Florida - Nature and Scientific Wonders
- By Smithsonian.com
- Smithsonian.com, November 08, 2007, Subscribe
The Marineland Dolphin Conservation Center in St. Augustine opened in 2006 and offers shallow water encounters with bottlenose dolphins. Courtesy of Visit Florida
Space shuttle launch headquarters of NASA, the Kennedy Space Center is just 45 minutes east of Orlando. Visitors are given an insider's tour of the facility's launch sites, rockets and spaceflight simulators. If the timing is right, day-trippers may also get the chance to meet an astronaut and even view a liftoff.
With warm temperatures and the Caribbean climate, Florida is one of the premier scuba diving locales in America. One site that visitors outfitted with swim fins and snorkels should not pass up is the Spiegel Grove, submersed just off the coast of Key Largo. One of the longest ships ever intentionally sunk, the Spiegel Grove was a Landing Ship Dock that stretched out at 510 ft. Now its hull acts as an artificial reef that lures wreck divers from far and wide.
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