On Sunday, May 24 the South Florida Sun Sentinel and its sister media company the Orlando Sentinel ran as the top story of their travel sections a story that originally appeared in South Florida Adventures. Here are the headline and first paragraphs.

“The Marquesas Keys: West of Key West

Just 25 miles offshore lie the Marquesas Keys, formed by a meteorite. It’s out of this world.

The Marquesas Keys, a doughnut-shaped island chain 25 miles west of Key West, were formed by a meteorite whose impact created the two-mile-wide lagoon perfectly surrounded by land. Technically, they are the backcountry of the Florida Keys, but they are so much more: a lost world between Key West and the Dry Tortugas. The distant edge of nowhere, and the center of all things marine.

As a two-year resident biologist of Dry Tortugas National Park, I frequently flew over the Marquesas in seaplanes and gazed down at the eagle rays, loggerhead and green sea turtles, and occasional giant hammerhead sharks swimming nearby. I longed to explore every beach, every tidal creek, every channel and corner of the archipelago. Now, in the days and nights leading up to my first expedition of these islands, I’m so excited I have trouble sleeping, and dream of the trip when I do sleep.”

To read the entire story, click here