Like the Florida Keys themselves, Amy Slate's Amoray Dive Resort isn't about lounging in luxury on land, but instead provides falling-out-of-bed-easy access to the world-renowned reefs, wrecks, and mangroves offshore. The hotel property is built around the dive dock, which houses the resort's two dive boats. Amenities are simple, comfortable, and built for serious divers, with a heated pool, sun deck, dive-gear storage locker, and full-service dive-training center. There are about 30

Like the Florida Keys themselves, Amy Slate's Amoray Dive Resort isn't about lounging in luxury on land, but instead provides falling-out-of-bed-easy access to the world-renowned reefs, wrecks, and mangroves offshore. The hotel property is built around the dive dock, which houses the resort's two dive boats. Amenities are simple, comfortable, and built for serious divers, with a heated pool, sun deck, dive-gear storage locker, and full-service dive-training center. There are about 30 accommodation options, ranging from basic hotel rooms with bed, bath, and refrigerator to multi-room apartments with full kitchens. All have air-conditioning and cable television, and all sit mere steps away from the dock.

The resort's newest boat—Just in Time—is a smaller "six pack"-style boat that can be privately chartered for diving and snorkeling tours, and guests can also join eco-tours through the nearby mangroves. On the larger dive boat—Amoray Diver—two-tank dive trips depart like clockwork at 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. every day, with night dives scheduled on demand.

Dozens of dive sites line the Atlantic coast of Key Largo, many protected by John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the first underwater park in the United States, created nearly 40 years ago. Some of the most popular dive sites can be found at French and Molasses reefs—both have maximum depths of 40 feet, making hour-long dives the norm—and at Dry Rocks, divers can see the iconic Christ of the Abyss statue, which was planted on the seafloor by the Underwater Society of America in 1965. Also nearby with 35- to 40-foot maximum depths, the wrecks of the Benwood and the City of Washington offer easy wreck diving with unprecedented marine life. Nurse sharks, barracudas, and giant green morays are regular sightings at these sunken, coral-covered vessels.

Advanced divers shouldn't miss a chance to dive on Key Largo's world-famous artificial reefs. The Duane and the Bibb are a pair of Coast Guard cutters intentionally sunk offshore in the late 1980s, and today these deep wrecks boast a large variety of open-ocean marine life—sharks, goliath groupers, and game fish—around their decks. And Key Largo's most recent addition, the USS Spiegel Grove, is also the largest. This 510-foot, former U.S. Navy amphibious dock was sunk at Dixie Shoals in 2002, and has fast become Key Largo's most popular dive site.