Scuba diving in Key West

Key West diving revolves around one giant — the USNS Vandenberg — and a spread of easygoing reefs inside the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The southernmost city in the continental U.S. is far enough down the island chain that its sites feel less trafficked than the upper Keys, and charters here can work both the Atlantic reef line and, when the wind swings, the calmer Gulf side.

The Vandenberg and the wrecks

The Vandenberg is a 522 ft missile-tracking ship sunk as an artificial reef in 2009 about seven miles south of Key West. She sits upright in roughly 140 ft with her huge radar dishes and superstructure starting around 50 ft down, which lets Advanced Open Water divers tour the upper works while technical divers run the lower decks. Closer in, Joe's Tug and the Cayman Salvage Master are smaller, more relaxed wrecks in the 60–90 ft range with resident goliath grouper and morays.

Reefs and conditions

The reef sites — Sand Key with its iron lighthouse, the Western Sambos, Rock Key, and Eastern Dry Rocks — are classic Keys spur-and-groove coral in 15–40 ft, suitable for every certification level and superb for long, shallow second dives. Water temperature runs from the mid-80s °F in summer to around 70–75 °F in winter; visibility is commonly 40–80 ft on the outer reefs. The Vandenberg can carry serious current, so operators time it and will call it off on rough days — build a spare morning into your trip if the wreck is the goal.

Good to know

Boats leave from marinas around Key West Bight and Stock Island, usually as two-tank morning and afternoon trips. The Dry Tortugas lie 70 miles further west; a handful of operators run long-range or multi-day trips out there for divers who want reefs that see almost no traffic.