The Leonida Keys at a Glance
The Leonida Keys are a chain of tropical islands in the south of Leonida, modelled on the real Florida Keys. They are one of the six confirmed regions of GTA 6, and the place where the story begins.
Key Lento is the primary named island. Jason Duval lives there at the start of the game, in a stilt house owned by Brian Heder, and the story is reported to open in the Keys.
The Keys run on water and on quiet work: fishing, seaside bars, boating, and smuggling that stays out of sight. Trailer 2 opens here, and the region's character is set in its first minutes.
Rockstar has not published an island count, a full island list, or a map of the Keys. Key Lento is the confirmed anchor, and the rest of the chain is known mainly through trailer moments and fan mapping.
Key Takeaways
- Location: island chain in the south of Leonida, modelled on the Florida Keys.
- Main island: Key Lento, the primary named island, matching Key Largo in the real chain.
- Story start: Jason Duval lives in Key Lento at the start, and the story opens in the Keys.
- Jason's home: a stilt house owned by Brian Heder, lived in rent-free in exchange for debt collection work.
- Key people: Brian Heder, veteran smuggler and Jason's landlord, and Cal Hampton, who listens to Coast Guard frequencies.
- Key places: Brian's boatyard, the Rusty Anchor bar, and Jason's safehouse, all shown in official material.
- Travel: bridges and causeways, including a Keys Causeway named on an official screenshot sign, plus boats and seaplanes.
- Unconfirmed: island count, other island names, and which Keys activities are full systems.
1. Where the Keys Sit in Leonida
The Leonida Keys lie south of the Leonida mainland, in the same position the real Florida Keys hold south of Miami. Vice City is the Miami of this world, and the Keys trail south from it as its island counterpart.
The Keys are one of six confirmed major regions, alongside Vice City, Port Gellhorn, Grassrivers, Ambrosia, and Mount Kalaga National Park. They are the southernmost region, and the far end of the map from Mount Kalaga in the north.
Rockstar has not published county boundaries, so the county the Keys belong to is not officially stated. Some wiki coverage places them in Mariana County, but that is community material, not a Rockstar-published boundary.
That southern position shapes the region's role. The Keys are a starting point and a retreat: far from Vice City's crowds, close to open water, and easy to leave by boat when roads are watched.
2. Key Lento: The Island That Matters Most
Key Lento is the primary named island in the Leonida Keys, and the island players will know best. It is the in-game equivalent of Key Largo, the northernmost and largest island in the real Florida Keys.
Key Lento appears on an overhead highway sign in an in-game screenshot Rockstar posted on 8 October 2026. The sign reads "Keys Causeway" and lists Key Lento, confirming both the island name and the causeway that links the chain.
Rockstar has not shown where Key Lento sits among the Leonida Keys. The real Key Largo sits at the northern end of its chain, but Rockstar has not confirmed that Key Lento holds the same position in its fictional chain.
Key Lento is best understood as a small town as well as an island: a marina district, a coastal residential area, and the home base for the story's opening hours. It is the Keys location with confirmed content, while other islands remain largely unnamed.
3. Jason's Stilt House: The Starting Safehouse
Jason Duval's starting safehouse is a stilt house in Key Lento, and it is the first home players will know in GTA 6. The house is green, beach-house style, raised on stilts above the shoreline, with a balcony overlooking the water.
Trailer 2 shows the house in detail: Jason fixing the roof, Brian arriving to ask for his checks, and a neighbour calling out to him. Interior details visible in the trailer include a sofa, a television, a game console, a glass-topped table, and a snake tank.
The house belongs to Brian Heder, who lets Jason live there rent-free in exchange for help with local shakedowns and debt collection from other tenants. Jason's rent is paid through enforcement work, not money, and Brian's official bio confirms the arrangement.
After Lucia is released from prison, she moves into the Key Lento safehouse with Jason, making it a shared residence for both protagonists. Rockstar calls the property "Jason's Safehouse" in official screenshot material.
4. Brian Heder and His Boatyard
Brian Heder is the veteran smuggler at the centre of the Keys, and Jason's landlord. His official bio confirms the living arrangement: Brian lets Jason live rent-free at one of his properties, so long as Jason helps with local shakedowns and stops by for Lori's sangria once in a while.
Brian's boatyard is the working heart of Key Lento. Its sign is visible in Trailer 2, and the yard still serves as a transit point for Brian's goods, even as he presents himself as a man winding down.
The boatyard matters because it connects the Keys' two sides: legitimate-seeming work on the water, and quiet smuggling underneath it. Boats, marinas, and cargo give the Keys their economy, and Brian's yard is where that economy is most visible.
How the boatyard functions in gameplay, whether as a mission hub, a business, or simply a story location, has not been detailed by Rockstar. Its story importance is confirmed, but its systems role is not.
5. The Rusty Anchor and Keys Social Life
The Rusty Anchor is a bar in the Keys shown in official screenshots, and one of the few named Keys venues beyond the safehouse and the boatyard. Community coverage notes a pool table inside, and Cal Hampton stops by the bar in Trailer 2 material.
Bars like the Rusty Anchor give the Keys their social texture. Fishing communities, seaside bars, and boat parties all appear in official screenshots, painting a region where people live off the sea and gather where the water meets the land.
A boat party appears in official screenshots too, along with a dive near a reef and an iguana at the water's edge. Those images show the Keys as a place of leisure as well as work, though they do not confirm boat parties or diving as full gameplay systems.
