St. Andrews: The Panama City Beach Park With a Calm Cove
Sheltered by a rock jetty, St. Andrews State Park offers some of the calmest, clearest, fish-filled water on the Panhandle, plus sugar-white sand and a boat to Shell Island.
-
-
John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park: America’s First Underwater Park Is Still the Best
In 1963, Florida created America’s first underwater park off Key Largo. John Pennekamp protects 70 square miles of living coral reef, 650 species of fish, and a bronze statue standing on the ocean floor.
-
Bahia Honda: The Florida Keys Beach That Keeps Landing on Every Best-Of List
The Keys aren’t known for beaches, but Bahia Honda is the stunning exception: natural sand, turquoise water, and the ruins of Flagler’s railroad bridge framing the whole scene.
-
The Florida Reef: The Third-Largest Barrier Reef on Earth Is Hiding Just Off the Keys
Most people think of Australia when they hear barrier reef. But Florida has one too, stretching 360 miles along the Keys. It is the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States.
-
Dry Tortugas: The Island Fortress 70 Miles Past the End of the Road
Seventy miles west of Key West, a 16-million-brick fortress rises from the Gulf of Mexico. Fort Jefferson was never finished, never fired a shot in battle, and once held the doctor who set John Wilkes Booth’s broken leg.
