Last weekend, I had friends in town and while we were mostly beach bums, I did take them to the best place to snorkel in the continental U.S. -- the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo, Florida.Established in 1963, Pennekamp is the first underseas park created in the US. The park, combined with the Florida National Marine Sanctuary, encompasses 178 nautical square miles of coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangrove swamps. These areas were established to preserve and protect the only living coral reef in the continental United States (and the 3rd largest in the world). In case you were curious, Pennkamp was a Miami newspaper editor who was also instrumental in preserving the Florida Everglades.
Pennekamp is about an hour from Miami and about 3 hours from Key West. Per the name, it is a Florida state park and is set up similarly to other state and national parks. There are spots available for camping, picnicking, fishing and swimming. It also provides numerous options of excursions to see the Coral Reef. Namely, diving, snorkeling, glass bottom boat tours and kayak rentals. The park provides the necessary accouterments to each such excursion. We chose to snorkel.
This park is run extremely well. The price is very reasonable (approximately $30 for a 2 and 1/2 hour tour and approximately $10 for park entrance fees) and you get to keep your snorkel, so you know they are clean. All of the people that work there are extremely nice and helpful. You take a 1/2 hour boat ride, snorkel for approximately 1 and 1/2 hours and then take a 1/2 hour boat ride back. Departures are currently at 9 AM, Noon and 3 PM. You can make a reservation which is recommended or you can just take a chance and show up. Very easy!What makes Pennekamp so special is the quality of the snorkeling that takes place there. There are approximately 7 different places where you go on your tour depending on the visibility and weather. I have not been to all of such snorkeling places, but the ones I have been to are all fantastic.
Many of the spots are very shallow and so you do not need to swim below the surface in order to see great fish and coral. Some of the coral is actually so close to the surface that you have to be pretty careful not to touch it.
TIP: It is illegal to touch or break the coral and it may physically harm you as well. Please please be careful not to touch the coral.
The coral is absolutely beautiful and very colorful. It is also very plentiful as well. There are over 80 varieties of coral to be found in these waters. The fish themselves are also plentiful. There are over 260 different varieties of fish you can see and many of them are very colorful. You see so many different schools of fish that you are sometimes looking at 50 to 100 at a time. The last time, we even saw barracudas and nurse sharks!!! But, don't worry, if I was not scared, you should not be scared. There is also a famous Christ of the Deep statue which you can sometimes see on your tour, but don't get your hopes up because I have never been to the part of the park with the statue.
If you find yourself in the Florida Keys or Miami, I would highly recommend taking a drive to Pennekamp and getting your snorkel on!
John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park
Mile Marker 102.5
Overseas Highway
Key Largo, FL
305-451-6300
www.pennekamppark.com
