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, outdoorsmen, 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.[2]
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.[2]
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.* History of John Pennekamp State Park at Florida Keys History Museum[2]
Recreational activities
The reefs may be viewed from glass-bottom boats, snorkeling, and scuba diving above the coral formations.[3] Other activities available in the park are canoeing, kayaking, fishing, hiking, swimming and wildlife viewing. The park offers tropical hammocks and a picnic area with available grills.[3] 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 aquariums. The State Park also has a natural history exhibit about the park's different biological communities and ecosystems and a theater showing nature Films and videos.
Christ of the Abyss
One of the most famous sites in the Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is the Christ of the Abyss, located near North Dry Rocks, and within the existing Key Largo management area that was incorporated into the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary[4] "on November 16, 1990". The 8+1⁄2-foot-tall (2.6 m) statue of Jesus Christ weighs 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg) and stands 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 25.123373 and longitude -80.297073.
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.[clarification needed]
John John John John the Baptist Saint John—Rothesay John the Apostle John 1 John the Evangelist Saint John East John of Patmos John 18 John St John, 11th Baron St John of Bletso John St. John John Wick John St John, 12th Baron St John of Bletso John 19 Beheading of John the Baptist Acts of John Saint John Ponds John St John, 20th Baron St John of Bletso Lord John series Pope John numbering Second Epistle of John John 3 John Lyttelton John Nielsen Paulet St John, 8th Baron St John of Bletso John Lewis & Partners John Brown's Body John Feckenham John Twenge John the Dwarf Saint John John Clima…
cus St John Ambulance (England) Augustus John John Madin John Young John Hales John the Baptist (Caravaggio) John Dunjee John Pringle John Wynne John Gayer John Drummond John O'Callaghan John Erickson John Millar Henry St John, 13th Baron St John of Bletso John Mackie John Alleyne John Drake John Crackston John Bowman John Duke John Connolly John Sergeant John Gardiner John Groome John Daly John Patrick Nativity of John the Baptist John Hoffman John Fischer John Shepherd John Jacob John Harrington John Swinton John Short John II Komnenos John Brown John Tanner John Day John Wynn John Tillman John Grey John Coburn John Hodgson John Bethune John Morse John Mullen John Townsend John Pollock John Clegg John Courtenay John Petre John Weaver John Frederick John Llewellyn John Fernandez St John Ambulance Australia John Henry John Pakington St John Singapore John Hannah John Trelawny Saint John Shipbuilding John Buck John Francis John Ashe John Cashman John Burgess John Greville John Fitzgibbon John Hale John Haywood John Connelly John Dunlop John Biggs John O'Farrell John St John (died 1302) John Boylan John Rankin John Donnelly St John baronets John Clay John Swinburne John Watt John Jol