Skip the crowds. Six lesser-known snorkel spots up and down the Keys, ranked by visibility, accessibility, and whether you'll see anything weird and wonderful.
Everyone goes to John Pennekamp. It's gorgeous, it's easy, and on a busy day in July you'll be sharing your patch of reef with 600 other snorkelers. We love it — we just don't always want it. Here are six places we go when we want the reef mostly to ourselves.
1. Anne's Beach, Lower Matecumbe Key
A shallow grass-flat with seagrass beds full of conchs, small rays, and the occasional manatee in winter. You won't see reef fish here, but you'll see Florida-coast life nobody points out on a guidebook map. Free, dog-friendly, and the kind of place to bring a thermos of coffee at sunrise.
2. Curry Hammock State Park, Marathon
A state park with a calm-water swim area, mangroves on either side, and a paddle-board launch if you want to push out further. Lots of bait fish, the occasional snapper, and one of the most peaceful sunsets in the chain.
3. Cheeca Rocks (boat-accessible only), Islamorada
About a mile offshore. Two patch reefs in 5–25 feet of water — easily snorkel-able, often skipped by dive boats because it's shallow. The shallowest part is the best part: parrotfish, sergeant majors, and goliath grouper hiding in the rock crevices.
4. Long Key State Park
Quiet beach access, a nature trail through the hammock, and a shallow flat to wade out from. We've seen nurse sharks here twice — both times completely uninterested in us.
5. Bahia Honda Sandspur Beach
The water here is the unreasonable kind of turquoise you see on postcards. Wade out, look down — there's a small reef patch about 50 yards offshore on the Gulf side that gets criminally little attention. Bring a fanny pack for shells; the sand here is unbelievable.
6. Dry Tortugas (if you can swing the boat)
The hardest to reach, the best of the list. A two-hour ferry from Key West, into water so clear it stops feeling like water. Bring everything. The reef is unbothered.
"A reef without crowds is a different reef. Quieter, slower, more honest."
Whatever you pick, dive your tide chart and dive your weather. We don't go out under 3 feet of visibility or with a small craft advisory. Florida water is forgiving until it isn't.
