Islamorada runs across Plantation, Windley, Upper Matecumbe and Lower Matecumbe Keys, and much of what a visitor needs to know here moves with the calendar: a fishing season opens, a park changes its hours, an event gets a new date. Islamorada Guide keeps those answers together, and ties each one to the agency or operator that actually sets it.
What you will find here
- The sandbar: what it is, how visitors get out to it, and what to ask a charter or rental before you go.
- Fishing seasons: open and closed dates and the tarpon tag rule as FWC publishes them, always with a reminder to check FWC before a trip, because rules change.
- Shore access: public beaches, parks, boat ramps and kayak launches, grouped by what you want to do.
- The reef: snorkeling and diving offshore, and the rules that protect it.
- Indian Key and Lignumvitae Key: the two island state parks most people reach by kayak or boat, and what to know before paddling out.
- Mile markers: where things sit along the Overseas Highway, so a day can run from one end of the Village to the other without doubling back.
- Events, places to eat and stay, and the history of the islands, including the 1935 hurricane.
Where our facts come from
We go to whoever sets the rule, not to another travel site. Parks, fees and notices run by the Village come from the Village of Islamorada. Fishing seasons and closures come from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). Indian Key, Lignumvitae and the other state parks come from Florida State Parks. Hurricane season and marine weather come from NOAA. Event dates come from the organizer running the event.
Every fact box names its source and the day we checked it, written out in full. If a source had not posted something when we looked, the page tells you that instead of repeating last year’s date. When an agency’s own pages contradict each other, you will see both versions and which one we followed.
How the three tools work
- What’s in season? Pick a date and it shows which FWC fishing seasons are open, whether lobster and stone crab are in or out, which listed events fall on that day, and whether the date is inside hurricane season. It sits on the events page and the fishing page.
- Shore-access finder. Choose an activity, such as swimming, launching a kayak or putting in a boat, and it lists the public beaches, parks, ramps and launches that suit it. Find it on beaches and parks.
- Mile-marker day planner. Choose your stops and it orders them along the highway by mile marker. It lives on plan your visit.
All three tools read the same checked records as the pages, so when we correct a record the change shows up in the tools too.
Who owns Islamorada Guide
Islamorada Guide is owned and published by LPE Realty LLC, a licensed Florida real estate brokerage (license CQ1075686). LPE Realty LLC also publishes other community guides to places in Florida. We state that common ownership here so it is plain to every reader. Each of those guides is researched and written on its own, for its own place.
What this guide is not
We are not the Village of Islamorada, the Islamorada Chamber of Commerce, a state park or a tourism bureau. No business, charter, marina or restaurant on these pages paid to appear, and none of them sees what we write before it is published. This guide does not advertise homes for sale. Should we ever take on a sponsor, the word sponsored will sit right next to it.
How pages are written
Some content on this site may be drafted with AI assistance. People on the Islamorada Guide Editorial Team check every fact against its source before a page goes live, and that team is the byline you see, not an invented author. The photographs are real and credited on the photo and film credits page.
Spotted something out of date?
An FWC rule is revised, a launch fee goes up, a park closes after a storm: when you notice one of these before we do, point us to the page that is behind and to wherever you saw the newer word. Our contact page works, and so does info@lperealty.com. Nothing changes on our side until the agency or operator confirms it, and then the record and its checked date are updated together.
Dates, rules and hours can change. The organisers have the final word: Village of Islamorada (official site)