John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
Location	Monroe County, Florida, USA
Nearest city	Key Largo, Florida
Coordinates
Area	53,000 acres (210 km²)
Established	1963
Visitors	1,000,000 (in 2004)
Governing body	Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Nonbreeding adult brown pelican amidst a mangrove forest at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is a Florida State Park located on Key Largo in Florida, and includes approximately 70 nautical square miles (240 km²) of adjacent Atlantic Ocean waters. It was the first underwater park in the United States. The park was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 14, 1972. The primary attractions of the park are the coral reefs (such as Molasses Reef) and their associated marine life.

In Fiscal Year 2004 the park had more than a million visitors, making it the most popular park in the Florida State Parks system. The Florida Keys and the Flower Garden Banks in the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas coast are the only living coral reef formations in the continental United States.

History

Plans to designate the reefs off Key Largo for a park started in the 1930s. The state-sanctioned, Everglades National Park Commission proposed a national park for the Everglades, including the reefs off Key Largo. Opposition from property owners, outdoors men, and Monroe County Commissioners stopped the plan. When Everglades National Park was created in 1947, the boundaries did not include Key Largo or any of the reefs.

By the late 1950s, citizens were growing concerned of the damage occurring to the reefs along the Florida Keys. Seashells, corals, sponges, sea horses, and other marine life were being hammered, chiseled, and even dynamited from the reefs to provide souvenirs for tourists. Dr. Gilbert L. Voss of the Marine Institute of Miami and John D. Pennekamp, an editor with the Miami Herald, teamed up to lead a fight to protect the reefs from further damage. Pennekamp had strong credentials for the fight. He had been active in establishing Everglades National Park, had been the first chairman of the Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials, and had been a consultant with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

These efforts led the Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials to designate the state-controlled reefs off Key Largo a permanent preserve. In the spring of 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed the adjacent, federally controlled area of the reefs as the Key Largo Coral Reef Preserve. Florida Governor Leroy Collins later changed the name of the park to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, in recognition of John Pennekamp's efforts to save marine life. A land base and access to U.S. 1 (the Overseas Highway) were acquired by purchase and donation. The park opened in 1963.

Recreational activities

The reefs may be viewed from glass-bottom boats, or by snorkeling or scuba diving. Other activities available in the park are canoeing, kayaking, fishing, hiking, picnicking, swimming and wildlife viewing. Full-facility and youth/group campgrounds are available.

The visitor center features a 30,000-US-gallon (110,000 L; 25,000 imp gal) saltwater aquarium and six smaller aquaria, as well as natural history exhibits about the park's different biological communities and ecosystems and a theater showing nature videos.

Christ of the Abyss

One of the most famous residents of Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is the Christ of the Abyss, located near Dry Rocks. The statue of Jesus Christ weighs 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg) and sits in nearly 25 feet (7.6 m) of water. It is a popular site for scuba divers and snorkelers. The statue is located at latitude 25.124582 and longitude -80.297811.

The statue is a third casting of Il Cristo Degli Abissi in the Mediterranean Sea near Genoa, Italy, which was placed there in 1954. The Christ of the Abyss was donated to the Underwater Society of America in 1961 by Italian scuba entrepreneur Egidio Cressi and placed in its current location in 1965. In their current positions, the two statues face each other.

Gallery

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  A Midnight Parrotfish and a yellowtail snapper swimming on Molasses Reef

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  Various soft corals at Molasses Reef

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  Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) at Molasses Reef

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  Various fish species (Chubs, Blue Chromis, Sergeant majors, Bar Jacks) at Molasses Reef

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  A ship winch at Molasses Reef

• Minnow Cave Pennekamp.jpg

  Minnow Cave

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  Blue Tang among coral

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  Brain Coral

• Various fish among coral Pennekamp.jpg

  Various fish among coral

References and external links

• Pennekamp top State Park in Attendance at Florida Keys Treasures
• History of John Pennekamp State Park at Florida Keys History Museum

External links

• John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park - official site with tour information
• John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park - Florida State Parks official site