WITH US Airways adding additional flights from Bermuda to Florida in May, it's not too early to start thinking about travel possibilities there.

Two flights will serve Fort Lauderdale, the other Orlando. Which means Caribbean cruises sailing from Florida will become more easily accessible and Minnie and Mickey Mouse are within closer visiting distance.

It's a big state with a broad variety of attractions. What's your preference? Relaxing at a luxury beachfront resort with superb golf course? How about getting a heady dose of history with a day trip to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas where Dr. Mudd was imprisoned after Lincoln's assassination for innocently setting assassin John Wilkes Booth's broken leg.

Possibly exploring tropical wonders of Everglades National Park, or maybe seeing the central section of the state with its western ranch flavour? Pensacola beckons with many surprises, so does Sarasota with its great circus history and Naples notes for endless miles of shelling beaches. It's obvious Florida is a destination that can often be revisited without duplication.

At press time I talked to Jackie Ader of US Airways Vacations whose department puts packages together for the airline . . . family pleasers such as "Disney Summer Dream Makers". They were still in development and you can learn more about them from your travel agent and www.USAirwaysvacation.com

How about launching your Florida exploration by driving south across the Keys to visit winter retreats of Ernest Hemingway, President Harry Truman and Tennessee Williams to absorb Conch flavour and architecture imported from the Bahamas to Key West.

There's so much to see here, you'll need plenty of time. My family started visiting the Keys in 1960 when it was marvellously off-trail. Long since discovered, much island charm still remains.

After spending a part of the winter in Jamaica where the climate agreed with my father's bad heart, we'd sail back to Florida. Then if northern winter was still too challenging, we'd drive south down through the Keys, always the warmest corner of the state.

It's an unusual drive utilising the original railroad route built by famed early Florida developer Henry Flagler. Obviously the route weaving down through the Keys has been widened, much-improved since those earliest trips. It's also possible to fly there.

On our earliest trips, the naval submarine base was still operational and the Keys attracted a list of often eccentric regulars who enjoyed its unpainted patina, with a heady dose of transplanted Bahamian flavour. Locals called themselves Conchs and still do.

They also take pride in being different. A local tourism commission brochure proclaims: "It's not just the character of the place, it's the characters of the place." There was a certain seediness about it, a kind of "Lord Jim", faded South Pacific veneer, the kind of place where mutineers of the Bounty would feel comfortable.

Now totally gussied up, in many cases by a growing gay population approximating almost one-quarter of its population, it's become a stop on many Caribbean cruise itineraries. It's said more than 100 published writers also call it home at some time during the year.

They must be among people we used to see lounging on the beach near one of the old Martello towers in the early days. I can still remember sitting near a group of what can best be described as "colourful", hearing them intently discuss "the big eye in the sky and the cosmos of the universe", as I sat there a fascinated eavesdropper.

What to do there? Hemingway's House shares top billing with Harry Truman's Winter White House. Both locations offer interesting insights into the men who lived there.

Hemingway's house is where he wrote To Have And Have Not, For Whom The Bell Tolls and Snows of Kilimanjaro. It was for sale for a modest $60,000 or $70,000 after his 1961 suicide, with descendants of his treasured six-toed pet cats part of the purchase.

If you're there close to his July 21 birthday anniversary, expect to see dozens of "Papa" Hemingway lookalikes for the contest that's part of an annual festival saluting the Pulitzer Prize-winning author's contribution to the community.

HARRY Truman so enjoyed the island that he wrote to his wife Bess: "I've a notion to move the capital to Key West and just stay." His Little White House was actually a ten-room West Indian home used as quarters for the Navy base commander.

Touring it is fascinating, offering an insight into the down-to-earth interests of the man who visited here 11 times while President. "He insisted on laundering his own underwear," confided the docent guide. "Said he'd done it since he was nine years old." The things travellers learn!

You're guided through the residence viewing everything from his well-used piano to the poker table where he relaxed over cards with favourite cronies. Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Carter also visited the facility.

You can observe sites where authors like Robert Frost, Tennessee Williams and Thornton Wilder escaped for the winter and Audubon came to paint. So did one of my favourites, Barefoot Charley, who drove down from northern Wisconsin in his old Lincoln Zephyr.

But the personality who stands out most in my memory is Mel Fisher, the adventurous treasure seeker who discovered the Atocha, a long-sought treasure ship en route to Spain in 1622 with a fortune in gold when it went down off Key West in a hurricane.

This is a subject certainly familiar to Bermudians who will enjoy visiting the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Museum. It chronicles that adventure and shows visitors what treasure looks like when found and brought ashore going on four centuries later.

