Scuba Diving Magazine’s 2025 Reader’s Choice Awards once again ranked the Florida Keys the best overall dive and snorkel destination in all of the United States and Canada. And right here in the Middle and Lower Keys, Captain Hook’s brought home 21 Reader’s Choice Awards in 2025, more than any other operator in the Florida Keys, with readers recognizing all three of our locations for Best Overall, quality of staff, quality of dive boats, quality of rental gear, and attention to safety. You can read the full feature in Scuba Diving Magazine.
Captain Hook’s has had the pleasure of showing off our near-shore Atlantic Ocean to snorkelers for over 60 years, and it’s often the reason many of them go on to become scuba divers. With three locations in the Middle and Lower Keys, Captain Hook’s takes you to some of the best snorkeling in the Florida Keys. Here are a few of our favorite spots.
Marathon
Marathon’s shallow patch reefs throughout Hawk Channel and its spur-and-groove formations include Sombrero Reef, marked by its historic lighted lighthouse tower, along with Yellow Rocks, Porkfish, Samantha’s and Horseshoe reefs, and Coffin Patch. These reefs hold a variety of corals, fish species, sea turtles, nurse sharks and stingrays, and most sit shallow enough to be ideal for snorkeling.
Big Pine Key
The Lower Keys’ Looe Key Reef is one of the most spectacular shallow-water undersea environments in the region and part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Just 5.3 square nautical miles, this small area features a tremendous variety of coral structures and marine life, much of it sitting at snorkeling depth. At our Big Pine Key location, we almost exclusively snorkel Looe Key.
Dive Key West
In Key West, Captain Hook’s snorkels Western Sambos, another Sanctuary Preservation Area. Most of our Key West snorkeling locations are reached on the afternoon trips, with the mornings reserved for diving the Vandenberg and Cayman Salvager wrecks. The coral reef at Western Sambos is a thrill for snorkelers, with the classic Florida Keys spur-and-groove formation and depths ranging from three to thirty feet. These extensive reefs are abundant in coral and marine life, with sharks, turtles, and stingrays commonly seen. Bring your camera, you never know what might appear!
Wondering what part of Florida has the best snorkeling? The answer is easy: the Florida Keys, and Captain Hook’s will get you on the water.
Thank you, Pam Murph Photography, for the photo of a couple of our snorkelers.