F
IS FOR FORT LAUDERDALE, NORWEGIAN’S
NEWEST DESTINATION
Norwegian’s new direct flights will land at Fort Lauderdale
Airport. More than 12 million visitors a year come to the
‘
Venice of America’, which boasts 23 miles of pristine beaches
and more than 300 miles of canals. Fort Lauderdale is also smack
in the middle of South Florida, with Miami and West Palm Beach
within easy reach, and Florida Keys, Orlando’s theme parks and
the Bahamas just a little further afield (it’s the main starting point
for Caribbean cruises, too). For your days in town, it’s all about
boat rides and weekend nights at Cooley Hammock, the jumping
nightlife area along Southwest 2nd Street.
sunny.org porteverglades.net
I
IS FOR IGUANAS
Like the Burmese python, the iguana is yet another formerly domesticated creature
that has found its way into the wild and onto the invasive species list. “These beasts
are non-native to Florida, but offer a great opportunity to view and photograph
these unusual creatures,” says Dr Kenneth L Krysko, senior biological scientist at the
Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville. While they do add to the area’s tropical
mystique, they have no formal place in its eco-system, leading them to wreak serious
havoc on trees, plants and well-manicured lawns. They’ve also been known to kick owls
out of their burrows and get feisty with humans and pets, too. Most alarming have been
the occasions – twice in the past five years – when plummeting temperatures caused
hundreds to go into an immediate coma-like dormancy, creating what the local media
called a “frozen iguana shower”.
flmnh.ufl.edu
G
IS FOR GOURMET
For years, the
Sunshine State’s most
enduring eateries
were either casual diners or
over-the-top ostentations, but
all of that has changed in the
past decade. “The evolution
of the South Florida food
scene has reached the point
where we can be called a true
food destination,” says Katie
Sullivan, publisher of
Edible
South Florida
. “
Chefs are really
starting to understand how
great our local produce can be
and are using it in incredibly
creative ways. It has been a real
eye-opener for South Florida
foodies – and it can only get
better.” In recent years, some
of Miami’s most booked tables
have been at the southern
outposts of restaurants
imported from New York City,
like Scott Conant’s Scarpetta
and Andrew Carmellini’s The
Dutch. But the tides are
changing. Now Miami’s hottest
tables are at restaurants that
were born here, like Michael’s
Genuine, Juvia and Yardbird
(
which will be reversing the
NYC-to-MIA trend when it
opens a location in the Big
Apple later this year).
ediblesouthflorida.com
H
IS FOR (ERNEST) HEMINGWAY
It was following a trip to Paris that Ernest
Hemingway first stumbled upon Key West,
Florida’s southernmost city and an island
in the Florida Keys. “At the Hemingway Home, his
residence in the 1930s, he wrote 70 percent of his
works,” says Dave Gonzales of the Ernest Hemingway
Home & Museum, a 160-year-old mansion that’s
the most visited attraction on the island and home
to more than 40 six-toed cats, all descendants of
Hemingway’s puss, Snowball.
hemingwayhome.com
Michael’s Genuine
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