History of Diving Museum offers free tours to military families Saturday
The History of Diving Museum in Islamorada will give military families free guided tours Saturday, underscoring its role as the Upper Keys’ only Blue Star Museum.
Military families walking into the History of Diving Museum in Islamorada on Saturday will get more than a free look around. The museum will offer complimentary guided tours at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. as it kicks off the 2026 Blue Star Museums program on Armed Forces Day.
The free-admission program runs from Saturday, May 16, through Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7, and is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families, in collaboration with the Department of War and museums across America. It gives active-duty military personnel and their families, including National Guard and Reserve members, access to participating museums nationwide. Blue Star Museums typically includes more than 2,000 museums, but in the Upper Keys, the History of Diving Museum is the only one carrying that designation.
That local distinction matters in Monroe County, where military families often move through the Keys with limited time and tight budgets. The museum already offers free admission year-round to active military, including active-duty service members, reservists, National Guardsmen regardless of status, U.S. Public Health Commissioned Corps members and NOAA Commissioned Corps members. During the Blue Star period, that benefit extends to up to five family members, turning the museum from a one-day stop into a summer-long point of access for households tied to military service.
The Saturday tours will focus on the military history of diving, including the role of Navy salvage and combat divers. The U.S. Navy says diving has supported salvage, repair, construction and other military operations since the mid-19th century, and underwater inspection and repair remain part of the mission today. That history gives the museum’s Armed Forces Day programming a direct connection to service, not just spectacle.
The timing also sets up another major event at the Islamorada museum. On Wednesday, May 20, the museum will open Prescribed Pressure, a new featured exhibit on undersea medicine and the ways pressure can both harm and heal. The opening will include light refreshments from 6 p.m. to 6:45 p.m., a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 6:30 p.m., a presentation and both in-person and virtual access. Museum event listings say the opening will also mark 45 years of Divers Alert Network, tying the exhibit to decades of diving safety and education.
For Florida Keys families connected to the military, the museum’s weekend programming is less about one free outing than about recognition and access. In a county where community institutions often double as gathering places, the History of Diving Museum is using Armed Forces Day to welcome those families in and keep them coming back all summer.
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