Can you anchor at Coffins Patch?
Coffins Patch Sanctuary Preservation Area Having a vessel anchored on living coral in water less than 40 feet deep when the bottom can be seen. Anchoring on hardbottom is allowed.
Where is Coffins Patch reef?
the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
Coffins Patch is a shallow coral reef (patch reef) located within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It lies to the southeast of Bamboo Key. This reef lies within a Sanctuary Preservation Area (SPA).
How deep is Coffins Patch reef?
15 – 30 feet
At a depth range of 15 – 30 feet, this dive site consists of a series of small patch reefs, and is where the Spanish Galleon Ignacio sunk in the 18th century.
Are there mooring buoys at Coffins Patch?
It includes the entire patch reef and some of the rubble field behind the main reef. Other inshore and offshore patch reefs in the surrounding area remain open. The area is easily accessible, but no mooring buoys are currently in place.
How far offshore is Coffins Patch?
about three and half miles offshore
The patch is about three and half miles offshore. And although they are patches, they are close enough to the barrier reef that the water is clearer, and there are more species. Like many of the reefs around this part of the Florida Keys, this location was named for a shipwreck (supposedly a ship carrying coffins).
Can you fish at Coffins Patch?
The shallow patch reefs of the Coffins Patch Sanctuary Preservation Area (SPA), located approximately four nautical miles off Key Colony Beach, offer some of the best snorkeling in the Middle Keys.
Why is called Coffins Patch?
The patch is about three and half miles offshore. And although they are patches, they are close enough to the barrier reef that the water is clearer, and there are more species. Like many of the reefs around this part of the Florida Keys, this location was named for a shipwreck (supposedly a ship carrying coffins).
Can you Spearfish Coffins Patch?
Though Marathon, too, has protected areas including Coffins Patch and Sombrero Key, legal spearfishing grounds are much more frequent and within shorter distance which makes for more time in the water!