Can You See Florida from Cancun?

Cancun is on the country’s point on the south of the border. If you look at a map, you can easily see that Cancun is in a direct line from Florida, so you would naturally have one question in mind. That is whether you can see Florida from Cancun? Travelers always want to know if they can sit on the beach and watch the busy cities of the United States located in the southwestern corner of Florida.

There is absolutely no way that Florida can be seen from Cancun. The two areas are about 527.09 miles apart, and it is impossible to see that far away with your bare eyes. You cannot even see that far with a good pair of binoculars.

You would think that you would be able to see that far, especially since it is over the ocean with nothing in the way. Find out why you cannot by reading on.

Why Can You Not See Florida from Cancun? 

The fact that you cannot see Florida from Cancun may be surprising. After all, when you look on a map, the two areas are close enough to touch by laying one finger across them. In school, you should have learned that what you see on a map is never what it appears to be. A legend on the bottom right shows you how to figure out the total distance using a ruler and some math. Let’s peek at some other ways to put this into perspective. 

• How Far Can The Human Eyes See – The human eyes can see far beyond where the horizon drops off your line of sight. This is right around 3.1 miles (5 kilometers), which you can see is not even close to the distance you would need to see Florida from Cancun.
• How Far Can You See With Binoculars – The average distance you can see with a pair of good binoculars is around 300 miles. If you remember from above, the distance between Florida and Cancun is 527.09 miles apart. 
• How Far Can You See With A Telescope – As you may already know, a telescope can see a long way. So far in fact that Pluto can look like you are standing directly in front of it. If the Earth was flat, you would be able to see Florida from the beaches of Cancun. But the world is round, so all you would be able to see would be the horizon.

So what all this boils down to is that the three objects you use to see in the distance will never be able to see Florida from Cancun. Because of the shape of the world and the distance between the two, it is simply impossible to see one of the countries from the other.

How Far Is Florida from Cancun?

When trying to figure out why you cannot see Florida from Cancun, you need to look at how far away the two are apart from each other. The two locations are about the same distance as you would expect to cover when traveling from Orlando, Florida, to Charlestown, North Carolina. That is a distance that spans 3 different states, which you know without even checking that you would not be able to see across.

With that concept in mind, you may wonder how long it would take you to travel from one location to the other. So let’s take a look at the distances you would face if you were to travel between the two. You can see that this will be done by comparing the time and distance that it would take if we used one of our traditional ways of getting around.

• Driving – It would take you 48.5 hours of non-stop driving at highway speeds to get to Florida from Cancun. That does not include any stops you may have to make, such as at the border and at a restroom.
• Boating – This would be the way to approach the trip if you wanted to go in a straight line. A straight line that is a little over 527 miles and can be traveled in about 36 hours, not counting the length of time you will be held up at the docks.
• Walking – If you prefer to walk, you will be looking at a long one. You would be going 2823 miles by road, which would take about 941 hours, which factors out to just over 39 days of non-stop walking. In case you were wondering, that would be over 5.5 million steps.
• Flying – This is by far the best way to travel the distance. It will only take about 1.75 hours to get from one airport to another. Keep in mind that this does not include the time you will be in the airport, going through security, and finding your gate.

You can see now how far they really are from each other. You cannot see that far with the naked eye or even a basic telescope or pair of binoculars. All you would be able to see is the ocean as far as your eyes could focus, with the horizon ending where the water begins. 

Final Thoughts

Even though you cannot see Florida from Cancun, it is just a quick hop, skip and jump over the ocean between the two. People flock to this peninsula from all over the world. Many people travel to hang out on the beach, while others spend most of their time in the resort hanging out with family and friends, and even some new friends you can make.

Unfortunately, it is just not humanly possible to see a beach in Florida while sitting on the beach in Cancun. The horizon may seem to go on forever when you try to see between the two because Florida drops down from the line of sight. This means that it is totally impossible to see across the ocean and watch someone swimming off the coast of Florida.