Florida, Straits

Florida, Straits of

Passage connecting the Gulf of Mexico with the Atlantic Ocean. Extending for about 110 mi (180 km) between the Florida Keys on the north and Cuba and the Bahamas on the south, the straits mark the area where the Florida Current, the initial part of the Gulf Stream, flows east out of the Gulf of Mexico. The Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León first recorded sailing through the straits in 1513.