KEY LARGO FLORIDA
DIVE CAPITAL
OF THE WORLD!
Scuba diving yes, but as more and more visitors are discovering, there is another category of diving that merits mention especially in Key Largo: Skin Diving or Snorkeling as its known today. Snorkeling has become one of the most popular family sporting activities in the world today. For less than the price of tickets to Disney, Sea World or Universal the whole family can enjoy the beauty of a living coral reef.
They say "If you can swim you can snorkel". With some basic instruction from our Dive Master you can be in the water observing some of the more than 500 species of tropical fish, 47 varieties of living coral and other marine creatures that help make up the underwater world of John Pennekamp State Park and the Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary. A large shallow water bank reef occupies a portion of this park and makes it one of the world's premier snorkeling destinations.
All of the many Scuba Diving shops located on Key Largo do offer snorkeling on their boats but the tours are scuba diving trips and as such are geared for the certified scuba diver and are usually done on the deeper reefs and wrecks of the park.
Please maintain proper buoyancy and be sure that you and your eqipment are streamlined, with nothing dragging. Accidental brushes against the coral can cause damage to the delicate coral animals. Touching, handling, riding and feeding the marine life stresses the animal and can interrupt feeding or mating or provole aggressive behavior.
Try to stay horizontal in the water while keeping your head in the water and looking slightly forward. If you need to rest, roll over on your back and float. Inflate your snorkel vest if you need some buoyancy. Remember to take the snorkel out of your mouth to avoid inhaling salt water!
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At Keys Diver we offer snorkel only tours and these trips are geared for the skin divers, from the novice snorkeler to the experienced scuba diver. On these tours you may find parents who have been scuba diving for years introducing their young children to the wonders of the sea. In the process they re-discover what got them interested in diving in the first place. The thrill and freedom of floating over a living coral garden with only mask, fins and snorkel and safety vest is hard to top.
So if you have never come face to face with a queen angelfish or you just want to relax on the surface for a day before flying home, take a snorkel tour with Keys Diver and you will say "The Best Family Fun in Florida."
Keys Diver takes you to North America's only living coral reef, a spectacular underwater world comprised of over 323 different species of fish and 40 different types of coral. You will be snorkeling or diving in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary comprised of approximately 2,900 square miles of water, reefs, mangroves and sea grass beds.
The coral may look like rock, but it is actually a living animal and extremely delicate. These living organisms are colonies of tiny animals, fragile and slow growing. They can take hundreds, even thousands of years to grow and build. We ask that you do not touch or take any of the coral. It is especially important that you do not stand on the reefs or the bottom. The coral is covered with a fine membrane that protects it. Touching or brushing against it, removes this membrane making the coral suseptable to disease.
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Christ of the Abyss is a 8 1/2 foot, 4000 pound bronze sculpture of Jesus Christ that stands in 25 feet of water off of Key Largo, Florida. It is located near Dry Rocks, about six miles east-northeast of the Key Largo Cut, in the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. The statue stands nearly nine feet in height and is supported on a six foot concrete base, making the tip of the statue ony 7-10 feet beneath the surface. (depending on high or low tide).
It is a copy of "Il Cristo Degli Abssi," located in the Mediterranean Sea near Genoa, Italy. The original statue was cast by artist Guido Galletti, and was modeled after Italian swimmer/diver Duillo Mercanet. It was placed off the shores of Genoa in 1954 to commemorate sailors that lost their lives at sea.
In 1961 Italian SCUBA entrepreneur Egidi Cressi commissioned the second casting from the original mold, and donated it to the Underwater Society of America. The statue was placed in Pennekamp Park on August 25, 1965.
Today, Christ of the Abyss is one of the most famous and popular underwater sites in the only underwater park in the world.
Our reefs have been around for thousands of years and with your help and awareness, we'll have them for many more generations to enjoy. For more information on the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, click here to be taken to the official Sanctuary site.
Keys Diver actively supports Blue Star, a Sanctuary sanctioned organization dedicated to promoting responsible diving and snorkeling.
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