Boca Chica Key
Encyclopedia
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...
approximately 3 miles east of the island of Key West
Key West, Florida
Key West is a city in Monroe County, Florida, United States. The city encompasses the island of Key West, the part of Stock Island north of U.S. 1 , Sigsbee Park , Fleming Key , and Sunset Key...
.
U.S. 1
U.S. Route 1 in Florida
U.S. Route 1 in Florida runs along the state's east coast from Key West to its crossing of the St. Marys River into Georgia north of Boulogne, and south of Folkston. US 1 was designated through Florida when the U.S. Highway System was established in 1926.US 1 runs in the state of Florida, and...
(or the Overseas Highway
Overseas Highway
The Overseas Highway is a highway carrying U.S. Route 1 through the Florida Keys. Large parts of it were built on the former right-of-way of the Overseas Railroad, the Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast Railway. Completed in 1912, the Overseas Railroad was heavily damaged and partially...
) crosses the key at approximately mile markers 6.5—8, east of Key West.
Its name is Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
for "small mouth", (not "girl mouth" as many assume, since chica used as an adjective in Spanish means small).
It is mainly composed of salt marshes (mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
s) and is the home of the largest Naval Air Station (NAS Key West
Naval Air Station Key West
Naval Air Station Key West , is a naval air station and military airport located on Boca Chica Key, four miles east of the central business district of Key West, Florida, United States....
) in south Florida. The mission of NAS Key West is: "To serve as the Navy's premier pilot training facility for transient tactical aviation squadrons, to maintain and operate facilities, and to provide services and materials in support of this nation's military aviation activities as directed by the Chief of Naval Operations." The Navy's newest adversary detachment has just begun flying operations out of NAS Key West. Fighter Composite Squadron 111's (VFC-111) twelve F-5N and F-5F Tiger fighter aircraft and their pilots will fly adversary training missions against carrier battle groups during their pre-deployment exercises.