Famous for its sunny skies and spectacular beaches, Florida’s thousands of miles of coastline offers numerous places for underwater activities, from snorkeling and scuba-diving to swimming, sailing and sunset cruising. The sub-tropical climate makes it a perfect year-round getaway that is packed with fantastic spots to explore the underwater world from Fort Lauderdale to the Florida Keys. Home to the Florida Reef, which stretches from Miami to the Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida, offers some of the best snorkeling and diving in the country, and here are some great places for you hit the water.
A Family Fun Boat Tour Company
Explore Islamorada on a family fun boat tour with the Family Fun Boat Tour Company. The company offers private, guided boat trips that provide exclusive access to some of the best spots in and around Islamorada and the Upper Florida Keys. Conveniently located at Isla Marina on Plantation Key in Islamorada, the family-friendly adventure company offers a range of tours from sightseeing, snorkeling, and sunset cruises to tailor-made eco-tours. Snorkeling tours in Islamorada offer some of the best snorkeling in the world with warm, crystal-clear turquoise and cobalt blue waters teeming with marine life.
A Family Fun Boat Tour Company tours explore the only living coral reef in North America, which is home to more than 50 species of coral and almost 500 species of fish, and all equipment such as masks, snorkels, fins, snorkel vests, and swim noodles (optional) is provided.
85920 Overseas Hwy, Islamorada, FL 33036, Phone: 305-896-2915
Bahia Honda State Park
Set on the island of Bahia Honda in the lower Florida Keys,Bahia Honda State Park is one of Florida's southernmost state parks and is renowned for its beautiful beaches, excellent snorkeling, and magnificent sunsets. Camping is available at the park at two campsites, namely Buttonwood and Bayside. Buttonwood offers a variety of sites for camping rigs from large RVs to small tents with gravel sites, electricity, water, picnic tables, and grills. The campsite has a bathhouse with restrooms and hot showers, as well as a dump station, and some sites have spectacular ocean views. Bayside is much smaller with just eight campsites, all of which are non-electric but have picnic tables, grills, and water. There is a small restroom nearby, and campers can use the bathhouse at Buttonwood for hot showers.
Monroe County, Florida
Bathtub Reef Beach
Located on the northern side of Hutchinson Island in Stuart, Bathtub Beach is a lovely family-friendly beach with a reef that stretches very close to shore, breaking the waves and keeping the waters close to the beach calm and clear, making it an ideal location for snorkeling and scuba diving. The waters within the reef break are home to over 500 species of marine creatures, including sea turtles and are great for canoeing, kayaking, and fishing. The outer reef is popular with windsurfers, and kiteboarders and the state beach has lifeguards on duty, making it safe for swimming.
1585 SE MacArthur Blvd, Stuart, FL 34996, Phone: 772-221-1418
Biscayne National Park
Biscayne National Park is a spectacular national park that is home to shoreline mangrove forests and uninhabited islands, beautiful coral reefs teeming with marine life, lush sea-grass beds, and aquamarine waters and several shipwrecks.
Accessible only by boat, the pristine reefs in the park offer some of the best snorkeling and scuba diving in the world, including the underwater Maritime Heritage Trail, which has six shipwrecks. Biscayne National Park’s mostly submerged 173,000 acres are home to more than 500 species of fish, including sharks, and rays, as well as jellyfish, crabs, and sea turtles and offer a watery playground for snorkelers, scuba divers, swimmers, and anglers, as well as boaters, windsurfers, and sunset cruises.
Coastline Dolphin & Snorkeling Excursions
Coastline Dolphin & Snorkeling Excursions is a family-owned and operated business that offers guided trips on the beautiful waters of Anna Maria that are home to manatees, dolphins, and a plethora of other marine life. USCG captain certified in CPR and First Aid, Captain Kasay Gunter, takes guests out on his 22-foot sturdy Boston Whaler boat to cruise around the water, stopping for swims and snorkeling excursions along the way. The boat is spacious and dry, and all safety equipment like life jackets, masks, snorkels, fins, and snorkel vests are provided.
