Every day is a beach day on this string of islands where being at one with the water, and the creatures in it, is the order of the day.

The Florida Keys are a vision of bleached pastel shades that look like they have been coloured using a pack of children’s chalks. Wooden houses, shacks and cafés in mint green, bubblegum pink and dusty coral line Overseas Highway, the 113-mile roadway that runs the length of the Keys, crossing 42 bridges until you reach Key West, the end of the line.

On a holiday here, fish will feature strongly. You will spend your time watching them, catching them and eating them. Hours of your day will be on, in and under the water, and there won’t be a type of boat you don’t sit in. Everyone here has one, there are beaten-up leaky ones, smart million-dollar new ones, and crafted, stylish heritage ones. There’s even the African Queen from the 1951 movie of the same name moored in Key Largo, on which you can cruise the waterways peeking into the yards of celebrity mansions.

After jetting into Miami airport and picking up a car, our first stop was Islamorada, where we spent a couple of nights at the Amara Cay Resort. Surrounded by American vacationers, it was easy to pick up the party vibes during the day, competing at beach Jenga, collecting umbrella-strewn cocktails from the pool bar and hitting the ping-pong table with a vengeance. Afternoons spent under the swaying palms on the sugary sands until sunset were just the chill-out we needed before dinner.

The hotel runs an excellent complimentary shuttle service to avoid any drink-driving situations, and we were chauffeured up to the Florida Keys Brewing Company less than a mile away on our first evening. Here couple Craig and Cheryl run a buzzing bar with 20 home-brewed beers on tap, the business having started after Canadian-born Craig’s mother-in-law bought him a home-brewing kit for Christmas. A short stroll brought us to Chef Michael’s (foodtotalkabout.com), one of the Keys’ dining institutions and a fish lover’s treat. Some of the species – lionfish, conch and hogfish are unfamiliar, but all are spankingly fresh and you choose the way you want your fish cooked – grilled, sautéed, fried or blackened – and the homemade sauce you prefer; mine is the Juliette with shrimp, scallops, chardonnay butter and toasted almonds.

At Key Largo Fisheries you queue to order that day’s catch at counter, find a table and wait for your trays of lobster bites, fish sandwiches or chip suppers to be served. More informal dining can be found at Robbie’s Hungry Tarpon restaurant on Islamorada, where you can feed the huge shoals of equally huge tarpon that hang around the dock, or browse the handcrafts and souvenir shacks that line the path down to the water. The delicious food served here includes blackened mahi-mahi, crispy fried cracked conch with Thai chilli mayo, Thai mahi fingers and more.

Work up an appetite with a water-based activity from the Sundance Watersports crew. Our snorkelling trip to the Alligator Reef Lighthouse lasted two unforgettable hours. From the pelicans perched on the pontoons that surrounded our large catamaran on boarding, to the dozens of parrot fish, nurse sharks and barracudas we spotted underwater, and from the purple fan coral swaying in the currents, to the dolphin pod spotted from deck, it was a day filled with wonder

Checking into Ocean Key Resort with its glamorous beach club vibe on Key West was a different experience. Our large suite with its huge balcony overlooked the pier where partygoers were beginning to gather at the bar for the daily sunset display. We joined them, cocktails and cold lager in hand, to watch the sky turn from blue, to peach, to raspberry pink and flame gold, accompanied by an excellent live band and hollers and cheers from the passing yachts and party boats. Dinner at the hotel’s Hot Tin Roof restaurant was sophisticated, contemporary and where I ate my hats-off best-ever key lime pie.

Wine lovers should book a ‘Wind and Wine Sunset Sail’ with Danger Charters; what could be more wonderful than sailing into the sunset tasting cava, vinho verde, a very special Italian chardonnay and a delicious South African chenin blanc, munching canapés all the way?

After Key West, the allure of Tranquility Bay, a resort on Marathon Key, was strong. Here you stay in your own beachfront house, complete with porch and balconies. Calm, couple time by the pool, games of quoits and giant chess by the beach bar, bowls of delicious conch chowder in the Butterfly Café, and post-dinner strolls along the powdery sands is the vibe.

Arriving home to a grey, rainy Heathrow didn’t seem so bad after that shot of sunshine and pastel-tinted beauty, and it made sense to rustle up a Florida-Keys-inspired fish supper to make that holiday feeling last just a little bit longer.