AND FOR THE LANDLUBBERS AND DAYTRIPPERS: South Florida Summer Diversions Loxahatchee evergLades tours Where: Parkland What’s the aLLure: An airboat ride is the easiest way to get into the heart of Florida’s wilderness, the Everglades, pegged as one of the seven natural wonders of North America. It may not be as peaceful as a canoe or a kayak, but it’s the noisy, fun and fast alternative, an adventurous way to explore this eccentric and fragile ecosystem. The Everglades of the Loxahatchee Preserve is more than a remnant swamp just past our western suburbs; it is the northernmost tip of the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States. It is, as Marjorie Stoneman Douglas said, a true “river of grass”—for which airboats are made. The airboat skims over marshland, startling slithery alligators, slicing through floating islands, flushing flocks of ibis and herons and roseate spoonbills out of the sawgrass. This is about as real a Florida experience as one can get. contact: 800/683-5873, evergladesairboattours.com
the Mai-Kai
million in its first year alone. Sixty years later, the tiki trend has diminished from a national sensation to a niche market. Waitresses in bikini tops and wraparound sarongs serve imaginative rum libations, and hula dancers in grass skirts and scantily clad fire-eaters entertain guests during the Polynesian Islander Revue floorshow, an irresistible spin on the tired old term “dinner theater.” contact: 954/563-3272, maikai.com
the FontainebLeau MiaMi beach Where: Miami Beach What’s the aLLure: This extravagantly curved hotel was the epitome of glamour
its best. Signature restaurants include Scarpetta, Hakkasan and Gotham Steak, and Liv nightclub is arguably one of Miami’s hottest venues. contact: 305/538-2000, fontainebleau.com
saWgrass MiLLs Where: Sunrise What’s the aLLure: Forget the beach. The state’s largest outlet retail/entertainment destination is such an irresistible draw to out-of-country visitors that nearly 50 percent of the mall’s shopper base is made up of international tourists. There are more than 350 stores—including outlet incarnations from the likes of Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, Michael Kors and Tommy Bahama, and St. John and Gucci. Check the website (below) for the dining/shopping specials and discounts, as well as links to social media updates about the respective stores. contact: sawgrassmills.com
Where: Fort Lauderdale What’s the aLLure: The legendary restaurant serves an authentic slice of the South Pacific unlike any other in the country. Those who come for the food (think panang curry shrimp, Polynesian chicken and Tahitian cheese tangs) end up staying for atmosphere. Part of a wave of Polynesian bars/restaurants to cash in on an island trend following World War II, the Mai Kai opened in 1956 at a cost of $300,000; it earned over $1
Fontainebleau
when architect Morris Lapidus designed it in 1954. It was a monument to the idea of Miami Beach, the nation’s newly minted playground for movie stars—the freewheeling postwar American fantasy of palm trees, beaches, nightclubs and convertibles. It was the Florida hang for Frank and the Rat Pack, Elvis, Jackie Gleason and Lucille Ball, the backdrop for movies like “Goldfinger,” “The Bellboy” and, later, “Scarface.” Although the original Fontainebleau mirrored the slow decline of Miami Beach (it largely closed in 2006), new ownership and a $1 billion transformation put it back on the map and more luxurious than ever. It reopened in 2008 to much fanfare and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places the same year. The distinctive MiMo vibe, including the famous “staircase to nowhere” in the lobby, has been preserved, but the past has been elevated to flamboyant modern luxury at
John PenneKaMP state ParK Where: Key Largo What’s the aLLure: Named after a former Miami Herald editor and coral reef preservation activist, John Pennekamp opened in 1963 as the nation’s first undersea park. More than a million visitors worldwide get their feet wet each year at this aquatic attraction, the most popular of Florida’s state parks, which offers snorkeling and scuba tours. If you dive down to the right place, you’re even likely to see Jesus. The iconic, 11-foot bronze sculpture, imported from Italy and titled “Christ of the Deep,” stands with arms outstretched on 20,000 pounds of concrete in the Key Largo Dry Rocks reef. The main attraction is the “Spirit of Pennekamp,” a 65foot, glass-bottomed catamaran that provides boaters with intimate views of parrotfish, damselfish, giant barracuda and more. The park also offers
canoeing, kayaking, fishing and hiking, with 47 full-facility sites for tents and recreational vehicles. contact: 305/451-6300, pennekamppark.com
sunset at MaLLory square Where: Key West What’s the aLLure: This free-for-all of street vendors, arts and crafts exhibitors, psychics, food carts and tourists occurs every night down at the docks, starting a couple of hours before the sun slips into the sea. The tradition started in the late 1960s when a group of hippies tripping on LSD would wander down to the docks to watch the clouds and the sunset. This “happening” morphed into a loosely conceived street fair and nightly gathering which, in turn, came under siege from other residents who thought the whole thing was getting out of hand. Some local free spirits— including Will Soto (a tightrope artist and juggler) and Marilyn Keller (aka The Cookie Lady)— joined forces and formed the Sunset at Mallory Square
Key West Cultural Preservation Society to protect the tradition and give it some oversight. Since then, the sunset tradition has flourished, a nightly ritual with everything from performing cats to fire-eaters. contact: sunsetcelebration. org
Hula at the Mai-Kai july/august 2015
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