  Key Vaca Key Vaca  Key Vaca Key Vaca (Caribbean) | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Gulf of Mexico |
| Coordinates | 24°43′09″N81°04′08″W / 24.71917°N 81.06889°W Coordinates: 24°43′09″N81°04′08″W / 24.71917°N 81.06889°W [1] |
| Archipelago | Florida Keys |
| Adjacent to | Florida Straits |
| Highest elevation | 7 ft (2.1 m) [1] |
| Administration | |
| State | Florida |
| County | Monroe |
Key Vaca [2] is an island [1] in the middle Florida Keys, located entirely within the borders of the city of Marathon, Florida. [3]
Key Vaca is located in between Fat Deer Key and Knight's Key. Vaca Key was also connected via bridge to Boot Key until the city of Marathon neglected the bridge so long it had to be torn down causing hardships to the business on Boot Key. Key Vaca comprises most of the north shore of Boot Key Harbor.
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Various theories as to the origin of the name exist. The most likely example is that the island was named after Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, who wrote a detailed account of the 16th-century exploration of Florida. Other theories revolve around the word vaca, meaning "cattle" in Spanish. The 1957 book The Florida Keys indicates that the island's name comes from wild cattle that used to live on the island. Evidence of these cattle has never been found. The name may also refer to manatees, "sea cows" that thrived in the area prior to the 1950s.
Because it lies completely within the borders of Marathon, the island is often incorrectly referred to as "Marathon Key".[ citation needed ]
Key Vaca is located geographically in the subtropics, but with a completely tropical climate. Because of the proximity of the Gulf Stream to the southeast, and the tempering effects of the Gulf of Mexico to the west and north, Key Vaca has a notably mild, tropical-maritime climate, [4] (Köppen climate classification Aw, similar to the Caribbean islands). Cold fronts are strongly modified by the warm water as they move in from the north in winter. The average low and high temperatures in January are 64.2 °F (17.9 °C) and 75.8 °F (24.3 °C). [5]
In the summer, temperatures are somewhat higher than in Key West, due to the island's proximity to the shallower waters of Florida Bay, which are heated more easily than the deeper waters of the Florida Strait, south of Key West. The season is characterized by hot, humid conditions and sharp, sudden thunderstorms that often drop substantial amounts of rain on the island. Hurricanes are a common threat during the summer, and sometimes affect the island directly, as was the case with the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, Hurricane Donna in 1960, Hurricane Wilma in 2005 and most recently, Hurricane Irma in 2017. The average low and high temperatures in August are 79.7 °F (26.5 °C) and 91.6 °F (33.1 °C), with temperatures sometimes approaching the 100 °F (38 °C) mark. [6]
U.S. 1, also known as the Overseas Highway, crosses the key near mile markers 47.5–53.5. Prior to the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, Key Vaca was a major rail stop along the Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast Railway. It was home to a turnaround wye and several machine and repair shops. During the Great Depression and the construction of the Overseas Highway, Key Vaca was home to Camp No. 10, a home for several hundred World War I veterans working on the project.
Key Vaca is accessible by water, primarily through Boot Key Harbor, which lies on the south side of the island. Due to the shallow waters of the harbor, deep-draft ships cannot be unloaded there. Between 1906 and 1912, Key Vaca functioned as a temporary deep-water port with the addition of the Knight's Key Trestle 3 miles (4.8 km) to the west of the island. Built in order to provide a supply line for the growing Overseas Railroad, the trestle was dismantled and burnt when the railroad was completed.
During World War II, Key Vaca gained an airport. Originally intended to be a training field for pilots flying between Homestead and Miami, the airport was turned over to the county after the conclusion of the war.
The United States Virgin Islands are a group of several dozen islands and cays located in the Caribbean, about 1,100 miles (1,770 km) southeast of Florida, 600 miles (966 km) north of Venezuela, 40 miles (64 km) east of Puerto Rico, and immediately west and south of the British Virgin Islands.
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coastal states and areas east of the Appalachian Mountains that have shoreline on the Atlantic Ocean, namely, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it constitutes the City of Key West.
Marathon is a city spread over Knight's Key, Boot Key, Key Vaca, Fat Deer Key, Long Point Key, Crawl Key and Grassy Key islands in the middle of the Florida Keys, in Monroe County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 8,297. As of 2019, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau was 8,581.
Biscayne National Park is an American national park located south of Miami, Florida in Miami-Dade County. The park preserves Biscayne Bay and its offshore barrier reefs. Ninety-five percent of the park is water, and the shore of the bay is the location of an extensive mangrove forest. The park covers 172,971 acres and includes Elliott Key, the park's largest island and northernmost of the true Florida Keys, formed from fossilized coral reef. The islands farther north in the park are transitional islands of coral and sand. The offshore portion of the park includes the northernmost region of the Florida Reef, one of the largest coral reefs in the world.
The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast 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 northwest, and defining one edge of Florida Bay. At the nearest point, the southern part of Key West is just 93 miles (150 km) from Cuba. The Florida Keys are between about 24.3 and 25.5 degrees North latitude.
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Boot Key is an island in the middle Florida Keys located adjacent to Key Vaca. Boot Key is within the city limits of Marathon, Florida, United States. The island is largely undeveloped. A draw bridge that once connected the island to Marathon is no longer in service and is now closed to pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
Bahia Honda is an island in the lower Florida Keys.
Knights Key is an island in the middle Florida Keys, located entirely within the borders of the city of Marathon, Florida.
Fat Deer Key is an island in the middle Florida Keys.
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The climate of the north and central parts of the US state of Florida is humid subtropical. South Florida has a tropical climate. There is a defined rainy season from May through October when air mass thundershowers that build in the heat of the day drop heavy but brief summer rainfall.
The climate of the United States varies due to changes in latitude, and a range of geographic features, including mountains and deserts. Generally, on the mainland, the climate of the U.S. becomes warmer the further south one travels, and drier the further west, until one reaches the West Coast.
A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents, generally between latitudes 25° and 40° and are located poleward from adjacent tropical climates. It is also known as warm temperate climate in some climate classifications.
The Tampa Bay area has a humid subtropical climate near the waterfront areas. There are two basic seasons in the Tampa Bay area, a hot and wet season from May through October, and a mild and dry season from November through April.
The climate of Miami is classified as having a tropical monsoon climate with hot and humid summers; short, warm winters; and a marked drier season in the winter. Its sea-level elevation, coastal location, position just above the Tropic of Cancer, and proximity to the Gulf Stream shape its climate.
The American state of Hawaiʻi, which covers the Hawaiian Islands, is tropical but it experiences many different climates, depending on altitude and surroundings. The island of Hawaiʻi for example hosts 4 climate groups on a surface as small as 4,028 square miles (10,430 km2) according to the Köppen climate types: tropical, arid, temperate and polar. When counting also the Köppen sub-categories – notably including the very rare cold-summer mediterranean climate – the island of Hawaiʻi hosts 10 climate zones. The islands receive most rainfall from the trade winds on their north and east flanks as a result of orographic precipitation. Coastal areas are drier, especially the south and west side or leeward sides.
Grassy Key, Florida, is an island in the middle Florida Keys. It is located on U.S. 1, near mile markers 57—60, below the Conch Keys. It has an area of 3.65 km², with a population of 974 as of the census 2000.
