Question:
I love snorkeling
on the coral reef near Key West, but I’m giving up on
the short
fast trips that only go out to Sand Key and come right back.
Although
they are cheap, they don’t last long, are very restrictive, and
most of the coral I see is dead.
I enjoy the “Stars and Stripes”
sail very much because it is the opposite of
everything I
mentioned, but I’m wondering if there are other options for
those
of us who really enjoy snorkeling on a live reef and not being
rushed.
Answer:
Florida has the third largest living coral reef
in the world. As you
know, living coral is very delicate and can be
killed by too much human
activity. Therefore, access to the reef is
controlled. The best living
reef that you swim around is in Key Largo,
about 100 miles towards the
mainland from Key West. The John Pennekamp
Coral Reef State Park
has
tours that run for about 3 hours. My
sister loves to go there whenever she
visits us, although she really
prefers scuba to snorkeling. You could
drive round-trip to Key Largo
from Key West in a day, but my sister
prefers to spend the night on Key
Largo when she's at Pennekamp.
A little closer to Key West is the
Dry Tortugas National Park, about 70
miles away, and it also has a
living reef. You have to take a ferry or
a seaplane to get to the Dry
Tortugas, which takes a few hours and is
not cheap. As far as I know,
there are no hotels on the Tortugas, but
you can camp out on Garden
Key. My father was a Forest Ranger whose
first
posting was
here and he has very fond memories of the experience. He
did not
snorkel, though, so I don't know how this rates
against
Pennekamp.
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