November 11, 2014 -

If you want your Florida stone crabs right off the dock as fresh as you can find them, then you need to go to a funky small town where the highway ends and the wilderness begins — Everglades City.
Everglades City is a small fishing town about 35 miles south of Naples and 80 miles east of Miami. Dozens of stone-crab fishermen are based on its Barron River, and so are several informal, unpretentious seafood restaurants.
Everglades City is where Joe’s Stone Crabs on Miami Beach gets its stone crabs. Joe’s doesn’t take reservations and is famous for its long wait. True, you might spot a visiting celebity at Joe’s. At the Everglades City restaurants, on the other hand, you might spot a visiting manatee in the river your table overlooks.