MULE KEYS

The 'Mule Keys' is a group of scattered islets between 3 and 12 miles (5-20 km) west of Key West, separated from it by Northwest Channel. On the west, they are separated from the Marquesas Keys by 6 mile (10 km) wide Boca Grande Channel. They belong to the outlying islands of the Florida Keys. Administratively, they are unincorporated area of Monroe County, Florida. The islets all part of Key West National Wildlife Refuge. The area of the islets totals 1.07 mi² (2.77 km²), of which 1.02 mi² (2.63 km²) are land area and 0.05 mi² (0.14 km²) inland water bodies (on three of the keys). The islets are uninhabited except Mule Key, for which the census of 2000 lists one housing unit with a population of two (park rangers or coast guard).
The easternmost islet, Mule Key, is 2.7 miles (4.4 km) west of Sunset Key which is part of Key West city. The westernmost (and largest) islet, Boca Grande Key, is 6 miles (10 km) east of the Marquesas Keys.
12 individual islets are named on detailed topographical maps:

Block Nr.1)	Islet	Land Area (m²)	Inland Waters (m²)	Total Area (m²)	Coordinates	Comment
3031	Mule Key	52169	-	52169		easternmost
3032	Archer Key	247136	-	247136		actually thwo separate islets
3033	Crawfish Key	17125	-	17125
3034	Barracouta Key2)	482627	57221	539848		including tiny islet 430 m south
	Joe Ingram Key2)		-			smallest
3035	Man Key	358808	-	358808		actually three separate islets
3036	Ballast Key	46801	4741	51542		southernmost
3037	Woman Key	317669	-	317669
3038	Boca Grande Key	741228	80416	821644		largest, westernmost
3039	Little Mullet Key	58625	-	58625
3040	Big Mullet Key	87211	-	87211
3041	Cottrell Key	215943	-	215943		northernmost
	Mule Keys	2625342	142378	2767720
1) of Block Group 3, Census tract 9725, Monroe County, Florida [1]2) Because Barracouta Key and Joe Ingram Key together from one census block,    no exact separate area figures are available. Joe Ingram Key is estimated at 10,000 m².

On nautical maps, the Mule Keys appear like an atoll of 11 miles (18 km) length east-west, and 6 miles (10 km) width north-south (covering a sea area of roughly 58 mi² (150 km²)), with Mule Key, Crawfish Key, Man Key, Ballast Key, Woman Key and Boca Grande Key along the southern rim (from east to west), and Cottrell Key in the north.
7 miles (11 km) south of Mule Key, separated from the Mule Keys by West Channel, are three notable submerged reefs, from east to west:
#Eastern Dry Rocks, at
#Rock Key, at
#Sand Key, at

Contents

See also

External Links

See also

★ Key West National Wildlife Refuge

External Links

★ Census 2000 block statistics

★ Eastern Dry Rocks

★ Rock Key

★ Sand Key