Florida Keys · United States · Cave & cavern · Reef
Fire Coral Cave
A long, narrow swim-through at the south end of Molasses
Area photo: NOAA (Maya Walton) · Public domain
A long, narrow swim-through toward the southern end of the Molasses Reef Sanctuary Preservation Area off Key Largo. Depth over the site runs from about fifteen to thirty feet, 4.6 to 9.1 m, so there is no depth to manage: the passage itself, rather than the reef around it, is what the dive is planned around.
Where it is and how deep
25.0115° N, 80.3785° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
From Permit Ledges, the southernmost mooring ball on Molasses Reef, it is an easy navigation along the reef until the entrance shows. Get buoyancy settled outside rather than fixing it inside: the passage is narrow enough to be worth taking one diver at a time, with fins kept high and no contact with the walls on the way through. Molasses Reef carries numerous mooring buoys, so the boat stays put and you come back to the same line.
The reef is inside a Sanctuary Preservation Area and the rules apply across all of it: nothing touched, nothing taken. That matters more in a confined passage than on open reef, because a passage is where a badly trimmed diver puts a fin into coral that has nowhere to go. Treat the swim-through as the dive rather than as a shortcut across the reef, and give the diver ahead of you room to clear it before you enter.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Fair |
Season follows Florida Keys: Winter cold fronts (December-February) bring choppier seas and cooler water; April-August offers the calmest conditions, though hurricane season runs June-November.
Know before you go
- The swim-through is long and narrow: enter one diver at a time with buoyancy already settled, and keep fins high so they never touch the walls.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Fire Coral Cave?+
It varies in depth from 15 feet to 30 feet, about 4.6 to 9.1 m, so the site is shallow throughout and well inside Open Water limits.
Sources
- Fire Coral Cave — Scubago
- Permit Ledges — Scubago
- Molasses Reef — Wikipedia
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