Set in the Florida Keys, the islands of Marathon are renowned for their beautiful white sandy beaches, crystal-clear waters, and colorful barrier reefs. Visitors can feed stingrays at Aquarium Encounters, swim with dolphins at the Dolphin Research Center, view sea turtles at the Turtle Hospital, or enjoy the great outdoors at Crane Point Hammock and Curry Hammock State Parks.
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1.A Deep Blue Dive Center
Located in the city of Key Colony Beach, A Deep Blue Dive Center offers a variety of water-based activities including snorkeling and scuba diving excursions, snorkeling and scuba-diving courses and lessons, and dolphin and whale watching cruises. Daily trips are offered on one of three fully equipped vessels, namely a 34-foot, six-passenger vessel called the Turtle, a 30-foot, 22-passenger vessel called the Sea Diver, and the 45-foot Corinthian Catamaran known as the Tortuga. Two daily trips are offered daily as well as equipment sales and rentals, the use of an air station, snorkeling and scuba diving instruction, and special water-based kids camps.
400 Sadowski Causeway, Key Colony Beach, FL 33051, Phone: 800-978-DIVE or 305-743-2421
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2.AquaVentures Eco Tours LLC
AquaVentures Eco Tours offers a unique and environmentally friendly way to see the area on kayaking tours. The adventure company offers private and personalized kayak tours for up to six people along with family or group tours for all levels of kayakers from beginners to advanced paddlers. Tours are led by professional guides, who share their passion and knowledge for the environment with visitors, and range from 1-hour laidback tours on the Mangrove River to 3-hour tours of the Florida Keys and the mangrove swamps. AquaVentures Eco Tours also offers snorkeling tours of the sandbars as well as Half Day Combo Tours with plenty of opportunities to see a variety of different fish species, nurse sharks, manatees, and rays.
1 Knights Key Blvd, Marathon, FL 33050, Phone: 305-731-3135
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3.Brutus Seafood Market & Eatery
The Brutus Seafood Market & Eatery is a casual seafood restaurant with its own fish market that serves freshly caught seafood and shellfish in a contemporary setting. Featuring indoor and outdoor tiki-style dining, the restaurant serves a menu of seafood salads, homemade soups and gourmet sandwiches, and rotating daily specials along with a selection of artisan beers, fine wines, and aged spirits. The Brutus Seafood Market sells a variety of fresh fish caught by local fishermen, along with shellfish, shrimp, and other seafood as well as crisp salads and sides to enjoy in the market or to take away.
6950 Overseas Hwy, Marathon, FL 33050, Phone: 305-743-9181
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4.Catch 'Em All
Catch ‘Em All is a fishing charter company that offers a range of deep sea fishing charters and excursions with Captain Jeff Shelar. Located in the middle of the Florida Keys, the Marathon-based company offers charter fishing trips that target a variety of fish, from barracuda, billfish, tarpon, and marlin to sailfish, snapper, various types of tuna, and dozens of other sportfish species. Catch ‘Em All offers a “No Fish No Pay” guarantee, ensuring guests go away happy. They also offer diving and eco tour adventures.
13205 Overseas Hwy, Marathon, FL 33050, Phone: 888-8TA-RPON
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5.Cocos Boat Rentals
Cocos Boat Rentals provide top quality rental boats for exploring the beautiful island of Marathon in the Florida Keys. The company has a variety of motorboats in different sizes that can be rented for fishing or cruising and come complete with four-stroke motors, live wells, and GPS.
50 Coco Plum Drive, Marathon, FL 33050, Phone: 305-432-7021
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6.Crane Point Museum, Nature Center and Historic Site
Crane Point Museum, Nature Center and Historic Site is a natural history museum and nature center in Monroe County that is dedicated to showcasing the history of the region. The 63-acre tropical oasis is tucked away in the heart of the Marathon shopping district and features forests of hardwood trees, a network of nature trails, and a range of educational displays for visitors of all ages. Established on a slightly elevated patch of land known as a hammock by Bahamian immigrant, George Adderley, who set up a homestead in the early 20th century, Crane Point still boasts the beautifully restored home for visitors to explore and also offers trolley tours of the botanic gardens and historic sites around the property.
