Florida Keys Developer's Toolkit: Astro, Tailwind, Salt Air

I write code from a dock in Islamorada. Sometimes from the flybridge of a 42-foot sportfisher. Occasionally from a picnic table at Robbie’s while tourists feed tarpon fifteen feet away.

The Florida Keys are not Silicon Valley. There are no coworking spaces with cold brew on tap. The WiFi is questionable. The salt air is murder on electronics. And honestly? I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Building from here has shaped my entire philosophy as a developer.

The stack

Here’s what I use and why.

Astro

Astro is a web framework that ships zero JavaScript by default. That sounds like a weird selling point until you realize that most websites don’t need JavaScript for 90% of what they do. A business site is static HTML and CSS with a sprinkle of JS for the interactive parts. That’s Astro’s sweet spot.

Why I chose it: it’s actually fast, not “fast for a framework,” just fast. Sub-second load times on a decent connection, which matters when your client’s customers are tourists on spotty Keys cellular. The mental model is simple: one framework, one build step, one deployment. No React hydration, no virtual DOM, no state management library, just HTML, CSS, and JS when you need it. And when I do need interactivity (a booking widget, a map, a form), Astro lets me drop it in as an isolated island in a sea of static content.

Tailwind CSS

Tailwind is a utility-first CSS framework. Instead of writing custom CSS files, you style elements directly with utility classes. It sounds messy until you try it. Then you never want to go back.

Why I chose it: I can go from design concept to implemented layout in a fraction of the time. No context-switching between HTML and CSS files. No naming things (the hardest problem in programming, and I mean that). Tailwind’s design system gives you a predefined scale for spacing, colors, and type, so every site has visual consistency baked in from day one. The responsive syntax (md:grid-cols-3) is three words instead of a media query block.

Netlify

Netlify is where the sites live. It’s a deployment platform that makes hosting static sites embarrassingly easy.

Why I chose it: the free tier is generous, so most small-business sites cost literally nothing to host. Push to Git and the site updates automatically, no FTP, no cPanel, no 2003. Forms and serverless functions are built in for the rare moments I do need server logic.

The Keys effect

Building from the Keys has influenced my work in ways that aren’t obvious.

I build for bad connections. When your development environment has 12 Mbps download on a good day, you learn real quick what a slow site feels like. Every site I ship is optimized for the worst-case connection, because I’m living that worst case.

I build simple. No unnecessary dependencies. No framework-of-the-week. No over-engineering. When you have limited time between charters and limited patience for debugging, you keep things lean.

I build for real businesses. My clients aren’t tech startups. They’re pool builders, charter captains, restaurant owners, production companies. Real people who need real websites that work for their real customers. That keeps me grounded.

The toolkit in action

Every client project follows the same core recipe. Astro for the framework and build. Tailwind for styling. Netlify for hosting, forms, and deployment. Content from the client, refined by me, polished with AI assistance. SEO baked in from day one: structured data, meta tags, sitemap, performance.

This stack lets me deliver a professional, performant, SEO-optimized site in days instead of weeks. And it lets me do it from a dock in the sportfishing capital of the world.

Not a bad gig.

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Want to see this stack in action? Browse the portfolio or let’s talk about your project.