Minnow Caves

Minnow Caves is one of the best known coral caves in all of Key Largo. It features one of the biggest silver side bait balls we see every year. It's hard to guess how many fish, but it could be in the millions.

Because of the abundance of bait fish in this area, large grouper, nurse sharks, and barracuda are often seen here eating lunch. In some cases we've seen grouper so fat and full they lay on the bottom and can't move so they are easy to approach and see up close.

When the glass minnows spawn in the summer it is certainly a sight to see, but even when they are not there, we visit this site when we want to avoid the crowds at the Christ Statue on days it doubles as a parking lot for boats.

Lots of little nooks and crannies to check out, large coral heads, and the cave here is still a nice swim through even when the silver sides aren't in season.