The fact that the tropical islands of Florida Keys are bordered by the Indian Ocean on one side and the Mexican Gulf on the other makes them the perfect destination for any enthusiast of scuba diving, snorkeling, fishing, and boating. Scuba diving and snorkeling are more popular than the rest, so you can expect to find many great resorts offering diving lessons, rentals, and the opportunity to enjoy off-site diving. Diving in the Florida Keys is an exhilarating experience—where you get to observe the breathtaking coral reefs and a wide array of aquatic creatures. Read through this article to discover the top popular dive resorts in Florida Keys that guarantee such fun and more.
We handpicked these listings carefully, considering (wherever possible) recent guest reviews, location, accommodation type, prices, availability of dates, decor, and access to diving spots, equipment, and diver education. The image galleries get refreshed with the latest updates regularly. They were last updated on April 08, 2024.
1. Isla Bella Beach Resort & Spa (from USD 419)
High room rates with additional fees for parking and resort amenities
Multiple pools, beach activities, marketplace, and scheduled entertainment
Beautiful oceanfront location in the Florida Keys, with stunning sea views
High-quality restaurant with pricey menu, limited vegetarian options, and some inconsistency
Stay at Isla Bella Beach Resort & Spa to experience convenience, great comfort, and many water activities that will leave you yearning for more. The accommodations at Isla Bella are spacious and fully equipped with all travel essentials, including a flat-screen TV, clean washrooms, WiFi, AC system, and great rentals to help explore on-site and area attractions. For instance, the nearness of the resort to Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters gives guests easy access to world-class scuba-diving facilities. The aquarium features a wide array of beautiful marine life, so while diving at the facility, look out for stingrays, coral life, and sharks in plexiglass protection.
Isla Bella Beach Resort & Spa - Florida Keys
Address: 1 Knights Key Boulevard MM47
14.28 km (8.9 mi) from Bahia Honda State Park
2. Islander Bayside Townhomes and BoatSlips (from USD 599)
High prices for spacious townhouses and access to sister resort.
Access to sister resort, boat slips, and spacious townhouses.
Great location central to attractions, restaurants, and both ocean and gulf access.
Access to dining at sister resort, nearby restaurants, and limited kitchenware for cooking.
Islander Bayside Townhomes and BoatSlips invite you to relax, rejuvenate, and enjoy a well-deserved holiday. The guestrooms at this luxurious property are equipped with magnificent décor, cozy furniture, a flat-screen TV, BBQ equipment, and other amenities needed to make your stay comfortable. By the same token, each accommodation at the resort has a well-appointed kitchen featuring an oven, a cooker, a refrigerator, and a microwave to help you prepare and preserve a delicious homemade dish before embarking on your diving adventure. A great place to go scuba diving is Seamonkey Divers, which is just a ten-minute walk away. Seamonkey Divers features world-class diving facilities and offers a variety of guided underwater trips to see aquatic species, including the famous schools of goatfish and French grunt in the area.
Islander Bayside Villas & Boatslips
Address: 81450 Overseas Highway
67.92 km (42.2 mi) from Bahia Honda State Park
3. Hyatt Place Marathon Florida Keys (from USD 329)
Reasonable pricing for spacious rooms and excellent amenities.
Two pools, marina, outdoor games, and spacious grounds for relaxation.
Convenient location between Miami and Key West with easy access to waterfront.
Lighthouse Grill offers delicious food and friendly staff, but breakfast is not included.
Hyatt Place Marathon Florida Keys is just 321 m (1056 ft) from A Deep Blue Scuba Diving & Snorkeling Center at Faro Blanco Marina. In addition, A Deep Blue Dive Center is the perfect spot for any diver seeking adventure underwater. Besides its on-site facilities, A Deep Blue Dive Center offers diving trips to famous attractions such as Thunderbolt, which is known for magnificent corals and unique species of marine life. Here you will encounter mysterious underwater shipwrecks and wondrous sea animals, including jellies, lionfish, and the endangered manatees. For guests who would like to have a nice lobster meal back at the hotel, you can request your tour service to organize a hunting venture.
Faro Blanco Resort & Yacht Club
Address: 1996 Overseas Highway
16.28 km (10.2 mi) from Bahia Honda State Park
4. Coconut Cay Resort (from USD 185)
Great value for money, best available rates in the Keys area
Free parking, WiFi, resort activities like canoe, spacious rooms, openable windows
Convenient location, easy access to main road, close to grocery stores and restaurants
Nice breakfast bags, free rental of kayaks, grab and go breakfast, nearby restaurants
Coconut Cay Resort is an excellent hotel with many on-site and off-site amenities to make your diving expedition fun and fulfilling. For snorkeling and diving, Hall’s Diving Center & Career Institute and Middle Keys Scuba Center are situated just 5 km (3.11 miles) from the resort. These centers are in charge of America’s largest sheltered coral reefs, and you should expect to see some of the most stunning aquatic life in the world. The diving plans include deep wreck diving, rebreather diving, free diving, nitrox spearfishing, and open-water diving. These activities are specially tailored to meet the needs of all divers irrespective of their skill levels, so what are you waiting for? Grab your diving gear and head here for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Coconut Cay Resort
Address: 7196 Overseas Highway
20.6 km (12.8 mi) from Bahia Honda State Park
5. Blackfin Resort and Marina (from USD 199)
Reasonable pricing for a mid-range hotel in the Keys, offering good value for money.
Marina access, pet-friendly, picnic areas, pool, beach area, boat ramp, and trailer storage on site.
Conveniently located in the middle Keys, with easy access to restaurants, tiki bars, and attractions. Great views of the water and sunset from the marina.
