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UNDERWATER ATTRACTIONS IN FLORIDA

Seven entries where the thing itself is under the water, which in this state covers a wider range than it sounds like.

Some of it was always meant to be down there: a bronze figure standing on the reef off Key Largo, a 1970s research laboratory on the floor of a lagoon that now rents rooms to anyone who can dive to them. Some of it ended up down there. The Cape Romano domes were built on a beach in 1980 and are now on the sea floor several hundred feet offshore, having lost the beach one storm at a time.

The rest is springwater, which is Florida's other underwater specialty: clear, constant temperature, and considerably colder than the air above it in August. Check what each one needs before you drive. Some want certification, some want a wetsuit, and one wants a boat charter.

7
ENTRIES
0
FREE TO VISIT
8/10
MEDIAN STRANGENESS
6
COUNTIES
Cape Romano Dome House
Cape Romano Dome House
Six concrete domes, built on a beach in 1980, now lying on the sea floor several hundred feet offshore.
RUIN · UNDERWATER
Marco Island · Collier
Boat charter, from $75
9WEIRD
Jules' Undersea Lodge
Jules' Undersea Lodge
A former research habitat 21 feet down in a lagoon. You scuba to check in. Pizza arrives by diver.
UNDERWATER
Key Largo · Monroe
From $900 a night
9WEIRD
Weeki Wachee Springs
Weeki Wachee Springs
A submerged theatre from 1947 where performers breathe from hidden air hoses and hold a smile.
UNDERWATER · ANIMALS
Weeki Wachee · Hernando
$13 state park
9WEIRD
Christ of the Abyss
Christ of the Abyss
A nine-foot bronze Christ standing on the sea floor in 25 feet of water, arms raised, encrusted in coral.
UNDERWATER
Key Largo · Monroe
Boat trip, from $60
8WEIRD
Wakulla Springs
Wakulla Springs
One of the deepest freshwater springs on earth, full of mastodon bones, with a 1930s lodge and glass-bottom boats.
UNDERWATER · ANIMALS
Wakulla Springs · Wakulla
$6 per vehicle
8WEIRD
Warm Mineral Springs
Warm Mineral Springs
An 87-degree sinkhole spring pushing out nine million gallons a day, with 10,000-year-old human remains at the bottom.
GEOLOGICAL ANOMALY · UNDERWATER
North Port · Sarasota
$20
8WEIRD
Devil's Den
Devil's Den
A prehistoric spring inside a dry cave, entered by a staircase down a hole in a field.
GEOLOGICAL ANOMALY · UNDERWATER
Williston · Levy
$20 snorkel, $38 dive
7WEIRD