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I am looking at hotels at Florida Keys. Mainly Key largo to Marathon.
It seems like the whole coastline is either mangrove bush, or marina after marina.
Do people (while vacationing in Florida Keys) actually swim there? How do you get to swim in the ocean in Florida keys? Jump off the marina piers, or rent a boat for the whole duration of the vacation, drive to some beach from the hotel a few miles?
Other places like Mexico have some sandy beach front for every hotel, or at least have some large public beach accessible for free like in MiamiBeach.
Bahia Honda state park, across 7 mile bridge from Marathon has some of the nicest beaches in the keys. There is a small fee to enter the park but it's well worth it.
Bahia Honda Key suffered significant damage from hurricane Irma but the beach should be cleaned up and ready for use by now. There's a phone number on their website for updates
I swim in the keys often. Cannot even recall the names of the beaches, but got the park mentioned above, John Penncamp, but there are plenty of areas I have jumped in right off the road. Key West also has some beaches. Islamorada has beaches.
True, the Keys aren't famous for their beaches, on Key West most are owned by hotels, some are artificial since the resorts know that's what tourists like. There used to be one public beach there but it's been too long since I've been there to comment on & you're not heading there anyway but the geography is pretty similar for most of the Keys.
One thing to keep in mind (ulness it has changed) is that it is illegal to sleep in any public place in Monroe County. And the police will wake you up your camper and tell you to go to either a motel or a campground. I don't know if that applied to places like Walmart parking lots, and there aren't a lot of truck stops down there.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions.
I have booked my hotel rooms at key largo and long key (split my week).
If I want to swim, should i just jump off the boat ramp at the hotel? Do they mind? Is it not dangerous with boats may be going in or out? I guess I can drive to those beaches mentioned also. The question is, is it safe or common to swim from the non-sandy shore areas that have some boats around?
I also want to do snorkeling A LOT. Do I need to sign up for boat snorkeling tours for each day, just jump off the hotel boat ramp and start snorkeling there? I checked the prices ~$36 which I can afford one for every day Im staying there, but is it necessary?
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