Diving and snorkeling in Sebastian, Florida

Divers and snorkelers near Sebastian use Sebastian Inlet State Park, where rock reefs stretch for miles south of the inlet and a protected cove sits inside the north jetty (Florida State Parks).

Florida State Parks permits scuba diving and snorkeling throughout the park's waters except under the Sebastian Inlet Bridge and in the boat channel. The nearshore rock reefs begin on the Indian River County side, south of the inlet, and include the reefs off the McLarty Treasure Museum. On the Brevard side, the cove north of the inlet has a hard bottom and a gentle slope. Boaters reach deeper water from the four-ramp launch on the south side of the park, which Florida State Parks says gives access to offshore fishing and diving.

The nearshore hardbottom reef south of Sebastian Inlet is a grazing ground for juvenile green sea turtles, which can spend up to their first two years there, according to the Sebastian Inlet District (Sebastian Inlet District).

Florida State Parks says snorkelers can see those young green turtles on the reefs off the McLarty Treasure Museum and on the south side of Sebastian Inlet, feeding along the rocks, and that manatees are in the surrounding waters from March to October. Atlantic bottlenose dolphins are commonly seen around the park.

The jetties hold their own community. In its fish series, the district describes resident reef fish that spend their entire lives in the jetties and rock structures: blennies, damselfish, grunts and snappers, with the hairy blenny the most numerous (Sebastian Inlet District, part two). The same article names the goliath grouper as one of the most obvious reef fish in the inlet, a fish that can reach 400 to 500 pounds and that usually stays put except for spawning runs offshore around the August or September full moon. The jetty rocks are granite and coquina, which the district uses to armor the jetties and the 3,120-foot channel.

Florida State Parks says water visibility on the nearshore rock reefs south of Sebastian Inlet is best in the summer months.

Timing within the day matters too. The park requires dives to be completed one hour before sunset. Since November 12, 2025, the South Ranger Station, the gate nearest the south side reefs, has kept standard hours of 8 a.m. to sunset, while the North Ranger Station stays open 24 hours (Florida State Parks hours and fees). Entry is $8 per vehicle for two to eight people. Water clarity also swings with the lagoon: the Sebastian Inlet District report for the week of October 5, 2026 described muddy, tannin-stained fresh water flowing out of Sebastian Inlet on the outgoing tide after the C-54 Canal spillway was opened (Sebastian Inlet District report).

Inside Sebastian Inlet State Park, every dive party needs at least two divers and a displayed diver-down flag, snorkelers must stay within 100 feet of a dive flag, and spearfishing is not permitted (Florida State Parks).

The park's full list for Sebastian Inlet adds that divers dive at their own risk and within the limits of their certification, that fossils and artifacts must not be disturbed or removed, that aquatic plants must not be trampled, and that rocks and other surfaces must not be carved or defaced. Divers must keep at least 50 feet between themselves and manatees at all times. The two closed zones, under the Sebastian Inlet Bridge and in the boat channel, are the places where boats pass between the Indian River Lagoon and the ocean.

Under section 327.331 of the Florida Statutes, divers in an inlet such as Sebastian Inlet must make reasonable efforts to stay within 100 feet of their divers-down device, and within 300 feet in open water off the beaches (Florida Statutes).

Boaters around Sebastian Inlet and on the lagoon off Sebastian carry the matching duty. A vessel that comes within 100 feet of a divers-down device on a river, inlet or channel, or within 300 feet elsewhere, must slow to the speed needed to keep headway and steerage. The divers-down symbol used at Sebastian Inlet is a red rectangle or square with a white diagonal stripe, at least 12 by 12 inches when shown from the water and 20 by 24 inches when shown from a vessel, and it may not be displayed once all divers are aboard or ashore.

FWC repeated those rules for boaters and divers in and around Sebastian in July 2024, as reported by Sebastian Daily, stressing idle speed near a flag (Sebastian Daily). The law also bars divers from placing flags in a river, inlet or channel in a way that unreasonably creates a navigation hazard, which matters in the narrow Sebastian Inlet channel.

No: Florida law vests title to treasure trove and artifacts abandoned on state-owned or sovereignty submerged lands in the state, and the park forbids removing artifacts, so 1715 Fleet finds off Sebastian Inlet are not keepsakes (Florida Statutes).

The history is close to the water here. Florida State Parks says the camp of the survivors of the wrecked 1715 Spanish fleet is now the site of the McLarty Treasure Museum, at the south end of Sebastian Inlet State Park (Florida State Parks). Section 267.061 places title to such objects with the Division of Historical Resources of the Department of State, and the park's own dive rules say fossils and artifacts must not be disturbed or removed.

Divers who want to see what the 1715 Fleet left behind can do it on land at the same spot. The McLarty Treasure Museum charges $2 a person and keeps a Wednesday to Sunday schedule, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., per Florida State Parks, and describes its artifacts, displays and an observation deck that overlooks the ocean above the reefs. The Sebastian Fishing Museum, on the north side of the park, is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven days a week with no fee beyond park entry.