Mel's first museum was actually in a sailing ship which, as I recall, succumbed to age, just as his personal houseboat did. Now it's located in a more permanent location. We've visited his collection on a series of trips, but the most unique encounter was over lunch with him at a local Key West restaurant.

There on an assignment, arrangements had been made to meet for an interview. He arrived, reached into his pockets and casually dropped a glistening collection of incredible gold chains, coins, jewelled crosses, emeralds, and assorted treasures onto the table.

Just a small sample of the $400 million worth that was found on the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, it was enough of the Spanish galleon's riches to attract attention of everyone in the restaurant.

A very folksy, friendly, down-home sort of person, Mel was a fascinating interview. The discovery of his treasure had come at a terrible price, with drowning of both his son and daughter-in-law when the pump of their salvage boat failed.

With his very upbeat personality, Mel never lost hope that he'd discover the Atocha after first finding traces of it in 1971. From then on until its discovery in 1985, he woke each morning optimistically proclaiming: "Today's the day." He died at age 76 in 1998 after a long fight against cancer and is still fondly remembered by residents.

So intriguing was our conversation that time slipped away. I began nervously asking the local tourism official who'd organised the interview if it wasn't time to leave for the airport. "Don't worry, you've plenty of time," insisted talkative Mel.

I'll never forget the sinking sensation of being driven alongside the airport and watching my Miami-bound plane taking off down the runway without me. But it was definitely worth it. Once found, the state of Florida claimed the treasure, but a federal lawsuit soon returned 75 per cent of it to the discoverer. Also of special interest in his museum are artefacts and treasure from Atocha's sister ship, the Santa Margarita.

More chilling are discoveries from the English slave ship Henrietta Marie. It sank off Marquesas Keys in 1700 and iron shackles brought to the surface are a sad reminder of the slave trade. Visitors soon find there's nothing about Key West that's quite like any other Florida destination. Even food is unique. My family's addiction to both conch chowder and authentic key lime pie sometimes had us savouring it for breakfast on short stays. In the early days when Sociedad de Cuba was in full flower, we'd go over and eat bowls full of incomparable home-made sour-sop ice cream.

YOU'RE only 90 miles from Cuba and in the winter of 1963 during the Cuban missile crisis, US troops were patrolling beaches during our visit there. We'd returned from Jamaica, which had just received its Independence, and a number of incidents had adversely affected tourism there.

While my parents were deciding whether to stay on in Jamaica an extra week, a chilling story was published in the local paper detailing how a nearby plantation owner had been hacked up by machetes, then barbecued. It was too cold to go directly home, so my father decided his family would be safer in Key West.

A few suggestions. To get oriented, take the Conch Train tour, a sightseeing vehicle not unlike the shuttle that carries passengers from cruise ships to Dockyard. On our first trip, we'd intended to spend only an overnight, until seeing all the area had to offer on that interesting ride. You'll learn all about the town's chequered history . . . luring ships onto surrounding treacherous reefs to pillage cargo was one of them. The movie and book Reap the Wild Wind is based on this phase of Key West history.

There's even a Wrecker's Museum situated in the island's oldest house dating back to 1829. It belonged to wrecker and merchant seaman Captain Francis Watlington. Some locals prefer to call it "salvaging", but whatever, it certainly allowed some of its residents to live in very prosperous style and those homes still remain to dazzle visitors.

You'll view some real eye-catchers . . . like a framed wrecker's licence, rules to be observed by "reputable wreckers" and a black list of those who didn't follow them!

Your travel agent will know about the great variety of accommodations. These range from historic Casa Grande, Hampton, Hilton, Sheraton and Holiday Inns, to properties with varied personalities, plus a sprinkling of resorts along the Keys.

We haven't even talked about the historic forts, lighthouse, a well-known aquarium, and a list of museums and galleries focusing on the island's rare combination of West Indian and Cuban culture.

Sportsmen know this area as world-famous for its bone fishing. Hemingway fished straits between here and Cuba for giant blue marlin, while Zane Grey preferred angling for sailfish and giant tarpon. Whatever your preference, there's a charter boat or fishing guide ready to help you land some of the 225 species of fish found in Florida Keys waters.

Bermuda marathoners will be interested in the 23rd annual run across Seven Mile Bridge on April 24 on the Overseas Highway that weaves through the Keys.

Somewhere along the way, someone is sure to ask if you've been to the cemetery, also considered a local attraction. US sailors killed when the battleship Maine exploded in Havana are buried there. That incident in 1898 triggered the Spanish American War.

Where else would you expect to find grave markers that read: "I Told You I Was Sick" and "Call Me For Dinner."

Travel factfile:

Key West is about 160 miles from Miami.

Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, www.melfisher.org

For information on fishing, call 1-888-FISH-KEYS

General Key West information can be found on www.fla-keys.com

Next week: Exploring more Florida finds