If only she was on the menu …
At the intersection of Overseas Highway and Gimpy Gulch Drive, near mile marker 87, a 30-foot-tall, 40-foot-long, anatomically correct spiny crustacean is an incontrovertible reminder that you are most definitely in the Florida Keys.
Betsy the lobster was conceived in the 1980s by sculptor Richard Blaze of Marathon, who spent five years constructing and perfecting her for a company that would ultimately go out of business just before Betsy’s completion. Essentially born an orphan, Betsy was bought, or adopted, by Tom Vellanti for the front of Treasure Village, an old Islamorada landmark that was a shopping center for independent merchants and craftspeople. When Treasure Village was turned into a Montessori school in 2006, Betsy was again homeless. She was disassembled and put on eBay in the hopes of being auctioned off, but there were no takers. In 2009, the owners of the Rain Barrel, an artists’ community and marketplace, bought Betsy and put her back on display, greeting passersby like she was made to do.
Info
Address 86700 Overseas Highway, Islamorada, 33036, +1 305.852.3084 | Tip Head south on Overseas Hwy to the end of Islamorada and stop off at Bud N’ Mary’s Marina (79851 Overseas Hwy). Since 1944, the marina has been the hub of sport fishing in the Keys. Charter a boat and experience firsthand the incredible fishing the area has to offer.
And since 2009, Betsy has stayed put, right across the street from her old home at Treasure Village. Betsy’s whiplike antennules and spiny, jagged legs may startle those who aren’t expecting her – the details are too real. Her carapace – with intricate designs in different shades of red, brown, and white – glistens under the Keys’ bright sun. Her antennae stretch more than 30 feet from her black, tranquil eyes to her brilliant, fanned tail.
Smaller and a little less juicy than their famous cousins to the north, lobsters in the Keys can only be caught and sold during certain times of the year. If you’ve never been a part of lobster season in Florida, take advantage of it. Divers can grab their dinner straight from the sea during spiny lobster season, from August 6 to March 31 or amid the bedlam of the two-day “mini season” on the last Wednesday and Thursday in July.
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