5550 Overseas Hwy, Marathon, FL 33050, Phone: 305-743-9100
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7.Curry Hammock State Park
Curry Hammock State Park is a state park in the Florida Keys and the largest uninhabited piece of land between Big Pine Key and Key Largo. Established to protect large areas of mangrove swamp, seagrass beds, and rockland hammocks that are essential to the Florida Keys ecosystem, the beautifully maintained park features a beautiful mangrove creek and miles of pristine coastline with shallow, protected waters that can be easily explored by kayak or paddleboard. When the wind is up, the park offers excellent kiteboarding and windsurfing and has a 28-site campground with primitive sites. The park also offers excellent opportunities for shallow water fishing, hiking through the bayside hammock of the park, birdwatching, and a variety of ranger-led activities.
56200 Overseas Hwy, Marathon, FL 33050, Phone: 305-289-2690
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8.Dolphin Research Center
The Dolphin Research Center is an education and research facility that was founded in 1984 to rescue and protect dolphins for life. The center is home to several bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions, half of whom were born at the center, while others arrived from other facilities or were rescued, rehabilitated, and deemed to be un-releasable back into the wild. In addition to providing a home for rescued animals, the center also takes part in various conservation and educational programs, workshops, and classes to encourage the community to promote peaceful coexistence, cooperation, and communication between marine mammals, humans, and the environment.
58901 Overseas Highway | Grassy Key, FL 33050-6019
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9.Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters
Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters is based at the Florida Keys Aquarium & Conservation Center and offers visitors the opportunity to enjoy up-close encounters and one-on-one interactions with a wide variety of local fish and other marine species. The aquatic facility provides a variety of exhibits such as guided aquarium tours, a tide pool touch tank, a coral reef tank, and a predator reef tanks, while encounters range from a lagoon snorkel encounter, a shark bay encounter, a nursery encounter, stingray encounters, and private aquarium tours. The Florida Keys Aquarium & Conservation Center also offers a range of educational programs, summer camps, group and field trips, and more for visitors of all ages.
11710 Overseas Hwy, Marathon, FL 33050, Phone: 305-407-3262
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10.Florida Keys Kiteboarding
Florida Keys Kiteboarding offers an array of watersport equipment rentals including kiteboards, paddleboards, kayaks, fishing equipment, fly boards, and more. The company also offers guided paddleboarding and kayaking trips as well as kiteboarding lessons, fishing charter trips, yoga lessons, and wildlife watching excursions. Florida Keys Kiteboarding also provides additional services such as speargun repairs and rentals, Flyboard sales, bicycle rentals, camera, and GoPro rentals.
11201 Overseas Highway, Marathon, Florida Keys 33050, Phone: 305-942-9635
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11.Florida Keys Sailing
Florida Keys Sailing offers a variety of sailing-based activities, including sailing classes, sailing charters, private day trips and sunset cruises, liveaboard cruises, sailboat rentals, and sailing vacations. Located in the heart of the Florida Keys, the sailing company offers 2 to 7-day sailing classes, private sailing vacations with professional skippers and crew, and private charters on air-conditioned sailboats of various sizes. Sunset cruises are offered throughout the year, as are half-day and full-day rentals of sailing boats with or without skippers and crew.
Turn onto 35th St. on the Gulf Side, 3502 Gulfview Ave., MM49, Marathon, FL 33050, Phone: 305-619-0140
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12.Florida Keys Turtle Hospital
The Florida Keys Turtle Hospital is a small non-profit organization dedicated to the rehabilitation of endangered sea turtles. Established in 1986, the Turtle Hospital was founded to rehabilitate injured sea turtles and return them to their natural habitat as well as to conduct and assist with research aiding sea turtles, to educate the public through outreach programs, and to make the environment safe and clean for sea turtles. Visitors can enjoy guided educational experiences at the Florida Keys Turtle Hospital daily throughout the week, and the center also offers a variety of educational and conservation-based programs and workshops for visitors of all ages.
2396 Overseas Hwy, Marathon, FL 33050, Phone: 305-743-2552
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13.Florida Keys Wildlife and Environmental Area
The Florida Keys Wildlife and Environmental Area is a wildlife-rich archipelago with a forest of tropical hardwood hammocks, dense mangrove forests, coastal rocklands, tidal creeks, pristine wetlands, and a network of hiking, cycling, and paddling trails. Located in Monroe County, approximately 15 miles east of Key West, the Florida Keys Wildlife and Environmental Area is home to a variety of diverse habitats that protect over 6,000 species, including over 40 state and federally listed animal species, such as Key deer, Lower Keys striped mud turtles, Key Largo cotton mice, and silver rat mice. Recreational activities that can be enjoyed in the area include hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, canoeing, and stand-up paddling.
