There's comparatively little nightlife in these parts, but quality makes up for quantity. We'll start at the Looe Key resort, where a legendary tiki hut sits on the shoulder of U.S. 1. The Keys are littered with tiki huts claiming to be the world-famous this-or-that. The one at the reef resort doesn't claim anything, because it's the real deal. Every seasoned diver has done time there. The bar always seems to be cranking, night, day, rain, shine, hurricane evacuation.

A short walk up from the Old Wooden Bridge Fishing Camp is the No Name Pub. Owner Joel Faber recently opened the upstairs of the pub, which used to be a brothel in the early days of the 1930s. He's also packed the room with Keys memorabilia, like the 50-caliber deck gun used by Captain Tony (former Key West mayor and proprietor of the original Sloppy Joe's site) when he made midnight runs to Havana for the CIA more than 40 years ago.

Another short walk, this one down the road from Parmer's Place, is the Sandbar, a pub up on stilts with a great view of the Overseas Highway and Big Pine Channel. For some of the best in island cuisine, get in your car and head west. You're getting close when you see Fat Albert, the government radar blimp tethered above Cudjoe, still looking for smugglers. Just over the bridge to Sugarloaf Key, at Mile 20, is Mangrove Mama's. Tucked into a grove of banana trees, it's that funky little yellow-and-green Jamaican-looking place that you've probably wondered about as you drove past. This time, stop. Sit out back in the garden and try anything: blackened fish, stuffed shrimp, calamari, and of course real key lime pie.

All that's left now is to touch the Bat Tower. Can't leave the Lower Keys without doing that. In 1929, a real estate developer figured he could make a killing if he drove out the oppressive local population of mosquitoes. So he built the hollow tower and filled it with bats, which were supposed to eat the insects but instead promptly flew away. At mile 17, drive around the west side of the Sugarloaf Lodge and down an unmarked, pot-holed back road until you come upon an old wooden structure covered with shingles that you can't identify. That's the Bat Tower. Go ahead, walk up and touch it. It's supposed to bring good luck. Okay, I made that part up, but touch it anyway.

Captain's Choice

The Old Wooden Bridge Fishing Camp on Big Pine, (305) 872-2241. Parmer's Place on Little Torch Key, (305) 872-2158. Looe Key Reef Resort, (800) 942-5397.