GTA 6’s Water World: The Keys, Grassrivers, Boats and What Official Footage Shows

GTA 6 opens on water. Trailer 2’s first shots are seagulls over the Leonida Keys, Rockstar’s Florida Keys stand-in, which its own copy calls “the doorstep of some of the most beautiful and dangerous waters in all of America.” The official footage also shows airboats in the Grassrivers wetlands, jet skis off Vice Beach and underwater swimming with an oxygen meter.

Two boats have official names so far, the Shitzu Squalo and the Crest Kayak. Here’s everything Rockstar has shown on the water, and how it lines up with the real Keys.

The Leonida Keys: Brian’s Turf

Rockstar’s Keys postcard is titled “Gateway to Paradise”: “The dress code is casual, the bars are loaded. Life in this tropical archipelago isn’t flashy but it’s easy” (Official). It’s where Jason lives, rent-free at a property owned by Brian Heder, as long as he helps with “local shakedowns.”

Brian’s official bio sets the tone for the water: he’s “a classic drug runner from the golden age of smuggling in the Keys,” still “moving product through his boat yard with his third wife, Lori.” His quote: “I hauled so much grass in that plane, I could make the state of Leonida levitate.” Trailer 2 shows men loading a seaplane at his marina hangar at night, and Cal Hampton drinking at the boat yard.

Trailer 1 shows the geography: a Dodo seaplane flying over freeway bridges that link the keys, with yachts and container boats below (Official footage). More in our Leonida Keys guide and aircraft page.

The Real Keys Behind It

The real Florida Keys are a chain of islands linked by the Overseas Highway: 113 miles from Key Largo to Key West with 42 bridges, including the Seven Mile Bridge at Marathon, according to the Keys’ official tourism council. The road follows Henry Flagler’s Over-Sea Railroad, which reached Key West in 1912 and was wrecked by a hurricane in 1935.

The water is the economy. NOAA says ocean recreation and tourism support more than 33,000 jobs in the Keys, 58 percent of the local economy. In the 2007–08 season, divers spent $470 million in Monroe County and recreational fishers $274 million. Offshore sits North America’s only coral barrier reef, part of Florida’s Coral Reef, which runs more than 350 miles from the Dry Tortugas to the St. Lucie Inlet.

Rockstar’s “beautiful and dangerous waters” line fits both halves: the reef and the smuggling. Compare more in Leonida vs. Florida and our real-life locations list.

Grassrivers: Leonida’s Everglades

The Grassrivers postcard reads: “The untamable jewel of Leonida’s crown. You never know what lies beneath the surface of this primordial expanse. The gators may be the most famous attraction, but there are far deadlier predators and weirder discoveries among the mangroves” (Official).

Trailer 1 shows an airboat in the Grassrivers as flamingos take off. Trailer 2 shows Jason flying a helicopter with Brian as gunner, chasing an airboat through the wetlands. The Extended Look includes airboat gameplay past an observation tower, with the minimap on screen.

The model is Everglades National Park, which the National Park Service describes as a haven for migratory birds and endangered animals that formed about 5,000 years ago on porous limestone. Alligators show up in Rockstar’s satire too: Trailer 1 has one in a backyard pool, flagged by a wildlife-enforcement post from “OfficialPOACH,” and another wandering into a convenience store.

Named Boats: Squalo and Kayak

Rockstar has named two watercraft, both in Ultimate Edition copy (Official):

• Shitzu Squalo: “Perfect for casting in Gambit Bay and reeling in catches of all sorts, this gradient pink and blue Squalo docked at Washington Beach is made open-ocean-ready with an explosives-laden weapons crate.”
• Crest Kayak: one of “Jason’s safehouse vehicles,” alongside a Dinka Enduro motorcycle.

Footage shows much more: jet skis, sports boats racing past the port, a speedboat chased by a police helicopter, and Lucia at a yacht bar. Fan wikis put model names on some of them, such as a Lure Predator with a Dinka outboard at a jetty in Trailer 2; those names are Reported, read off the footage rather than announced. Our boats guide keeps the list.

Diving, Kayaking and Swimming

Rockstar’s August Extended Look shows underwater swimming through a cave with manta rays overhead, with an oxygen meter on the HUD; Jason sprinting down a dock and diving in; and Lucia paddling a green kayak on a city canal (Official footage). IGN noted scuba gear on the Squalo in Rockstar’s edition art.

In IGN’s demo, Rob Nelson listed what counts as “quality time” for Jason and Lucia: “going to a zoo, studying animals, going scuba diving, parachuting, walking on the beach, kayaking” (Reported). IGN’s preview lists kayaking and scuba among activities too.

Fishing: Every Hint So Far

Fishing is the most-asked water question. The evidence: the Squalo copy about casting and catches; the Mount Kalaga postcard’s “prime hunting, fishing”; and a “BORN TO FISH” sticker visible in the Extended Look. Red Dead Redemption 2 had a full fishing system, and Nelson has tied several GTA 6 systems, from NPC interactions to studying animals, back to RDR2. None of that is a confirmed fishing mechanic. See our fishing tracker.

What We Don’t Know

• Whether fishing is a playable activity, and where.
• How deep you can dive, and whether a submarine returns.
• How many boats and boat shops there are.
• Whether the Grassrivers have water-only routes.

Official Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 2, which opens over the Leonida Keys.