12312 Manatee Ave W, Bradenton, FL 34209, Phone: 941-201-8429
Coral Cove Park
Coral Cove Park is a waterfront park with a lifeguard-protected beach near the Indian River in Tequesta that offers excellent swimming, snorkeling, and saltwater fishing. Managed by Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation, the 15-acre park boasts more than 2,000 feet of beachfront, most of which are natural limestone, and 600 feet of Intracoastal waterways frontage. The protected beach and nearby Blowing Rocks Preserve in Jupiter offer excellent snorkeling with coral reefs teeming with marine life such as fish, nurse sharks, eels, sea turtles, and crabs. The beach also has many shells for beachcombers and shell collectors.
19450 County Hwy 707, Tequesta, FL 33469, Phone: 561-966-6600
Dry Tortugas National Park
Dry Tortugas National Parkis a national park in the Gulf of Mexico that preserves the seven Dry Tortugas islands, which are most isolated of the Florida Keys, as well as Fort Jefferson. Located about 68 miles west of Key West, the park is part of the Everglades & Dry Tortugas Biosphere Reserve and a UNESCO site and boasts beautiful coral reefs that are abundant with sea life, several tropical bird breeding grounds, and legends of shipwrecks and sunken treasures (Youtube). The massive but unfinished fortress of Fort Jefferson is the centerpiece of the park and is the brick masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere. The seven islands of the Dry Tortugas are a unique and undisturbed tropical ecosystem with significant historical artifacts and are only accessible by seaplane. Activities in the Dry Tortugas National Park include swimming, kayaking, saltwater fishing, scuba diving, snorkeling, birdwatching, camping, and picnicking.
Bird's Underwater Manatee Dive Center
Enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience of swimming with manatees on a customized guided trip with Famous Bird's Underwater Manatee Dive Center. Located directly on King’s Bay and run by Bill “Bird” and Diane Oestreich, who have been operating in the Crystal River area for the past 30 years, the family-friendly dive center offers tailor-made manatee snorkel tours and scuba diving instruction for all skill levels. In addition to snorkeling with manatee trips, the dive center also rents scuba diving equipment, kayaks, scuba diving courses and lessons, and guided kayaking tours of the surrounding waters.
320 US-19, Crystal River, FL 34428, Phone: 352-563-2763
Florida Shark Diving
Located in U-Tiki Beach, Florida Shark Diving offers world-class shark diving experiences in one of the top shark diving destinations in the world. Florida Shark Diving is based in Palm Beach, which is home to some of the largest numbers of sharks in the world, including Great Hammerhead, Tiger, Bull, Reef, Sandbar, Dusky, Silky, and Lemon sharks. The adventure company offers two different types of trips that cater guests’ needs – Shark Diving Trips, including cage diving and freediving with sharks and Shark Viewing Trips, where guests can watch the sharks up close from the boat. Trips take place just 30 minutes from the marina location and cater to groups, divers, and families alike.
1095 Florida A1A, Jupiter, FL 33477, Phone: 305-395-9140
Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park
The Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park, also known just as Fort Taylor is a state park and National Historic Landmark located near the southern tip of Key West. The 54-acre state park is home to a three-story brick fortress that was built in 1866 and played in essential roles in the Civil War and Spanish-American War, once housing the largest collection of Civil War cannons in the United States. The park also features a well-maintained sandy beach with chairs, umbrellas and water sports rentals, picnic tables, and a beachfront café complete with ice cream. The beach offers excellent snorkeling with an abundance of tropical marine life such as schools of yellowtail snapper, parrotfish, lobster, and an array of hard and soft corals.
601 Howard England Way, Key West, FL 33040, Phone: 305-292-6713
John D. MacArthur Beach State Park
John D. MacArthur Beach State Park is a quiet sanctuary in North Palm Beach that boasts almost two miles of beautiful white sandy beachfront lapped by crystal clear waters that are perfect for swimming, snorkeling, and fishing. Located on Singer Island, the park is named for John D. MacArthur, who donated a portion of the land in the 1970s for a state park and features beautiful landscapes of coastal, tropical hammock and mangrove forests, which are home to a wide diversity of fauna and flora. The barrier island state park also features a visitor’s center, a nature trail, a children’s playground, and kayaking and canoeing on the Lake Worth Lagoon. Activities in the park include swimming, snorkeling, surfing, fishing, wildlife watching, and picnicking.
