John Pennekamp State Park

An entrance sign and our rental car. A brand new
Toyota Camry

John Pennekamp State Park is one of the crown jewels in the Florida State Park system. This isn't your typical park with a campground and a few hiking trails. This park has two beaches, terrific snorkeling, and kayak rentals. The park also runs snorkeling trips to the coral reef and glass bottom boat tours. The park is not far from the mainland. It is at Mile Marker 102.5 on the Overseas Highway in Key Largo.

The cost to get into the park is $8 a vehicle. To spend a night at the campground I think it is $38. That is the most I've ever paid for a state campground, but then again I had never went to a Florida State Park on the beach with access to a coral reef.  We stayed there the first three nights of our vacation

The park has two beaches. The best is Canon Beach. About 70 yards out is a replica Spanish Galleon. You can snorkel out to it. There is a large variety of fish. The most common by far, are Yellowtail Snappers. I saw two species of Parrot fish. They were Rainbow and Blue. I also saw an orange fish that looks like a Clownfish. However, Clownfish do not live around  Florida, so I will have to research it.

The campground is on a lagoon. Because of this fact, it must be loaded with mosquitoes in the summer. Even in the second week of November there were tiny little biting flies (possibly sand fleas). The bites hurt me, but the pain was gone in a minute and they did not leave welts like a mosquito bite does. Laurie, on the other hand, reacted much differently. She had dozens of welts on her legs. They were itchy, and she ended up rubbing on anti-itch medicine.

Despite the bugs, the campground sells out fast. If you want a site, you have to reserve it 11 months in advance. So, yes, I reserved my campsite last December 11. I didn't see any empty spaces in it while we were there.. Our campsite was the last one on the lagoon side of the road. Our tent was set up within fifteen feet of the tidal swamp. I can't say if the other sites had as much wildlife as ours did, but every time we pulled in we saw something new. We had two species of warbler (Palm and Black and White), three wading birds, White Ibis, Green Heron, and a juvenile Yellow Crowned Night Heron that was there so often we named it Phil

Photos below of the wildlife we had in our campsite. Then after that snorkeling info

Green Heron

Palm Warbler

Yellow Crowned Night Heron

Iguana

Close up. Yes he was in the campsite. He was closer to
my tent than I was while taking this photo

White Ibis

You can snorkel at Canon Beach and have a great time at the Spanish Galleon. I snorkeled there twice about an hour and a half each time. I don't have any pics of my experience. The water was dingy from the waves and my underwater picture taking was terrible anyway. Still, you don't have to shell out money to see some pretty cool fish. As I said above, there were tons of Yellowtail Snaper but also cool Parrotfish.

Of my many bucket list goals in Florida, one I was really looking forward to was snorkeling at the coral reef. John Pennekamp has multiple tours a day that take you out to the reef. The cost is $30 a person. They also offer scuba tours (and kayak and motor boat rentals). Our particular tour went to an area of the reef called Grecian Rocks. There was a large variety of fish. Since we fanned out, everyone's experience was a little different. I saw multiple Parrotfish, a huge school of Blue Tangs. Sargent Majors and Angelfish. I saw a yellow-black-yellow fish called a Rock Beauty.

 The very first fish I saw was a Barracuda. It was roughly 3 feet long. I know how fearsome they look, but they are harmless to people. I saw multiple barracuda in the 3-4 feet range. As  was rounding a corner  I saw two exceptional specimens that were easily six feet. I know they were longer than I was. Not only were they longer than the other barracuda, but they had girth also. They were awesome. The pictures below are of those fish. They were  the highlight of my snorkel trip.

On the way back to shore Captain Katie (more on her below) spotted some Bottled Nosed Dolphin. She swung the boat around to get them to play in the wake but they were not in the mood. We did get very nice looks at them anyway.

 I would be remiss, if I didn't mention the crew. The Captain was a young woman named Katie who couldn't have been twenty five years old. The mate, named Natalie was even younger. They were both well trained and did a great job handling the boat and the fifty or so passengers on board. I would specifically ask for that crew again if I had the option.

Below the barracuda pictures, more stuff about the park

Barracuda showing me that his teeth are
bigger than mine

Huge school of Blue Tang

You don't need to go off to the reef to enjoy the park (although I recommend it). There are a couple short hiking trails, two beaches, and an aquarium in the Visitor Center. If you want to see the reef but can't swim they have Glass Bottom Boat rides. But my advice is to get in the water if at all possible. 

Far Beach at sunrise

A canon at Canon Beach

The Journey was the boat we took out to the reef to snorkel

The beach was not sandy. It was made up of hard packed stone
with a layer of dead coral over it. Water shoes are a good idea.
The white buoys out there is where the shipwreck is

Seems self explanatory, you're not an idiot

https://pennekamppark.com/