Dive into an Interactive Adventure at Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters

MARATHON, Florida Keys — Most visits to aquariums are passive activities, where people stroll past tanks viewing fish and other marine life. But in Marathon — located in the Middle Florida Keys — a visit to Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters can be a fully immersive, participatory and highly memorable experience. 

Visitors can dive into the facility’s 200,000-gallon Coral Reef Tank to scuba dive, snorkel, or use a surface regulator on a hookah breathing system to swim with tropical reef fish, playful cownose rays, spiny lobsters and other Keys reef dwellers. 

Divers and snorkelers can also feed fish during the immersive experience — a rare opportunity, since feeding fish isn’t permitted in the open waters of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. 

It’s even possible to feed a shark, because a plexiglass panel inside the Coral Reef Tank separates the resident sharks from the other reef fish. Visitors can safely hand-feed the curious sharks by passing tidbits through holes in the panel. 

Other touch tank experiences enable guests to interact with docile nurse sharks or stingrays without immersive swimming, and to assist a marine biologist working with young stingrays on behavioral training. 

Aquarium Encounters’ experiences are an ideal Middle Keys activity choice on days when high winds or rain might cause less-than-optimal boating conditions out on the Keys’ offshore reef. 

The team at Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters is committed to providing educational and insightful experiences for all participants. An equal commitment is to be highly accessible for people of varying abilities, so they can safely experience the thrill of swimming in a coral reef ecosystem.

Immersive underwater experiences are priced separately from the attraction’s general admission. Group rates are available for school or family groups, birthday parties, weddings and other celebrations. 

Attraction information: floridakeysaquariumencounters.com or 305-407-3262

Visitors to Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters can plunge into a 200,000-gallon Coral Reef Tank to scuba dive, snorkel, or use a hookah breathing system to swim with tropical reef fish and other reef creatures. Photo: Bob Care

Visitors to Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters can plunge into a 200,000-gallon Coral Reef Tank to scuba dive, snorkel, or use a hookah breathing system to swim with tropical reef fish and other reef creatures. Photo: Bob Care

Visitors can safely hand-feed curious sharks by passing tidbits through holes in a plexiglass panel from the Coral Reef tank. Photo: Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters

Visitors can safely hand-feed curious sharks by passing tidbits through holes in a plexiglass panel from the Coral Reef tank. Photo: Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters

This article was updated on November 29, 2024 at 5:00 PM
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