The Florida Keys are an animal lover's paradise with up-close-and-personal encounters ranging from wild dolphins to tantalising glimpses of elusive Key deer. Here's a taster of the friendly critters you could come face to face with in the Sunshine State...

Rubbing noses
Swimming with dolphins tops many a list of many a Florida holidaymaker. While many facilities show commitment to dolphin conservation such as Key Largo's Dolphins Plus where dolphins live (albeit in captivity) in a natural seawater environment, it's fair to say the only fully ethical way to encounter these marine mammals is in their natural habitat, the open water.

Numerous companies such as Wild Dolphin Adventures arrange wild dolphin-spotting and swimming tours; their crews possess uncanny radar-like skills for pinpointing where the pods congregate. Watching "man's cousins in the sea" swim, flip and mess about on the ocean is the real deal.

Next: Turtle power...