High-speed ferry service between Miami and Key West is now available, offering a waterborne alternative to air travel or driving the Overseas Highway.

Key West Express offers transportation aboard the 155-foot Big Cat Express, a jet-propelled catamaran capable of carrying up to 370 passengers.

The ferry departs at 8:30 a.m. Thursday through Sunday from 4400 Rickenbacker Causeway, adjacent to the Miami Seaquarium on Key Biscayne. It arrives approximately four hours later at the Key West Bight Ferry Terminal at Caroline and Grinnell streets in the island's picturesque Old Town district.

Departures from Key West are scheduled for 5:30 p.m., with arrival in Miami set for approximately 9:30 p.m.

Round-trip passengers can choose a same-day return or schedule their return for a later date.

The 7,200-horsepower jet-powered catamaran ferry can travel at speeds up to 40 mph. The vessel features three passenger decks, including an open-air top level for sunning, and comfortable indoor and outdoor seating. Amenities include flat-screen satellite televisions, on-board food and full bar service.

Round-trip tickets cost $98 per adult, $66 per child 12 and under, and $79 per person for senior citizens and students with college I.D. All one-way fares are $49 per person.

For information and reservations, call toll-free (866) 593-3779 or visit seakeywestexpress.com.

While it seems there's a special event taking place in Key West nearly every weekend, two premiere annual festivals are scheduled each fall. Make reservations now to attend either — or both — of these stellar celebrations in the island city.

Sept. 4-9

Womenfest. This lesbian-oriented festival features pool and dance parties, an art walk, a golf tournament, women-only sailing and snorkeling, high-energy performances and other activities. For more information and updates, call (800) 535-7797 or visit womenfest.com.

Oct. 19-28

29th Annual Fantasy Fest. "Gnomes, Toads and White Rabbit Tea Parties" is the theme for this outrageous 10-day celebration with a packed schedule of costume competitions, promenades and street fairs, and a grand parade featuring marching groups and lavish floats. Call (305) 296-1817 or visit fantasyfest.net.

For more Key West events and information, visit www.fla-keys.com or the Key West Business Guild Web site at www.gaykeywestfl.com.

The offbeat island of Key West is known for its year-round subtropical weather, but temperatures are predicted to rise dramatically Thursday through Sunday, April 12-15. The cause isn't global warming or another meteorological phenomenon — it's the annual Tropical Heat celebration, an adventurous long weekend of gay and lesbian adult fun.

Tropical Heat offers four days of fever-pitch revelry in the island city whose openness and longstanding respect for diversity have made it a world-renowned gay and lesbian vacation destination. The festival is coordinated by the Key West Business Guild.

Tropical Heat includes 16 lightheartedly decadent events ranging from drag shows to pool parties and gatherings at island clubs. Attendees can buy all-admission passes or pay cover charges for individual events.

Tropical Heat all-admission passes are available for $45 per person. For those without passes, entrance to individual events is $10 per person at the door unless otherwise indicated.

For more information about the festival, visit tropicalheatkw.com.

ong renowned as a favorite gay and lesbian vacation destination, Key West salutes diversity with PrideFest 2007, scheduled for Saturday, June 2, through Sunday, June 10.

Organized by the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Key West, PrideFest offers an opportunity for residents and visitors to celebrate the freedom and openness to be found in the island city. The festival, which incorporates more than 15 separate events, is themed "The End of the Rainbow" in recognition of Key West's atmosphere of acceptance and geographical location at the southernmost tip of the continental United States.

Events are to begin with a kickoff party scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday, June 2, in the Crystal Room at La Te Da.

House tours are to follow at noon Sunday, providing an insider's look at some of the most appealing homes and gardens in Key West.

Among PrideFest's schedule highlights are contests for the festival's male, female and drag queen "royalty." The Mr. PrideFest contest, billed as the gay man's answer to Mr. Universe, is set for 8 p.m. Sunday, June 3, at the Bourbon St. Pub. The Ms. PrideFest title is to be awarded at a 9 p.m. event Tuesday, June 5, at Aqua; while the southernmost drag beauty pageant — otherwise known as the battle for the Miss PrideFest crown — is to begin at 9 p.m. Wednesday at La Te Da's Crystal Room.

PrideFest attendees can applaud local talent at the Pride Follies, in the Tennessee Williams Theatre at Florida Keys Community College. Scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday, June 7, the Follies offer glittering entertainment, elaborate sets and a variety of surprises.

Crowds are to flock to Key West's legendary Duval Street Friday and Saturday, June 8 and 9, during the PrideFest Street Fair. Scheduled to take place in the 700 and 800 blocks, the street fair traditionally includes live entertainment, arts, crafts, food and more.

The culmination of Key West's PrideFest 2007 is the "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" Pride Parade down Duval Street, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 9. The final event will be a farewell Tea Dance on Sunday, June 10, at 3 p.m.

For more PrideFest details, visit pridefestkeywest.com.

"drag" race featuring "girls" sporting staggeringly high heels and teased tresses highlights the 25th anniversary of the founding of the independent Conch Republic. The Great Conch Republic Drag Race is set for Saturday, April 21, in the 700 block of Key West's Duval Street.

The wacky race is one of the kickoff events of the April 20-29 celebration that commemorates the Florida Keys' 1982 secession from the United States, staged by local officials after a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint was set up at the top of the Florida Keys that virtually halted traffic.

Presented by the Bourbon Street Complex, the drag race is slated to begin at 1 p.m. when the "pits" along the 700 block of Duval open for public viewing. Contestants gowned in offbeat garb and race-wear are to sprint down Duval in high heels during time trials and elimination heats — all culminating in the hard-fought finals and capped by a spirited round of drag foam wrestling.

Other celebration highlights include an event sure to breed strange bedfellows. Saturday, April 28, marks the Fairvilla Megastore Conch Republic Red Ribbon Bed Race, billed as "the most fun you can have in bed with your clothes on."

In this race, teams propel decorated beds from the Crowne Plaza La Concha down Duval to the Hog's Breath Saloon. Scheduled for 2-5 p.m., the race raises money for Key West's AIDS Help Inc.

For more information about the drag races, visit bourbonstpub.com. For a schedule of Conch Republic Independence Celebration events, visit conchrepublic.com.

isitors to Key West's Southernmost Point marker, one of America's most photographed landmarks, can now meet "New Friends" at the iconic monument that marks the southernmost spot in the continental United States.

"New Friends" is a multicultural seven-figure grouping sculpted in bronze by acclaimed artist J. Seward Johnson.

The artwork depicts four adults and three children, dressed in the casual attire typically worn by Florida Keys visitors, grouped around the Southernmost Point as though posing for a photograph — as countless visitors do daily at the monument shaped like a marine navigation marker. Two figures have their arms extended for living visitors to nestle into.

"New Friends" is on loan to the city from Johnson. The sculptures are currently scheduled to remain at the Southernmost Point until early May, but may become more permanent if approved by the Key West City Commission.