Marathon, FL 33050
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14.Keys Cable
Keys Cable is home to a 50-acre adventure park owned by Otherside Boardsport in the heart of the Florida Keys, boasting almost 5 acres of tidal lagoon with depths up to 65 feet. Otherside Boardsport’s Adventure Park offers a variety of outdoor and recreational sports, such as cable-wakeboarding, waterskiing, and knee-boarding, with a unique cable system replacing the need for a boat. Keys Cable has two two-point cable systems that are independently operated and pull multiple riders around a lake in a square or circular motion. The cable systems are run by small electric motors and pull one rider at a time between two points in a continuous motion.
59300 Overseas Highway, Marathon, FL 33050,Phone: 305-414-8245
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15.Marathon Air Museum
Located at the Florida Keys Marathon Airport, the Marathon Air Museum is a small aviation museum situated on the north side of the airport that is dedicated to showcasing the history of aviation and displaying an excellent collection of historical aircraft. Operated by the southernmost chapter in the United States of the Experimental Aircraft Association, or EAA, inside of Marathon Airport, the Marathon Air Museum features several different exhibits that display a unique collection of historical aircraft, including a large DC-3, a Beech 18, and a model of a Cessna as well as several aircraft models that represent different time periods in aviation. The Marathon Air Museum also features an extensive collection of aviation-related equipment and memorabilia, and visitors can climb into a Beechcraft Model 18 and enjoy guided tours of the museum.
9850 Overseas Highway, Marathon, FL 33050, Phone: 305-743-4222
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16.Marathon Bicycle Rental
Marathon Bicycle Rental is a company that rents bicycles, kayaks, and paddleboards for exploring the Florida Keys and its surrounding areas and towns, such as Marathon, Lower Matacumbe, Key Colony, Duck Key, Grassy Key, Long Key, and all points in between. Top attractions to see and experience on bikes, kayaks, or paddleboards include Lower Matacumbe Key, Indian Key, Long Key Trail and Bridge, Grassy Key Trail, the Sombrero Beach area, the Coco Plum Beach area, Founder's Park, Tom's Harbor, Knight's Key Trailhead, Pigeon Key, and Long Key State Park. Marathon Bicycle Rental is open year round.
Marathon, FL, Phone: 305-304-9946
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17.Old City Helicopters, LLC
Old City Helicopters LLC offers a variety of tours above the Florida Keys. Departing from Marathon Airport, Old City Helicopters’ tours range from trips over Pigeon, Duck, and Hawk’s Cay to tours over Bahia Honda State Park, the Seven Mile Bridge, the lighthouse, and romantic sunset tours. Old City Helicopters LLC also offers a variety of other services such as aerial photography and videography, the scattering of remains and ash drops, Easter egg drops, aerial surveying and inspections, promotional events and marriage proposals. Tour packages and special deals are available throughout the year, and all safety equipment and briefings are provided before flights.
Florida Keys Marathon Airport, 9850 Overseas Highway, Marathon, FL 33050, Phone: 305-619 9603
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18.Overseas Aero Tours
Overseas Aero Tours is a family-run business based in Marathon that offers a variety of biplane rides over the Middle Keys that boast breathtaking views and panoramic vistas.
9850 Overseas Hwy, Marathon, FL 33050, Phone: 305-304-0015
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19.Sailing Catamaran Sirius
Experience the Florida Keys from the water on a spectacular sailing cruise with Sailing Catamaran Sirius. The company offers private sailing charters and cruises around the Florida Keys aboard the 36-foot sailing catamaran Sirius. The 24-passenger vessel departs from the Marathon Marina and the Lazy Days Restaurant and offers 2-hour sunset cruises around the Keys under the expert captainship of Captain Dale and Mate Mallory. Captain Dale provides over 20 years of sailing experience with more than 4,400 documented sailing charters in the waters of South Florida, bringing an extensive experience level to the sailing charter community of the Middle Keys. The catamaran offers a safe, stable, and comfortable setting for sailing with larger groups and is a green and sustainable business.
