Marathon is a 10-mile-long family-oriented island community conveniently situated in the middle of the Keys island chain, comprised mainly on Vaca Key, Fat Deer Key and Grassy Key. Marathon offers spectacular Sailing, fishing, world-class wreck and reef diving and snorkeling, in addition to the island's impeccably maintained beaches, eco-attractions and marine - based educational programs. At Crane point museum, Nature centre and Historic site, visitors can hike through a wondrously preserved tropical hardwood grove and visit the home of an early 20th Century settler family. Visitors to the five-acre Pigeon Key venture back in time to a tiny island that played a tremendous role in the Florida Keys as a home base for Henry M. Flagler's railroad workers. A federally protected section of the United States' only living coral barrier reef lies just a few miles offshore, at teeming formations such as Delta Shoals, Coffin Patch and Sombrero Reef, shallow sites popular for students learning to scuba dive.