Coral Restoration Foundation helps the recovery of two critically endangered species, elkhorn and staghorn coral.
Photo courtesy of Coral Restoration Foundation
Help restore fragile coral reefs
The Florida Reef Tract is the only coral reef system in the continental United States and the third-largest barrier reef in the world, stretching about 350 miles from Dry Tortugas National Park to the St. Lucie Inlet north of West Palm Beach. Unfortunately, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it has lost more than 90 percent of its once-healthy corals since the 1970s, due to hurricanes, pollution, overfishing, disease, and warming water temperatures.
Enter the Coral Restoration Foundation, the largest reef restoration organization in the world, based up the road in Tavernier. Since its 2007 founding, the organization has farmed and outplanted coral, reviving more than 17,500 square meters of reef. There remains a lot of work to be done, though, and that’s where you come in: Snorkelers and certified scuba divers can volunteer to help. The foundation has teamed up with Southpoint Divers in Key West to organize monthly dives to help maintain the Key West coral nursery and restoration site by outplanting coral onto recovering reefs and cleaning trees in the nursery to keep the growing coral healthy.
“[Divers] want to find ways to give back and to learn about the ocean, since they’re ocean ambassadors,” says Coral Restoration Foundation recreation and dive coordinator Roxane Boonstra. “It gives them a way to reconnect with the ocean, and works for us, because it gives them an avenue, with a safe and established commercial operator, to partake in the work that we’re doing.”
Clean up a mangrove forest
The mangroves that grow naturally along the coastline throughout the Florida Keys play an extremely important role in the ecosystem. The salt-tolerant trees remove carbon dioxide from the air, their root systems protect shorelines from storm damage, and they serve as habitats for birds, fish, shrimp, and crabs.
In an effort to protect the mangrove ecosystem, Brian Vest founded the Conch Republic Marine Army (CRMA) after Hurricane Irma devastated the region in 2017. What started out as a group of friends cleaning up trash and debris in the wake of the storm has grown into weekly volunteer opportunities around Key West and other Keys; nearly 5,000 volunteers have dedicated their time, cleaning up more than 240 tons of debris.
Vest says that volunteering with CRMA “gives people a chance to see the water in a way they wouldn’t: They get to see all the little critters, and the most important part of the Florida Keys, which is the mangroves. Without them, we would not have the Keys. It’s incredibly rewarding when [after a day of volunteering] 200 feet of shoreline is completely clean and the critters are told, ‘It’s yours; take it back.’”
CRMA’s Saturday cleanups leave the Perry Marina at 10 a.m. and return around 3:30 p.m. Sign-ups are available via the online calendar; it’s free to participate, and lunch is included.
Take a tour with a biologist
Honest Eco cofounder Billy Litmer designed the tour boat Squid to use lithium-ion electric power but later converted to standard outboard motors.
Courtesy of Honest Eco
Honest Eco founders Jennifer and Billy Litmer only ended up in the Keys when their original plan, to join the Peace Corps together, went awry. The organization lost Billy’s application, so the couple decamped for more tropical climes than their former home of Kentucky. They didn’t leave behind their desire to make a positive impact, however, and today their company runs a popular Dolphin Watch + Guided Snorkel tour, on which travelers can see bottlenose dolphins up close, with the added benefit of having naturalists and biologists (including Billy, who also designed one of the company’s boats, Squid) aboard to interpret the marine mammals’ fascinating behavior. Alternatively, book a trip on Honest Eco’s catamaran; itineraries include guided snorkeling, paddling through mangroves, and then relaxing on either a daytime or sunset sail.
Go for a hydrobike ride
Why charter a gasoline-powered boat when you can get some exercise—and avoid the use of fossil fuels—with an eco-friendly jaunt on the water? Kayaks, of course, are an established option, but instead of paddling, you can try pedaling out to sea with Key West Hydrobikes. These single and tandem floating bikes are available for half- and full-day rentals and guided tours; you can hop off and snorkel around a 100-year-old shipwreck off the shore of Christmas Tree Island. Among the wildlife you might see are dolphins, sea turtles, manatees, and the people walking along the Key West waterfront.
Stay at an environmentally friendly hotel
The waterfront Parrot Key Hotel & Villas has a wide variety of eco-friendly features, from energy-efficient lightbulbs to an EcoLab Aquanomics laundry program.
Photo by James Baigrie
Twenty years ago, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection launched the Florida Green Lodging Program to provide an accreditation for hotels that make voluntary commitments to conserve and protect Florida’s natural resources. From bed-and-breakfasts to resorts, properties that meet the criteria receive a “Palm” rating from one to four—four being the highest—based on a cumulative scoring of their efforts to conserve water, reduce waste, be energy efficient, have good indoor air quality, and communicate with and educate guests.
Leading the way in Key West with three Palms is Parrot Key Hotel & Villas, a 148-room boutique waterfront hotel only minutes from Old Town Key West, which is easily accessible on the hotel’s complimentary shuttle. Parrot Key adheres to EarthView guidelines, a proprietary program developed by the Independent Collection, doing everything from installing in-room smart thermostats to using native plants in the landscaping on the grounds.
Parrot Key isn’t the only Palm-rated hotel on Key West. The DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hotel Grand Key–Key West, the Beachside Resort & Residences, Andrew’s Inn, and the Gardens Hotel Key West all boast two Palms.
