The south of Florida and the Florida Keys offer some of the best scuba diving in the world. A number of hotels are recommended by diving organizations as being “diver friendly.” This usually means the hotel is close to dive shops where you can purchase diving equipment, have tanks filled and charter a boat. The waters of southern Florida are usually clear and abound with wrecks, reefs and tropical fish.
Ocean Pointe is on Key Largo, the largest of the Florida Keys and about an hour’s drive from Miami. Located just a mile from a dive shop, the hotel is set in 60 acres of mangrove forest and close to some excellent dives. The hotel’s suites sleep four to six people in separate bedrooms, and each has a living room, fully equipped kitchen and a private balcony. The hotel also has its own private beach and a marina for divers. After a day’s diving, you can play tennis on a floodlit court or relax in a Jacuzzi.
The Crown Plaza La Concha is in the heart of the historic area in Key West and is a National Historic Landmark. When you walk into this hotel, you can feel the past around you and you can see why such famous writers as Tennessee Williams and Ernest Hemingway made this their home and their base. The hotel, which first opened in 1926, is close to many of the best scuba diving sites in the Keys and sits on North America's only living coral reef. The reef, with its caves and shipwrecks, is home to a wide variety of sea life. You’ll see sponges and anemones, lobsters and crabs, sharks and rays and more than 100 species of coral.
Island Bay Resort is on the Florida Bay. It faces west and offers some spectacular sunsets. The hotel has 10 cottages of different sizes, each with a full kitchen and dining corner. The rooms have ceiling fans, air conditioners and cable television. Each cottage also has a picnic table, beach umbrella and a charcoal grill. The private beach looks onto a lagoon with clear water.
