Diving

If exploring the continental United States’ only living coral barrier reef is on travelers’ bucket lists this summer, the “Florida Keys Reef Explorer” undersea adventure giveaway offers an ideal chance to win a trip to discover the dynamic ecosystem.

Impassioned divers return to the Florida Keys to find a deeper connection to the underwater environment, often turning a recreational hobby into productive missions to complete much-needed work during coral restoration dives.

Readers of Scuba Diving magazine have named the Florida Keys & Key West among the World’s Best/Readers Choice Awards for 2020, ranking the island destination as either number one or in the top five in several dive categories.

Divers can help preserve the Florida Keys’ native reef fish populations during the fun, socially distanced Reef Environmental Education Foundation 2020 Lionfish Derby. Scheduled Thursday through Sunday, Sept. 10-13, the derby challenges participants to capture and remove as many non-native lionfish as possible from Keys waters.

Divers and snorkelers can support a Florida Keys charity while they “egg-splore” the clear, warm waters off Islamorada during the annual Underwater Easter Egg Hunt set for Sunday, April 12.

Divers can participate in the final leg of Reef Environmental Education Foundation’s 2019 Florida Lionfish Derby Series Friday through Sunday, Sept. 13-15, in the Upper Keys.

The hard corals of the Florida Keys reefs have spent eons developing a simple system to perpetuate the species, one of nature’s mysteries that works without human intervention or complete understanding.

Together with the nonprofit Diving With a Purpose and the National Association of Black Scuba Divers organizations, Islamorada’s History of Diving Museum recently premiered a featured exhibit called “Restoring Our Oceans, Preserving Our Heritage.”