Close proximity to various dining options, with a supermarket approximately a mile away. Some rooms equipped with kitchen amenities.
Blackfin Resort and Marina is a clean and comfy establishment along Overseas Highway in Marathon. The resort has several kitchen appliances, bathtubs, an in-house restaurant, and a dive shop where you can buy whatever you may need for your diving adventure in the nearby sites. The closest diving facility to Blackfin Resort and Marina is Tilden’s Scuba Center. Tilden’s offers daily trips to over 30 snorkeling and diving sites, which are home to more than 1,200 species of aquatic life. Spearfishing is also allowed, but only when done with intent to eat, so look out for lionfish and lobsters during your underwater adventure.
Blackfin Resort and Marina
Address: 4650 Overseas Highway
18.51 km (11.6 mi) from Bahia Honda State Park
6. Parmer's Resort (from USD 245)
Over the years, Parmer’s Resort has received overwhelming support from couples due to its unbeatable deals. For instance, if you choose to spend your vacation here, you will be granted unlimited access to Parmer’s swimming pools, WiFi connection, outdoor furniture, private beach, BBQ facilities, and a variety of local foods and drinks available on-site. Diving at nearby Coupon Bight Aquatic Preserve (CBAP) can also be organized but at an extra cost. At CBAP, you will encounter seagrass meadows, mangroves, and coral reefs that are home to an array of magnificent sea creatures, including the rare key deer, algae, lobster, juvenile fish, and a variety of sea sponges.
Parmer's Resort
Address: 565 Barry Ave
13.07 km (8.2 mi) from Bahia Honda State Park
7. Hawks Cay Resort (from USD 319)
Hawks Cay Resort is a beachfront hotel with many amenities that constitute the perfect destination for any enthusiast of water activities. On-site, you will have a unique chance of interacting with the dolphins and exploring the calm and clean waters through fishing and snorkeling. It’s worth noting that Hawks Cay Resort is among the few resorts in the United States offering Snuba diving. With this technology, you can dive up to 6 m (20 ft) underwater, giving you a better opportunity to explore breathtaking corals, spin lobsters, and a variety of tropical fishes. For more water adventure, Duck Key Marina—another excellent spot for diving—is situated not more than 805 m (2641 ft) from Hawks Cay.
Hawks Cay Resort
Address: 61 Hawks Cay Blvd
37.2 km (23.2 mi) from Bahia Honda State Park
Earn OneKeyCash for every dollar spent on eligible hotels, vacation rentals, flights, car rentals, and more when you book across our family of brands.
8. Pines & Palms Resort (from USD 287)
Oceanfront resorts are some of the best spots for water activities. Take, for instance, Pines & Palms Resort, where you can enjoy a comfortable stay and the best of water exploration. The place features a fully furnished kitchen, a living room with magnificent décor, a covered cabana, a BBQ grill, and a freshwater pool. In addition, the resort provides easy access to Alligator Reef, which is one of the best diving spots in the United States. At Alligator Reef, you can interact with the rich marine life, including the local game fish and different tropical fishes such as damselfish, parrotfish, and the blue tang.
Pines & Palms Resort
Address: 80401 Old Highway
66.79 km (41.5 mi) from Bahia Honda State Park
9. Dolphin Point Villas (from USD 299)
Besides great accommodations and its wide range of on-site attractions, Dolphin Point Villas is just 2.7 km (1.7 miles) from the famous Key Largo Undersea Park. The park is renowned globally for its futuristic underwater exploration—through the state-of-the-art Underwater MarineLab and Marine Exhibit. Also located here is Jules Undersea Lodge—which is the only underwater hotel in the world and only accessible via scuba diving. Indeed divers are guaranteed great fun exploring a variety of marine life and unidentified wrecks in the deep. One thing you should keep in mind while diving at Key Largo Undersea Park is to take as many underwater pictures as possible to preserve such beautiful memories.
Dolphin Point Villas
Address: 101910 Overseas Highway
98.5 km (61.2 mi) from Bahia Honda State Park
10. Postcard Inn Beach Resort & Marina (from USD 292)
Priced higher than the value of the rooms/accommodations. Resort fee not included in the room rate.
Two beaches, pools, kayaks, paddle boards, bikes, Starbucks, and on-site restaurants.
Beachfront property with access to nearby sister properties, but limited dining options within walking distance.
Limited restaurant menus, high drink prices, and some mixed reviews on food quality.
Experience a serene tropical atmosphere in style at Postcard Inn Beach Resort & Marina. Guests at Postcard Inn are usually allowed to stay on-site and enjoy its many amenities, among them free WiFi, cable TV, state-of-the-art swimming pools, food, and drinks. Alternatively, you can go for scuba diving with Islamorada Dive Center. You can visit any of the following diving centers: Alexander Barge, which is famous for its critters; Morada and its purple sea fans; or Rocky Top, which is home to Davey Crockers. After the adventure, you can try some Italian fare at the in-house restaurant before winding up the day with a cup of coffee on your patio.
Postcard Inn Beach Resort & Marina
Address: 84001 Overseas Highway
72.51 km (45.1 mi) from Bahia Honda State Park
The best scuba-diving spots in Florida Keys
As can be seen in this article, Florida Keys is the perfect destination for anybody looking for thrilling scuba-diving and snorkeling adventures. The area has clear and calm waters, which is also the habitat of countless beautiful animal and plant species. So what are you waiting for? Check out these top popular dive resorts in the Florida Keys for a diving expedition that you will remember for a long time.
History
Get Trip101 in your inbox
Unsubscribe in one click. See our Privacy Policy for more information on how we use your data
Create an account to