Florida Keys

📍 Key Largo, Upper Keys

The first underwater park in the United States: a protected stretch of the Florida Keys reef tract off Key Largo with coral formations, reef fish, sea turtles and the shallow "Christ of the Abyss" statue, reached on short boat trips from the park's own marina or by snorkeling the marked areas off the park's beaches.

It is a state park: an entrance fee and park rules apply, with a protected no-take reef and regulated anchoring and diving. Confirm current fees, and book boat trips ahead in season — Key Largo's reef is popular for good reason.

📍 Off Key Largo, inside the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

A spur-and-groove reef in relatively shallow water with high coral cover, sea fans, abundant fish and a good chance of turtles — one of the most dived and snorkeled sites in the Upper Keys, and a standard stop on Key Largo boat trips.

Reef mooring buoys are the rule rather than anchors, and it is a busy site with dive and snorkel boats on the same water. Check conditions and go with an operator who runs a dedicated snorkel trip rather than dropping snorkelers into a dive schedule.

📍 Off Big Pine Key, Lower Keys

A protected spur-and-groove reef off Big Pine Key with strong coral development, big sea fans, parrotfish, barracuda and grouper in water shallow enough to snorkel properly. It is one of Florida's most celebrated reef sites, and it is reached by boat only.

Part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary: collecting is prohibited and mooring buoys are used instead of anchors. It is a boat site with no shore access, and weather decides whether the crossing runs — book with an operator with a weather-day policy.

📍 Off Marathon, Middle Keys

A designated wildlife area of patch and spur-and-groove reef off Marathon, with a light tower as its marker, corals close to the surface and clear Atlantic water on the calm days — the usual snorkel destination for a day based in the Middle Keys.

Inside the marine sanctuary, so buoy mooring and no-take rules apply, and it sits in open Atlantic water: the crossing is choppy when the wind is up. Verify conditions and the day's boat schedule locally.

📍 About 110 kilometres west of Key West

An isolated island group at the far western end of the Keys with a 19th-century fort, seagrass flats and patch reefs around the keys themselves — a genuinely remote national park with famously clear water, reached by scheduled ferry or seaplane from Key West rather than by car.

A national park with an entrance fee and its own access rules; there is no road in and no independent boat access for casual visits, so the trip is booked as a ferry or seaplane day (or a permit-based stay). It is also exposed water — crossings are cancelled for weather reasonably often, so build in a spare day.

The Middle Keys eat their own catch: fresh snapper, grouper, mahi and stone crab, served fried or blackened in the kind of plain, tiled fish house that has been on the same dock for decades. This is Florida cooking at its most honest, and it is directly on your way back from Sombrero Reef.

Tip: Florida stone crab season runs roughly from mid-October to the start of May. Outside it, ask what came off the boats today instead of looking for claws on the menu.

Key West's Cuban cooking runs deep: the pressed Cuban sandwich, ropa vieja, black beans and rice, and the conch fritters that the Keys claim as their own. The small counters and walk-up windows near Duval and the historic district serve it all day and into the night.

Tip: Order the conch fritters with a wedge of Key lime to squeeze over them — and try the Key lime pie frozen on a stick, which is a Keys street-food thing rather than a restaurant dessert.

The best food along US-1 is often a shack with its own ice chests: buy the catch at the market counter, have it cooked or take it home, and eat it on a picnic table beside the water. Doing this once is what makes a Keys road trip feel like a Keys road trip.

Tip: Ask for the fish smoked or grilled and buy a squeeze bottle of local hot sauce — the Keys make good ones. Bring cash for the smaller stands.