Amelia Island, Florida: If there's any question where Florida really begins (or ends), it's on this secluded speck of land at the start (or finish) of fabled State Road A1A.
Floating Near: Jacksonville, Florida
Famous For: Its turbulent history and tranquil present.
Fun Times Ahead: 56th Annual Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival (May 3-5, 2019)
Catalina Island, California: A quick ferry ride from the California mainland transports guests from one of the world's biggest megalopolises to L.A.'s offshore version of Mayberry.
Floating Near: Los Angeles, California
Famous For: Friendly golf cart traffic and backwoods bison herds
Fun Times Ahead: 60th Catalina Festival of Art (Sept. 14-16)
Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts: Massachusetts' largest isle is home to pristine down- and up-island beaches, iconic clay cliffs, soulful Oak Bluffs ale houses, some of the smoothest coastal bike paths on either end of the Atlantic and lots of big names for sedate little places (Sengekontacket Pond).
Floating Near: Boston
Famous For: Making Cape Cod seem like the big city
St. John, US Virgin Islands: Among the most unique hideaways in the Caribbean and singular outposts on the US National Park grid, St. John is nearly two thirds designated parkland.
Floating Near: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Famous For: Resilience and Virgin Islands National Park
Okracoke Island, North Carolina: No bridge. No crowds. Almost no pulse -- in the best sense -- Ocracoke welcomes ferry (or private plane) commuters to do exactly what's expected of anyone on a wafer-thin, 16-mile long spit of sea grass flecked, wave-pounded Atlantic shore and former Blackbeard hideout.
Floating Near: Kitty Hawk, North Carolina -- and Norfolk, Virginia
Famous For: Pirate lore and the term "Ocracoma"
Fun Times Ahead: Blackbeard's Pirate Jamboree -- 300th Anniversary (Oct. 25-28, 2018)
Mackinac Island, Michigan: What's the payoff for crossing the nerve-fraying, five-mile Mackinac "Mighty Mac" Bridge between Michigan's Lower and Upper Peninsulas? Experiencing Middle America's best offshore Victorian time warp.
Floating Near: Mackinaw City and/or St. Ignace, Michigan
Famous For: 19th-century time travel
KODIAK ISLAND
Kodiak Island, Alaska: America's second largest island (after Hawaii's Big Island) has all the rugged beauty and immensity one would naturally expect from a mountain-encrusted, spruce-carpeted, fjord-injected Alaskascape.
Floating Near: Anchorage, Alaska
Famous For: Bears
Fun Times Ahead: Kodiak Crab Festival (May 23-27, 2019) 
SANIBEL ISLAND
Sanibel Island, Florida: The island's boomerang-shaped, east-west orientation (most are north-south and miss the biggest shell payloads) makes Sanibel more than just another sedate Florida Gulf community with sweet sunsets, smooth bike paths and spoonbill-stuffed wildlife refuges.
Floating Near: Fort Myers, Florida
Famous For: Serious seashells by the seashore
Fun Times Ahead: 82nd Annual Sanibel Shell Fair & Show (March 7-9, 2019) 
Maui, Hawaii: Maui's greatest hits lineup is collectively tough to out-aloha. There are even taller waterfalls, wilder Na Pali Coasts, gnarlier North Shore swells, bigger historic sites, eye-popping-er volcanoes elsewhere in the state.
Floating Near: Honolulu
Famous For: Being exactly what one would expect from Hawaii
Fun Times Ahead: 96th Maui Fair (Oct. 4-7, 2018)
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND
Mount Desert Island, Maine: Being home to the oldest US national park east of the Mississippi (that would be Acadia) and the earliest spot in continental America to catch the first direct rays of daylight is no small responsibility.
Floating Near: Bangor, Maine
Famous For: Legitimizing national parks east of Yellowstone and Yosemite
Fun Times Ahead: 10th annual Acadia Night Sky Festival (Sept. 5-9) 
FIRE ISLAND
Fire Island, New York: If you were a pristine barrier island hanging off the coast of imposing Long Island and just 60 miles east of that other island (Manhattan), you'd be just as protective of your precious space too.
Floating Near: New York City
Famous For: Not being the Hamptons
Fun Times Ahead: Annual Local Craft Beer Festival, Pig Roast and BBQ (mid-July)
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