Leonida Keys

Leonida Keys

The Leonida Keys are a chain of tropical islands in Leonida, modelled on the Florida Keys, which lie south of real-world Miami, the model for Vice City. Rockstar's official description reads: "Gateway to paradise. The dress code is casual, the bars are loaded. Life in this tropical archipelago isn't flashy but it's easy. Get your buzz on and pull up a deck chair but look out: you are right on the doorstep of some of the most beautiful and dangerous waters in all of America."

The Keys are one of six confirmed major regions in Grand Theft Auto VI, alongside Vice City, Port Gellhorn, Grassrivers, Ambrosia and Mount Kalaga. Rockstar has not published county boundaries, so their county (possibly Mariana County) is unconfirmed. A road sign in the opening shot of Trailer 2 names the Keys Causeway, but Rockstar has not shown where the islands sit on the map or where the causeway begins.

Geography and Environment

The Leonida Keys are a string of low-lying tropical islands connected by causeways and bridges over turquoise water. Palm trees, sandy beaches, and tropical vegetation cover the islands. The surrounding waters are crystal-clear with visible coral reefs, and the overall atmosphere matches Rockstar's description of a laid-back paradise with a dangerous edge.

The Keys Causeway is known from road signs; its route has not been shown. A second sign, over an elevated highway in an in-game screenshot Rockstar posted on October 8, 2026, reads "Keys Causeway" with "Key Lento" and "Leonida Keys" listed beneath it. A long bridge resembling the real Seven Mile Bridge appears in trailer footage, including Trailer 2. Broken or partially collapsed bridges are also visible in Trailer 2 footage, suggesting not all infrastructure in the Keys is intact.

The area is the GTA VI equivalent of the real Florida Keys.

Key Lento

Key Lento is the primary named island in the Leonida Keys. It is the base of operations for Brian Heder's smuggling enterprise and is where Jason Duval lives at the start of the game. Key Lento is the in-game equivalent of Key Largo, the northernmost and largest island in the real Florida Keys.

Brian's Boat Works and Marina

Brian's Boat Works and Marina is a waterfront boatyard on Key Lento owned by Brian Heder and his third wife, Lori. The facility appears in Trailer 2 as a large green boathouse with a prominent red roof sign reading "BRIAN'S MARINA." Its real-world inspiration appears to be The Marina Club at Blackwater Sound, located at 103950 Overseas Highway in Key Largo, Florida.

The marina functions as the front for Brian's drug smuggling operation. Rockstar's official character bio for Brian states he is "still moving product through his boat yard with his third wife, Lori." A company-branded Dodo aircraft (a small seaplane) is visible in Trailer 2 both flying over the Keys and parked at the marina, serving as the primary transport vehicle for the smuggling operation. Cal Hampton, another character associated with Brian, is seen wearing a Brian's Boat Works shirt in Trailer 2.

Jason and Lucia's House

A green beach house on stilts with a balcony overlooking the water is visible in Trailer 2, identified as Jason and Lucia's residence on Key Lento. Interior details visible in the trailer include a sofa, TV, game console, glass-topped table, a snake tank, and a basketball hoop near a wooden staircase. The house sits on the waterfront in classic Keys stilt-house style.

Rockstar's bio for Brian Heder confirms the living arrangement: Brian lets Jason "live rent-free at one of his properties, so long as he helps with local shakedowns, and stops by for Lori's sangria once in a while." The house is one of Brian's properties. Jason's rent is paid through enforcement work, not money.

Leonida Marine Center

The Leonida Marine Center is a boating business on Key Lento. It is confirmed through decals on Jason's clothing visible in Trailer 2, which show the business name along with "Sales/Service" text. The establishment represents the legitimate marine services industry that exists alongside Brian's criminal operation.

