Looe Key Reef

Looe Key Reef is a submerged coral reef about 6.3 miles south of Ramrod Key, inside the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. There is no shore route: visiting means going by boat to snorkel or dive, in water too deep to stand in. The designated Sanctuary Preservation Area covers 374 acres within the broader 5.8-square-mile reef. Set aside boat time for this one; it is not a quick pull-off from U.S. 1.

Looe Key has a spur-and-groove layout: coral ridges with sandy channels between them. Follow the grooves to see the reef's shape, then look along the ridges for fish. Parrotfish and surgeonfish are associated with the north side; barracuda and jacks with the top; grunts, butterflyfish and angelfish with the crest. Sightings depend on where the boat stops and what conditions allow you to see.

For an underwater photo, include a ridge or sandy channel behind the fish. It shows the reef around them instead of turning the whole visit into a fish close-up.

HMS Loo, a 44-gun British warship, wrecked here on February 5, 1744 while sailing north along the Keys. After salvaging supplies on a nearby sand island, 274 sailors escaped in the ship's boats and a Spanish sloop they had captured. The ship's remains were later blown up, so this is a reef outing with a shipwreck story, not a wreck display. The reef takes the ship's name; why the spelling became “Looe” is uncertain.

Looe Key is one of seven sites in the Mission: Iconic Reefs restoration effort. Heat in 2023 caused widespread bleaching and coral mortality in the Florida Keys, and the current reef-wide condition was not established in the research for this stop. The attached branching-coral hero is from 2010: useful as a record of the reef and its fish, but not a promise of today's coral cover or color.