Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary

Gray Reef’s National Marine Sanctuary is an ocean park that protects a beautiful hard-bottom area that is one of the largest nearshore sandstone reefs in the southeastern United States. This sanctuary is the home to an abundance of marine life such as crabs, sponges, sea stars, and soft corals. Below the Atlantic Ocean’s surface, the rocky platform is wreathed in a carpet of attached organisms, known locally as a "live-bottom habitat." The sanctuary provides year-round opportunities for sport fishing, recreational diving, and boating. The research area within the sanctuary hosts one of the only designated no-take zones in the region. To learn more about this sanctuary, visitors should stop by the Gray’s Reef Ocean Discovery Center.