Has anyone been here before? Is the snorkeling accessible from the beach or do you have to take a boat out to it?

You have to take a boat.

There was one guy snorkeling from the beach when we were there, but I had a negative feeling about it, I don't think he was having a good time or seeing much.

I've been researching this as I would like to go too. You can snorkel from the beach but all you will see is sand, sea grass and maybe a few fish. The coral reef lies 3 to 5 miles off shore and you need a boat to get there. It is rated pretty highly as a destination and there are several dive boats going from Key Largo, all for about the same price.

If you really want to snorkel from shore, Bahia Honda State park is recommended as is Fort Zachary Taylor State Park on Key West. There are boats available at Bahia Honda if you decide to go on out to the reef, as well as Key West. I'm itching to go check them out for myself.

thanks for the info. Think we will try to rent a boat and maybe try Bahia Honda as well. Key west is too far, we only have 1 day and are driving from FLL area.

Take a group boat from the State park. Very well done.

I have been snorkeling there but has been ages. We took a boat out and the snorkeling was excellent! It inspired me to become scuba certified.

My favorite place to snorkel in the Keys is Looe Key Nat'l Marine Sanctuary. You need a boat, but it is great.

Thanks, I'll look into snorkeling boat tours. We are excited at the chance to see a living coral reef.

Northern key reefs (such as in Pennencamp area) generally have richer sea life compared to southern one. Boat snorkeling tour takes 2h all together. We did it in March last year - saw tons of bright fish, barracudas, nurse sharks, huge colorful corals. It's great. We are going back in November. And it's much closer to Fort L. You don't want to waste your time driving 40mi/h