Phil Foster Park
Phil Foster Park is a 14.7-acre beach park on a small island under the Blue Heron Bridge, which connects Signer Island to Florida mainland. The Phil Foster Park features a life-guarded beach, a children’s playground, and a fishing area and is home to the Blue Heron Bridge snorkeling trail (Phil Foster snorkel trail), which offers visitors the chance to experience some of Florida’s amazing marine life. Boasting clear, warm waters with an average depth of 6-10 feet and teeming with many species of fish, the 800-foot snorkeling trail runs about 200 feet offshore and mimics a barrier reef complete with six concrete blocks and several larger and several smaller rock piles along the shore. Other attractions along the snorkeling trail include a small shipwreck, old shopping carts, and three hammerhead shark statues.
900 Blue Heron Blvd, Riviera Beach, FL 33404, Phone: 561-966-6600
Red Reef Park
Red Reef Park is a 67-acre oceanfront park on one of Florida's most scenic highways that offers excellent swimming, snorkeling, surf fishing, and extensive picnic facilities. Hailed as one of the best-kept snorkeling secrets of Boca Raton, Red Reef Park boasts a beautiful reef that is home to brightly colored hard and soft corals, a myriad species of fish, eels, rays, sharks and more. Red Reef Park is also home to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center and the Red Reef Executive Golf Course, and lifeguards patrol the beach year-round.
1400 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton, FL 33432, Phone: 561-393-7974
Shell Key Shuttle
Shell Key is a small 195-acre barrier island within the Shell Key Preserve, which spans nearly 1,900 acres in the mouth of Tampa Bay. The island is a beautiful secluded getaway spot with white sandy beaches laid with shells and excellent snorkeling in the clear waters off the shore. Accessed only by the Shell Key Shuttle and private boats, the island offers some of the best shelling and birding on the Gulf Coast, being an essential sanctuary for nesting, wintering, and migrating birds. Activities on the island range from sunbathing, beachcombing, swimming, bird and wildlife watching, and snorkeling.
801 Pass a Grille Way, St Pete Beach, FL 33706, Phone: 727-360-1348
South Florida Diving Headquarters
South Florida Diving Headquarters is a certified dive center on North Riverside Drive in Pompano Beach that offers scuba diving and snorkeling excursions, internationally recognized PADI and SSI instruction, and customized charters. The dive center provides custom snorkeling experiences in Boca Raton, Pompano Beach, Dania Beach, Delray Beach, Palm Beach, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, and Miami. Excursions are conducted on spacious 45-foot power cats or 34-foot dive boats and all cater to all skill levels. Tours are guided by professional guides and naturists, and all snorkeling equipment such as equipment like life jackets, masks, snorkels, fins, and snorkel vests are provided. There aer many great
125 North Riverside Drive, Pompano Beach, Fl 33062, Phone: 800-771-3483
Spirit Snorkeling
Spirit Snorkeling of Marathon offers guided daily snorkeling trips to Pirate’s Cove and Sombrero Reef, as well as regular sunset celebration trips. The weather-dependent tours explore the Sombrero Reef Marine Sanctuary and historical Sombrero Lighthouse, along with one of the Florida Keys’ locales - Pirate’s Cove. The Sombrero Reef is the third-largest barrier reef in the world and home to more than 30 acres of pristine coral reef that teems with brightly colored fish and other marine life. Built before the Civil War, the historic Sombrero Lighthouse is still operational and helps mariners navigate the Keys with its light. Spirit Snorkeling of Marathon trips is held on a 34-foot Coral Island Power Catamaran with plenty of stability and spacious seating both in the sun and shade, a marine toilet, a freshwater shower, and two large swim platforms for easy access into and out of the water.
1480 Overseas Hwy, Marathon, FL 33050, Phone: 305-289-0614
St. Pete Beach Snorkeling
Set on a barrier island, west of St. Petersburg, St. Pete Beach is a Florida resort city with beautiful white, sandy beaches, and a variety of attractions and activities. Overseen by the pink Moorish-style Don Cesar Hotel, or ‘Pink Palace,’ a 1928 landmark and icon of the island, St. Pete Beach is sprinkled with nostalgic Old Florida hotels and inns, and features the longest undeveloped stretch of public beach in the county - Pass-a-Grille Beach. Outdoor activities range from swimming, beachcombing, and paddleboarding, to surfing, kitesurfing, and windsurfing, and cultural attractions include the lively Corey Avenue district, which is packed with museums, art galleries, trendy specialty shops, restaurants, cafés, and bars.
200A Madonna Blvd, Tierra Verde, FL 33715, Phone: 727-742-2277
