Florida

Monroe County

Divers will travel far and wide to find the best diving. But those who live in the United States have plenty of great diving on their doorstep as well, with plentiful access to the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. From warm-water reefs to temperate seas, here are some of the top places to scuba dive in the United States.

United States

Sombrero Reef has been designated a Sanctuary Preservation Area; fishing and lobstering are strictly prohibited.


8 miles SW of Key Colony Beach. The best part of the reef is on the S side of Lighthouse.

Marathon

Sombrero Reef

Delta Shoals are home to several wrecks. The Barge (behind the east end of the reef), the Ivory Wreck... The reef also have great canyons and nice coral structures.

1.5 miles ENE of Sombrero Lighthouse.

Delta Shoal & The Barge is also known as Delta Shoal, The Barge.

Delta Shoal & The Barge

Sombrero Beach

Samantha's is most famous for the nurse shark giving this site its name. The 15- to 25-foot depth has plenty of ledges and remote coral patches offering great opportunities for photographers and casual divers alike. You can usually count on seeing a nurse shark or two here.

Boat from Marathon Dive shops

Samantha's

Herman's Behind is a nice middle-keys reef with shallow slopes, a small drop-off, living coral, and many numerous and diverse species of fish.



Hermans Behind

This reef gets its name from its curved shape. There's a bunch of large coral heads that grew in a semi circle shape. This formation is on the northeast corner of the reef. There's a large area of sand in the middle that's the perfect place to observe creatures of the reef on a night dive. It's not uncommon to see octopus scurrying about during these night dive.

This reef has several sandy ledges running east to west. This is a likely place to catch a sea turtle sleeping during the day. Nurse sharks like to hang out here too. Just in case you don't know, Turtles are a protected species. It's illegal to disturb them in any way. So don't try to touch them.

This is a great dive site to bring along an underwater camera. That way you can take pictures of the turtles and sharks that are posing under the ledges of this Florida Keys reef just waiting on you to drop in. 



Horseshoe reef

This dive site is in the Sanctuary Preservation Area.

4 nm offshore of Marathon. 3.5 miles SE of Key Colony Beach.

Coffins Patch

The Thunderbolt ia a 190-foot wreck. It was intentionally sunk in 1986. The wreck is sitting upright in 115 feet of water. This is a nice wreck, totally intact with full of marine life.

5 miles SE offshore of Marathon. S of Coffins Reef.
Note that the buoy is 15 ft underwater...

Thunderbolt Wreck is also known as USS Randolph.

Thunderbolt Wreck

The bridge at Bahia Honda State Park on Bahia Honda Key is a shallow (8 - 11 feet) but a good dive.  It's almost too shallow for scuba but the viz is not quite good enough for prime snorkeling.  Pull a dive flag and stay out of the boat channels.  There's are lots of fish in numbers and variety, crabs and lobster and small nurse sharks eating the crabs and lobster.  Look closely around the bridge pilings and there is grass and soft corals on the bottom.

Bahia State Park is on Hwy 1 in the Florida Keys.  Exit into the park and follow the park roads around to the base of the bridge.

Bahia Honda State Park

The Elbow is a 0-star rated scuba dive and snorkel destination in USA, Florida, Keys, Middle Keys which is accessible from shore based on 0 ratings.

The Elbow

Looe Key Reef is one of the best but also most dived reefs in the Keys. This reef contains a Sanctuary Preservation Area. The HMS Looe Wreck sunk here in 1744.

10 nmiles SW of Bahia Honda Channel.

Looe Key Reef & HMS Looe is also known as HMS Looe Wreck.

Sombrero Reef

Snorkeling and Scuba Diving at Sombrero Reef