KEYS OASIS

I FEEL THE FLY ROD LOAD WITH THE BACKCAST.

This is the moment that matters most, with the fish in view, its tail flashing above the turtle grass. I punch the rod forward, an act that seems to capture everything I love about the Florida Keys—the quest for solitude, the possibility of intimate connections with wild things, the immersion in a world of sand and sky and green mangrove and azure water.

The masseuse’s practiced thumb somehow finds its way through the flute music sifting through the Little Palm Island spa and deep into a latissimus dorsi strung tight with stress. The jolt of pleasure-pain shuts my