Our first stop in the Keys this year was John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Time for another Keys Eco-Tours. This was a new stop for us and we’re glad we had the opportunity to check it out. We left Boca Chita while it was still quite windy, but manageable. When we got to where the waterway narrowed down a bit, we passed under the Jew Fish Creek Inlet and Bridge, in Key Largo, Florida, and passed the Anchorage Resort and Marina. We’ve stayed there in 2010 when we helped the new owner of our Fathom 40 take the boat north from Key West to Palm Coast.

Shortly after we emerged from Jew Fish Creek into Blackwater Sound we headed toward the man-made cut, Marvin D Adams Waterway (mile-market, 103.6), it would take us into Largo Sound and shortly after our destination, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. The “Cut,” created in the late 1950s and completed in 1961, was interesting because it is an exception to the many natural passageways available to boaters, it is a very narrow shortcut, and it reduces the distance by half, to the other side of the Keys. The man-made, one-and-a-half mile, the cut has 15-foot high vertical chiseled walls, and sports a 25-foot depth, is cut through solid coral. Many homes now line the waterway with boat access and patios cut out of the remaining wall.

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, established in 1963 and adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean waters, is home to the first undersea park in the United States. Covering 70 nautical square miles, the park offers a unique Florida experience with mangrove swamps, seagrass beds, and tropical hammocks, but it is the coral reefs and the bountiful marine life that brings most visitors to this park. Many activities are offered and available for visitors including rentals of kayaks and canoes, also several tour boats, some with glass bottoms, are available for scuba diving or snorkeling. There also is a small marina and campground on the park grounds.

The park is named for the late John D. Pennekamp who teamed up with Dr. Gilbert L. Voss, to lead a fight together to protect the reefs from further damage. The Florida Keys and the Flower Garden Banks in the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas coast are the only living coral reef formations in the continental United States.

Shortly after we arrived at our assigned slip at the marina, we got a call from Ranger Tug owners Tom and Pam, on Evolve, (above) they were nearby and wanted to know if there was room at the marina for another boat if so they would call and make a reservation. It’s funny because their “new to them” tug was the first Ranger Tug we ever saw. At the time Laurie Ann was owned by John and Laurie Gray, who later became friends of ours after we bought our tug, in 2011, Kismet. It’s a small world!

We had to wait a few days for the wind in Largo Sound to subside a little so we could take our small dinghy out for a long tour around Key Largo. After transiting through South Sound Creek, we’d be exposed to the openness of the ocean so we had to pick the right day and we did. After a long trek through the mangrove swamps, we exited and quickly headed toward the protected canals where we had lunch at Sharkey’s Bar and Grill.

Look what we spotted just before we tied up for lunch at Sharkey’s, the boat (above and below) is the original African Queen from the 1950s movie of the same name, starring Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. The iconic vessel is still afloat in Key Largo.

Just an idea of what the mangrove swamps look like at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.

Whenever we are in Key Largo, we have to look up our friend Captain Sterling, Everglades Eco-Tours. We met the captain while doing our second Great Loop boat trip, he was also the first person to buy our book on the Great Loop, When the Water Calls… We Follow.

Our first encounter was arranged ahead of time and when we were heading south through Key Largo, Captain Sterling met us at our boat which was anchored nearby Key Largo to take us for a tour through the mangrove swamp. This encounter, while staying at John Pennekamp’s marina, he and his partner, Jill met us in their pontoon boat and took us for an incredible cruise through the waters of Key Largo, including back through the “Cut,” with a stop at their new house on a nearby canal. It’s always fun to run into Captain Sterling and Jill.

We get to have our own personal Keys Eco-Tours with Captain Sterling and Jill.

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