|
| Vol. 1, No. 4 | February 2005 |
 |
|
The Keys Web site features a new interactive mapping feature that provides a convenient resource for vacationers. |
Map Feature Links Visitors to
Vacation Opportunities
The official tourism Web site of the Florida Keys — at www.fla-keys.com — has been upgraded with a cutting-edge, interactive mapping feature that enables visitors to find locations and businesses more conveniently than ever before.
The mapping tool can be reached directly at www.fla-keys.com/maps.
"The new map feature provides one-on-one, interactive contact with our customers," said Harold Wheeler, director for the Florida Keys tourism council.
With just a few mouse clicks, Web site visitors can choose the information they want to display on maps, click print and carry the free maps with them to the Keys.
Users have the power to select only the types of Keys businesses or points of interest that apply to their vacation. With another click, they can view an information card about a specific location or business, such as an accommodation, including its address, phone number and a description.
Visitors can mark these places to include on their personalized maps. They can explore all regions of the Keys from Key Largo to Islamorada, Marathon, Big Pine and the Lower Keys, and Key West, by making use of the map's zoom feature.
The new mapping tool represents a major leap forward in Internet mapping. Most Internet maps are static documents that display only a limited number of locations or businesses because of space constraints.
"This is an exploration and planning tool as compared to a driving-directions tool," said Terry Strickland, mapping coordinator at FloridaKeys.com, the tourism council's Web provider. "Because not all information must be displayed at once, the amount of information that can be included in the maps is virtually unlimited."
Pirate Museum in Key West
Pat Croce, former president and part owner of the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team, has opened his pirate museum in Key West.
 |
|
Pat Croce, right, lets out a pirate's cry of "arrrrgh" with Reef Perkins, left, during Pirate Soul opening ceremonies. |
Now a television life coach and host of the daily reality show "Pat Croce: Moving In," part-time Key West resident Croce is a passionate collector of pirate memorabilia.
"Key West is the only place this museum could have been launched," said Croce. "It's a Caribbean island in the United States, a beautiful sunny island where pirates once roamed and they (still) do, I think, to this day."
The Pirate Soul museum features nearly 500 authentic artifacts, many from Croce's private collection, depicting piracy's golden age from 1690 to 1730. The 5,000-square-foot, $10 million museum uses state-of-the-art, audio-animatronic elements to explore the lives of notorious buccaneers like shipmates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, and Florida Keys pirate Black Caesar.
According to Croce, museum highlights include one of the only two authenticated pirate flags in the world and the world's only authenticated pirate treasure chest, which experts have traced back to Captain Thomas Tew.
Visitors also can view the original journal of Captain Kidd's last voyage, a blunderbuss owned by Blackbeard, a 1696 "wanted poster" for the dreaded Henry Every, centuries-old surgical and navigational instruments, and an assortment of rare pirate gold and weapons.
Pirate Soul is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily at 524 Front Street, with tickets priced at $12.95 per adult and $6.95 for children. For more information, call 305-292-1113 or visit www.piratesoul.com.
 |
|
Youngsters examine an authentic pirate's treasure chest, believed to be the only such relic on public display. |
For more travel information on the Florida Keys:
www.fla-keys.com
