Florida Keys
USA/Canada
USA
£2.50
Florida Keys: Home of the Sea Cow
The Florida Keys offer a tropical escape without ever leaving the country. This archipelago is home to the third-largest barrier reef in the world, making it a diver's playground of colorful shallow reefs and massive sunken shipwrecks like the Spiegel Grove. But the magic here isn't just on the reef; it's in the shallow backcountry and the seagrass beds. This is "slow diving" at its finest, where the water is warm, the visibility is sweet, and the wildlife encounters are up close and personal. It’s the perfect spot for divers who want to trade deep adrenaline for relaxed, sun-drenched exploration.
Why We Chose This Sticker Design
We simply couldn't represent Florida without its most lovable mascot: the Manatee. Known affectionately as the "Sea Cow," these gentle giants are the ultimate symbol of the state's conservation efforts and slow-paced lifestyle. We illustrated this one with a curious expression, hovering over a lush bed of green seagrass to highlight the vital shallow-water ecosystems that sustain the Keys. The color palette shifts to bright teals, aquas, and grassy greens to capture that distinct, sun-filled vibe of diving in the shallows.
Diving Florida Keys
The Florida Keys hold the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States, and they have been protecting it for a long time — John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, established off Key Largo in 1963, was the first undersea park in the country. The diving is warm, shallow and forgiving, with a well-developed artificial reef programme that has put several large ships on the bottom, including the USS Spiegel Grove and the Vandenberg off Key West. It is one of the easiest places in the US to dive and to learn.
- Best time to dive
- April to June and September to November
- Difficulty
- Beginner friendly; the deeper wrecks are advanced
- Water temperature
- 22–30°C
- Visibility
- 10–25m
Top dive sites
- •USS Spiegel Grove — Huge landing ship wreck off Key Largo
- •USNS Vandenberg — Missile tracking ship scuttled off Key West
- •Molasses Reef — Shallow, busy coral reef, great for beginners
- •Christ of the Abyss — Submerged statue in shallow water at Pennekamp
What you’ll see
Frequently asked questions
When is the best time to dive the Florida Keys?
Late spring and autumn — roughly April to June and September to November — offer the best balance of warm water, calm seas and good visibility. Summer is hottest with the warmest water but falls inside hurricane season, which runs June to November. Winter brings cold fronts that can churn the water and knock visibility down for a few days at a time, though the reefs remain diveable and the crowds are far thinner.
Are the Florida Keys good for beginners?
Very. Much of the reef sits in 5 to 15 metres of warm water with mild current, and there is a dense concentration of dive shops running daily trips from Key Largo down to Key West. Snorkellers and newly certified divers are well catered for at sites like Molasses Reef. The big wrecks are a different matter — the Spiegel Grove and Vandenberg are deep with current, and are properly Advanced-level dives.
