The Caribbean Club When the Sunset Crowd Stays

The Caribbean Club When the Sunset Crowd Stays

The Caribbean Club at Mile Marker 104 is the kind of bar that Hollywood uses as shorthand for "the end of the road." The original Key Largo movie had scenes filmed here (the bar disputes this; the bar always disputes this), and the interior — dark wood, neon beer signs, a pool table that has seen things — has the lived-in quality of a place that hasn't been renovated because renovation would be a form of lying.

The bayside deck is the real bar. It faces west across Florida Bay with nothing between you and the mangrove islands except water and sky, and at sunset the regulars gather with the ceremonial punctuality of people who have watched this show a thousand times and still consider it mandatory viewing. The sun drops into the bay, the water goes from blue to gold to pink, and if conditions are right the green flash — a split-second burst of emerald light at the moment the sun disappears — rewards the patient and the lucky.

The drinks are uncomplicated: beer, rum drinks, and a frozen concoction whose recipe is the bartender's secret and whose strength is the bartender's joke. The music, when there is music, is live and acoustic and played by someone who moved to the Keys for exactly the reason you'd guess. The crowd is fishing guides, divers, live-aboards, and the occasional tourist who has discovered that the best bars in the Keys are the ones that don't advertise.

Insider tip: The parking lot at sunset is also the parking lot at midnight, and the bar doesn't close early. The Keys' nightlife isn't about going somewhere — it's about staying where you are and letting the night arrive.