The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago in the
southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida
peninsula, about 15 miles (24 km) south of Miami, and extend in a gentle
arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the
inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry Tortugas. The islands lie
along the Florida Straits, dividing the Atlantic Ocean to the east from the
Gulf of Mexico to the west, and defining one edge of Florida Bay. At the
nearest point, the southern tip of Key West is just 90 miles (140 km) from
Cuba. The
