John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

By the middle of the twentieth century the reefs off the Florida Keys were suffering from souvenir collectors and boat damage, and a movement grew to protect them. The result was John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, dedicated in the early 1960s and named for a Miami newspaper editor who championed conservation in Florida, especially the founding of Everglades National Park.

Creating an underwater park was a novel idea, and it set a precedent for protecting marine life the way parks protect land. The state park was later complemented by the adjacent Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, so today the reef is guarded by layers of protection that let visitors experience it while keeping the fragile coral intact for the future.

A coral reef is built by tiny animals, coral polyps, that pull minerals from seawater to construct hard limestone skeletons. Over centuries these skeletons pile up into the great structures of the reef. The living coral depends on warm, clear, sunlit water and on tiny algae that live inside its tissue and feed it through photosynthesis, which is why healthy reefs form only in clean, well-lit shallows.

The reef is a whole city of life. Parrotfish crunch coral into sand, angelfish and grunts drift among the heads, sea turtles glide overhead, and moray eels lurk in the crevices. Because coral is so sensitive to warming water and pollution, reefs everywhere are under stress, which makes the protected water of Pennekamp both a delight to visit and a place that rewards a gentle, look-but-do-not-touch approach.

The park's most iconic sight is the Christ of the Abyss, a bronze statue of Christ standing on the seabed with arms raised toward the surface. It is a copy of a statue placed off the Italian coast, given to an American dive organization and lowered onto the reef, where it has become a beloved and photographed landmark for divers and snorkelers.

Beyond the statue, the park's reefs and its adjacent sanctuary hold shallow coral gardens ideal for snorkeling and deeper sites and old shipwrecks that draw divers. For those who prefer to stay dry, glass-bottom boats cruise out to the reef so visitors can watch the coral and fish through the hull, a fine option for families and anyone not keen to get in the water.

Late winter and spring bring the calmest, clearest water and the mildest weather, making this the prime season for reef trips and the busiest time in the Keys. Summer is warm and popular, with generally good water conditions and plenty of activity, though afternoon storms can blow through and this is the start of hurricane season.

Fall is the heart of hurricane season, quieter and sometimes stormy, so keep an eye on the forecast, but calm stretches offer uncrowded reef time. The subtropical Keys stay warm year round, so there is no bad season to visit, only the ordinary trade-off between crowds, price, and the odds of a calm, clear day on the water.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.