Brian Heder's Smuggling Operation

Brian Heder is the central criminal figure in the Leonida Keys. Rockstar's official description calls him "a classic drug runner from the golden age of smuggling in the Keys" who "looks like a Leonida beach bum" but "moves like a great white shark." The phrase "golden age of smuggling in the Keys" references the real history of South Florida drug trafficking in the 1970s and 1980s, when the Florida Keys were a primary entry point for cocaine and marijuana coming from South America and the Caribbean.

Brian has been in the business long enough to delegate. Rockstar's bio states he has "been around long enough to let others do his dirty work." His operation runs through the marina with Lori, uses the Dodo seaplane for transport, and employs Jason as local muscle. One of Brian's confirmed lines from Trailer 2 is: "Just go get me my checks!" Another quote attributed to him on the Rockstar website is: "I hauled so much grass in that plane, I could make the state of Leonida levitate."

Key Associates

Activities

Scuba Diving

Scuba diving is confirmed as a side activity in the Leonida Keys. Rockstar's official promotional materials include an image of a scuba diver swimming among coral reefs with sea turtles, eels, and tropical fish. The underwater environments show visible coral formations, varied marine species, and realistic underwater light refraction.

Marine Wildlife

Official promotional imagery and trailer footage show a variety of marine life in the waters around the Keys.

Boating and Water Sports

The Keys are naturally oriented around water activities. Trailer footage shows jet skis, speedboats, and sailboats (a returning Marquis yacht is visible in a Trailer 1 aerial shot over the Keys). The Dodo seaplane parked at Brian's marina confirms aircraft are also part of the Keys' transportation options.

Other Confirmed Activities

Trailer 2 shows Jason working on a roof (presumably at or near his Keys residence), helping load suitcases onto a small plane (smuggling-related), and playing pool with Cal Hampton. These scenes depict the day-to-day life in the Keys: a mix of manual labor, casual socializing, and criminal logistics.

Paradise and Danger

Rockstar's description of the Keys builds on a specific duality. The surface is paradise: casual dress code, loaded bars, easy living, deck chairs. But underneath that surface sits "some of the most beautiful and dangerous waters in all of America." The danger is not just metaphorical. Brian Heder's operation moves drugs through these waters. Lori Heder is photographed holding an assault rifle. Jason collects debts and runs shakedowns as his side of the bargain.

Brian's character embodies this contrast perfectly. Rockstar describes him as someone who "looks like a Leonida beach bum" but "moves like a great white shark." His marina presents a tourist-friendly face while functioning as a drug distribution hub. The sangria invitations are real, and so is the smuggling.

This mirrors the real history of the Florida Keys. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Keys were a primary corridor for cocaine and marijuana entering the United States from the Caribbean. Square Grouper (a 2011 documentary) chronicled how fishing captains and boat operators in the real Keys supplemented their income by retrieving bales of marijuana dropped from planes into the ocean. Brian Heder's backstory fits neatly into that tradition.

Real-World Inspiration

The name "Key Lento" swaps one musical tempo marking for another. "Lento" means "slow," fitting the laid-back atmosphere of the island, and "Largo," the name of the real island it mirrors, means "broadly" or "slowly."

Rupert Humphries, Rockstar's senior vice president of narrative, said in a September 2026 magazine cover story that the team's research trips for the game went down to the Keys, as well as to the Everglades, the beaches and the nightlife.

Connection to Vice City

The Keys are modelled on the Florida Keys, which real-world drivers reach from Miami along U.S. Route 1, crossing open water on a series of bridges, and Trailer 2 names a Keys Causeway. Rockstar has not shown the route between Vice City and the islands or how long the drive takes.

In tone, the Keys are the opposite of Port Gellhorn. Where Port Gellhorn is decaying suburban coastline, the Keys are tropical islands with turquoise water. But both share a criminal underbelly that contrasts with their surface appearance. The Keys' laid-back bars and beach houses mask the same kinds of illegal operations that hide behind Port Gellhorn's strip malls and pawn shops.