City of Napa Economic Development Division, 1600 First Street, PO Box 660, Napa, CA 94559, Phone: 305-305-1846 or 305-304-2982
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20.Sombrero Beach
Sombrero Beach is a family-friendly public beach and one of the Florida Keys' best-kept secrets. Perfect for families with small children, the beach boasts a beautiful white sandy shoreline lapped by gentle waters with plenty of shaded areas, showers and restrooms, a children’s playground, and ample free parking. Secluded and quiet, the pet-friendly beach is ideal for a day of relaxing and sunbathing as well as swimming and snorkeling in the warm, shallow waters that teem with colorful fish. The beach and surrounding area also offers a variety of activities, such as beach volleyball and picnic areas, and is a nesting area for loggerhead turtles between April and October.
Sombrero Beach Rd, Marathon, FL 33050, Phone: 305-743-0033
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21.Spirit Snorkeling
Spirit Snorkeling of Marathon offers guided daily snorkeling trips to Pirate’s Cove and Sombrero Reef as well as regular sunset celebration trips. The weather-dependent tours explore the Sombrero Reef Marine Sanctuary and the historical Sombrero Lighthouse along with one of the Florida Keys’ special locales – Pirate’s Cove. The Sombrero Reef is the third largest barrier reef in the world and home to more than 30 acres of pristine coral reef that teems with brightly colored fish and other marine life. Built before the Civil War, the historic Sombrero Lighthouse is still operational and helps mariners navigate the Keys with its light. Spirit Snorkeling of Marathon trips is held on a 34-foot Coral Island Power Catamaran with plenty of stability and spacious seating both in the sun and shade, a marine toilet, a freshwater shower, and two large swim platforms for easy access into and out of the water.
1410 Overseas Highway, Booth, Marathon, FL 33050, Phone: 305-289-0614
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22.Sweet Savannah's Bake Shop
Sweet Savannah's Bake Shop is a casual neighborhood café with lovely garden seating that serves a variety of home-baked cakes, cookies, confectionary, and other sweet treats as well as 24 flavors of handmade ice cream and creative cupcakes. Sweet Savannah's Bake Shop creates personalized wedding cakes and other cakes for special occasions and offers catering services for parties and celebrations, while visitors can enjoy any of the bakery’s sweet treats with a freshly brewed, house-roasted cup of coffee or imported tea. Sweet Savannah's Bake Shop is open from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm, 7 days a week.
8919 Overseas Hwy, Marathon, FL 33050, Phone: 305-743-3131
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22 Best Things to Do in Marathon, Florida Keys
- A Deep Blue Dive Center, Photo: Courtesy of kondratuk - Fotolia.com
- AquaVentures Eco Tours LLC, Photo: Courtesy of Photo-maxx - Fotolia.com
- Brutus Seafood Market & Eatery, Photo: Brutus Seafood Market & Eatery
- Catch 'Em All, Photo: Courtesy of Mat Hayward - Fotolia.com
- Cocos Boat Rentals, Photo: Cocos Boat Rentals
- Crane Point Museum, Nature Center and Historic Site, Photo: Crane Point Museum, Nature Center and Historic Site
- Curry Hammock State Park, Photo: Courtesy of franziskahoppe - Fotolia.com
- Dolphin Research Center, Photo: Courtesy of fullempty - Fotolia.com
- Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters, Photo: Courtesy of galitskaya - Fotolia.com
- Florida Keys Kiteboarding, Photo: Courtesy of homydesign - Fotolia.com
- Florida Keys Sailing, Photo: Courtesy of Paulo - Fotolia.com
- Florida Keys Turtle Hospital, Photo: Courtesy of Kevin - Fotolia.com
- Florida Keys Wildlife and Environmental Area, Photo: Courtesy of Melinda Fawver - Fotolia.com
- Keys Cable, Photo: Keys Cable
- Marathon Air Museum, Photo: Courtesy of Mak - Fotolia.com
- Marathon Bicycle Rental, Photo: Courtesy of lunamarina - Fotolia.com
- Old City Helicopters, LLC, Photo: Old City Helicopters, LLC
- Overseas Aero Tours, Photo: Courtesy of miami2you - Fotolia.com
- Sailing Catamaran Sirius, Photo: Courtesy of John - Fotolia.com
- Sombrero Beach, Photo: Courtesy of Simon Dannhauer - Fotolia.com
- Spirit Snorkeling, Photo: Courtesy of salajean - Fotolia.com
- Sweet Savannah's Bake Shop, Photo: Sweet Savannah's Bake Shop
- Cover Photo: Courtesy of pabrady63 - Fotolia.com
