John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park celebrates 50 years

Cammy Clark -

But it wasn’t until 12 years later that Key Largo’s status as an international tourist destination was anchored with the establishment of the world’s first underwater park: John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.

Over the years, Key Largo, with its crystal clear offshore waters, gained the reputation as the “Diving Capital of the World.”

If you are a diver — or just love the water and nature — the first eleven days in December are a great time to visit the park that draws day-trippers from Miami and tourists from around the globe.

Pennekamp Park is celebrating its 50th birthday with a big splash.

Everybody is invited to join in the fun with events that include a snorkeling record attempt, photo contest, coral restoration seminar, shoreline cleanup, lionfish roundup and under-the-sea party at the “Christ of the Abyss,” a 9-foot-high bronze statute resting in 25 feet of water. Santa is expected to attend with his SCUBA gear.

The celebration begins Dec. 1 and concludes Dec. 11 with free admission to the park, where there will be an educational and environmental fair, children’s activities and a 50-year oral history presentation from former park managers and staff. The featured speaker will be Dr. Sylvia Earle, world-renowned oceanographer, explorer and Time Magazine’s first “Hero for the Planet.”

Topping it all off: a boat parade on the bay side of Key Largo with the theme, “50 Years Under the Sea.”

The community of Key Largo is welcoming guests with a slew of dining, retail and lodging deals — including Key Largo Cottages, which is rolling back its rates on some rooms to 1960 prices: $16 a night.

But if you can’t make the celebration, Key Largo and Pennekamp Park is an outdoors, family-friendly destination worth visiting any time of the year.

“I always say: ‘If you can do it on, near, over, under or around the water, you can do it here in Key Largo’,” says Jackie Harder, president of the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce.

Pennekamp Park, whose entrance is located at mile marker 102.5 on U.S. 1, drew 720,000 visitors last year, and before the downturn in the economy drew more than 1 million annually.

But with a marina, beaches, natural trails and underwater attractions, Pennekamp doesn’t feel crowded.

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