Key Largo Snorkeling

Key Largo Snorkeling

For the best key Largo snorkeling choose Island Ventures who will show you the very best locations.

The Key Largo Snorkeling area stretches the length of key largo from the shoreline to the main reef 6 miles off shore.

There are many places to snorkel on the Key Largo reef. With over 100 mooring balls to choose from where you go will be a big factor to your enjoyment.

Along with the location you visit, the tide level, current and of course the weather will dramatically affect your enjoyment.

For Key Largo Snorkeling there are 3 areas where charter boats depart from. Port Largo area, South Creek and North Creek. Depending on where you start will largely depend where on the reef you will end up snorkeling.

Where to go

The most popular parts of the reef for snorkeling are Grecian rocks and Key Largo Dry Rocks (Christ of the Abyss). Both are great snorkel sites but during poorer weather Grecian Rock offers more protection. These sites are in the middle of the Key Largo reef with Elbow reef and Molasses reef at either end offering great options for both SCUBA diving and Snorkeling. All of these areas are locally referred to as the John Pennekamp State Park

There are also inner patch reefs that have snorkel options. These tend to be shallower and have less overall wildlife but are great options when the weather is poor as they are sheltered by the main reef and quicker to get to as they are only 3 miles off shore.  These are also the go to places for the snorkel boats that do the shorter 2 hour tour.

Check out this video of an Island Ventures snorkel tour made by A.J. and Britni who were on vacation in key largo.

Charter boats

Most charter boat operators will take around 30 – 50 minutes to get from the dock to their chosen part of the reef and this why it is important to know where they leave from as it affects ride time on the boat.

There are a lot of boats that go to the reef. The location of the shop on the island is not as important as where the boat leaves from.

We are located in Key Largo sound right in the middle of the reef.  This enables us to go anywhere on the reef from Elbow in the North to Pickles in the south. We are the only snorkel boat located in this area that can go to any of the reefs in 40 mins.

Many of the snorkel charter boats trip only lasts for 2 hours and those trips tend to go to the reef closest to their boat dock so be sure to check where that is if you have plans to snorkel a particular site.

The reef

When you get to the reef boats are only allowed to tie up to a fixed mooring ball. Mooring balls are anchored to specific places on the reef which means that you might not get as near to your chosen location as is possible but you should be prepared to swim a little if you want to see the statue specifically.

Your Safety

When you get to site and the boats engines are turned off the crew will give you a safety briefing. It is very important that you listen to this, even if you have heard it previously, as it will contain site specific information and will show you where the safest and best spots are.

If you do not understand anything please ask the crew for advice. Some charter boats will also carry safety information cards in other languages.

All charter boats will display a snorkel flag whilst you are in the water that tells other boaters to keep 150 feet away so as long as you stay in that radius you should be safe. Overall the crew will give you a radius of where you must stay.

All ways stay close to you snorkel buddy and remember to look after each other