Visitor center · Overseas Highway
A dry-land hunt for more than 100 reef fish.
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The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Overseas Highway Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Overseas Highway. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Overseas Highway audio tourRecorded for this place
REEF Ocean Exploration Center: A Dry Fish Hunt“You're nearing REEF Ocean Exploration Center in Key Largo, an indoor stop that turns marine science into games and hands-on exhibits.”
Plays as you drive up to REEF Ocean Exploration Center in the Parkwolf Overseas Highway Tour Guide.
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“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
REEF Ocean Exploration Center is a free public marine-conservation visitor center on the REEF Campus in Key Largo. The 4,000-square-foot building turns reef science into hands-on exhibits, games and art, making it a worthwhile indoor stop for anyone curious about Florida Keys marine life. Admission is free; check the Center's current hours before setting out, since the wider campus has several separate facilities.
The "dry century dive" asks you to hunt for more than 100 reef fish hidden throughout the exhibits. You can build a fish suited to its habitat, climb a stairway staged as a Nassau grouper spawning aggregation, and use microscopes to examine lionfish stomach contents. Take the exhibits in your own order; this is a self-paced visit, and some visitors spend an hour on the fish hunt alone.
REEF's conservation work in the Florida Keys stretches back more than 30 years. The Ocean Exploration Center opened in 2025 to connect visitors with that work through citizen science, rotating art and interactive displays. Its fish hunt carries the organization's reef-survey tradition into an indoor game.
The Center is at Mile Marker 98.3, 98380 Overseas Highway, in Key Largo's highway median. A gift shop is inside. REEF's Native Plants & Heritage Trail and Reefscape Room are separate campus features if you want to extend the stop. Check the Center's current visit information for its hours rather than assuming they match other campus buildings.
Wildlife
18 sightingsCrocodileMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
255 sightingsAlligatorMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
55 sightingsManateeMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
70 sightingsCommon Bottlenose DolphinMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
51 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
1,120 sightingsKey DeerMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Overseas Highway. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyWild Tamarind Trail0.4 mi · 24 min · 4.2 mi awayA short shaded loop through the Keys' tropical hammock.
EasyGrove Trail0.6 mi · 20 min · 4.3 mi awayA short hammock walk to a historic fruit grove.
Restaurant · 1 mi awayMrs. Mac’s Kitchen (Original)All-day breakfast and Key lime pie in a quirky Keys diner.
Sight · 1.4 mi awayThe African QueenRide a movie-famous launch through Key Largo's canals.
Campground · 3.3 mi awayKey Largo Kampground & MarinaA waterfront camp with marina access and mangrove routes nearby.
Campground · 4 mi awayJohn Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park CampgroundA full-hookup base for Key Largo's reef and paddling days.
Visitor center · 4.3 mi awayJohn Pennekamp Visitor Center and AquariumA reef introduction on land, with a 30,000-gallon saltwater tank.
Beach · 4.3 mi awayCannon BeachSnorkel a Spanish wreck display just off a compact Keys beach.
Beach · 4.4 mi awayFar BeachPalm shade and a mangrove boardwalk frame this small swimming beach.
Sight · 4.6 mi awayLaura Quinn Wild Bird SanctuaryA short boardwalk stop for rescued birds and bay sunsets.Parkwolf’s Overseas Highway ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
