The Florida Keys Island Offering The Most Stunning Coral Reef Snorkeling In The State

A little more than an hour south of Miami, travel through Everglades National Park on U.S. Highway 1 to the island of Key Largo, where you'll experience a nature park beneath your feet. John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park's entrance is located off U.S. 1 at mile marker 102.5. For an $8 vehicle fee, plus 50 cents per occupant, you'll enter a Florida state park where you can only travel by boardwalk and boat.

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, which is open every day at 8 a.m. and closes at sunset, is the country's first underwater park. Once you're there, you can explore the park on foot through short boardwalk hikes and beaches and more extensively from inside kayaks and aboard glass-bottomed boats. Best of all, it's the perfect location for snorkeling on the Florida coast. With the mission to protect the only living coral barrier reef in the continental U.S., the park's 70 nautical square miles of the Florida Reef's clear water make it a paradise for encountering ancient sea life.

Besides movie buffs hunting down Humphrey Bogart-themed locations like the Caribbean Club (the exterior location for the 1948 film "Key Largo"), visitors to Key Largo and the Florida Keys will find themselves spending most of their time on the water. You can swim with dolphins at The Keys Swim with Dolphins, parasail at mile marker 104 (a 10- to 15-minute tandem sail with Key Largo Parasail costs $89 per person), or cruise the Florida bay for dinner and drinks on a Tripadvisor top-rated floating tiki bar, Cruisin' Tikis.

Pennecamp offers visitors awe-inspiring beauty. Exploring mangrove and seagrass areas is the best place to start. These shallow habitats host a variety of exotic sea life, from seahorses and lobsters to multicolored sponges and sea stars. However, the shallow, often sheltered, reefs here require snorkelers to proceed safely and take care to avoid contact with the habitats or creatures they're viewing.

While Pennekamp State Park is easily accessible by car from the mainland, it's not the only reason that Key Largo is one of the best islands for snorkeling in the world. Charter a boat 6 miles off the coast with your own snorkeling gear to visit Molasses Reef. This is a preserve within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary known for its centuries-old orange-brown, greenish-brown or greyish-brown coral clusters. The Grecian Rocks, another reef that's about 4.5 miles from shore, is a sheltered snorkeling area that's ideal for windy days on the water. The state park also offers equipment rentals for fins, masks, and snorkels if you don't have your own.

Be aware that these corals are under threat from warming waters and acidification, making it essential to check your sunscreen for harmful ingredients like Oxybenzone and Octinoxate before diving to see these reefs. Too afraid of your climate footprint on the real-life reefs? You can always check out the 360-degree Coral Cam, a livestream from the coral reef, at the visitor center of Pennecamp.

Not only can you rent snorkeling gear from the state park, but you can also book boar tours through Pennekamp park as well. A two-and-a-half-hour boat ride with a group guide costs $45 and will take you and up to five of your friends. Boats depart every 30 minutes from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. daily, though check the schedule ahead of time — times might vary by season. If you're not keen on being in the water, glass-bottom boat tours depart in the morning, at noon, and after noon each day. Canoes, kayaks, and paddleboards are also available from the park's rental service. You can also bring your own boating vessel and use a ramp at the park for a $10-a-day fee.

Private boat charters from Key Largo with Key Largo Scuba Diving, Sea Dwellers, Island Adventures, and other tour providers can cost anywhere from $70 to upward of $600. Be sure to ask if snorkel or scuba equipment is included in the rental price. The price quoted can either be per-person, per-vessel, or per-hour. Remember to clarify these details before taking out your charter.

That's not the only thing you need to check before enjoying a snorkeling vacation. While year-round warm ocean temperatures make Key Largo an enticing place to visit any time of year, keep an eye out for Florida's hurricane season. It officially lasts from June until November, but you're most likely to see violent storms in September too.