Treat the social moments as atmosphere confirmed by screenshots, not as activity checklists. The Keys clearly have bars, boats, and beaches, but which of those become systems will only be known from the game.
6. Cal Hampton: The Man With the Scanner
Cal Hampton is Brian's associate and another Keys figure, known for spending his days in front of his scanner, listening in on Coast Guard frequencies. His official character material places him at home with his scanner, and he appears in Keys material around the Rusty Anchor.
Cal's scanner habit is more than character colour. In a region built on smuggling and water travel, someone listening to Coast Guard frequencies is someone who knows when the water is watched and when it is clear.
Rockstar does not say where Cal lives, and community material that places him should be labelled as such. What is confirmed is his role: a Keys local, connected to Brian, tuned into the authorities that police the water.
Cal is a good example of how the Keys tell their story through people rather than places. The region's character comes from Jason, Brian, and Cal as much as from its islands.
7. How to Travel the Keys
The Keys are linked by bridges and roads built over the water, including the Keys Causeway named on an official screenshot sign. Driving the causeway is the road route between islands, and it is one of the most distinctive drives in Leonida.
Boats are the other main route, and arguably the more important one. The Keys' economy, smuggling, and leisure all run on water, and boats connect islands that roads do not reach directly.
Seaplanes also appear in Keys coverage, as part of the island chain's transport mix. A seaplane can cross water that a car cannot, and land where a boat would be slow, though Rockstar has not detailed seaplane availability.
For players, the Keys teach water travel early. Learning boats, causeways, and coastal routes here will pay off across Leonida, from the VC Port to Grassrivers waterways.
8. Water, Fishing, and What Lies Beneath
The Keys' waters are described in coverage as beautiful but dangerous, with two personalities: a deeper, rougher Atlantic side suited to deep-sea fishing and shipwreck exploration, and a shallower Gulf side with dense mangroves that offer natural cover.
That two-sided description comes from community coverage, not a Rockstar systems breakdown, but it matches what the trailers show: open water on one side, tangled mangrove shoreline on the other.
Fishing, diving, and boat exploration all appear in Keys material, from screenshots of a dive near a reef to the fishing culture of the island communities. Whether each is a full system, a side activity, or a trailer moment is not yet confirmed.
Underwater threats are also hinted at in coverage, with warnings not to enter unknown waters unprepared. That warning is community advice based on preview material, not a confirmed mechanic, but it fits a region where the water is both the main road and the main risk.
9. The Keys in the Story: Why the Opening Matters
The story opens in the Keys, and that choice sets the game's tone. Jason starts small: a stilt house, a landlord to answer to, and local work collecting debts, before the story expands to Vice City and the wider state.
Starting in the Keys also teaches the game's systems gently. Boating, driving causeways, and meeting Brian and Cal happen before the city crowds and the larger criminal world arrive.
Safehouses change as the chapters move, according to preview reporting, so the Keys safehouse is a starting home, not necessarily a permanent one. Like the camps in Red Dead Redemption 2, homes in GTA 6 are expected to move with the story.
That structure means the Keys will always matter, even after you leave. They are where Jason and Lucia's life together starts, and the place the story returns to in memory, if not in missions.
10. What Is Not Yet Known About the Keys
The biggest unknown is the rest of the chain. Beyond Key Lento, no island has been officially named by Rockstar, and the total island count is unpublished.
Fan maps may label more islands, and some coverage mentions a naval air station at the far end of the chain, but those details are community material. A naval air station would fit the Florida Keys model, where Key West holds a naval base, but Rockstar has not confirmed one for Leonida.
Mission locations inside the Keys, beyond the story opening, are also unknown. Rockstar has shown the opening, but not a Keys mission list, and any such list from community sources is speculative.
The Keys are therefore a region with a confirmed heart and an unconfirmed edge. Key Lento, the safehouse, the boatyard, and the Rusty Anchor are solid. The rest of the chain is waiting for launch to name itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in the Leonida Keys?
A chain of tropical islands in southern Leonida, including Key Lento, Jason's stilt-house safehouse, Brian Heder's boatyard, and the Rusty Anchor bar.
What is Key Lento in GTA 6?
The primary named island in the Leonida Keys, matching Key Largo in the real Florida Keys, and the island where Jason Duval lives at the start of the game.
Where does Jason live in GTA 6?
In a stilt house in Key Lento, owned by Brian Heder, lived in rent-free in exchange for debt collection work. Lucia moves in after her release from prison.
Who is Brian Heder?
A veteran smuggler in the Leonida Keys, Jason's landlord, and the owner of the boatyard on Key Lento. He lets Jason live rent-free in exchange for help with local shakedowns.
What is the Rusty Anchor in GTA 6?
A bar in the Leonida Keys shown in official screenshots, visited by Cal Hampton, and one of the few named Keys venues beyond the safehouse and boatyard.
How do you travel between the Leonida Keys islands?
By bridges and causeways, including the Keys Causeway, and by boat. Seaplanes also appear in Keys coverage.
Does the GTA 6 story start in the Leonida Keys?
Yes, according to preview reporting. The campaign opens in the Keys, at Jason's place, before expanding to Vice City and the wider state.
How many islands are in the Leonida Keys?
Unknown. Rockstar has not published an island count, and only Key Lento is officially named.
Can you fish and dive in the Leonida Keys?
Fishing, diving, and boat exploration appear in official screenshots and coverage, but Rockstar has not detailed them as full systems, so treat them as shown, not confirmed systems.
What county are the Leonida Keys in?
Not officially published. Some wiki coverage places them in Mariana County, but Rockstar has not published county boundaries for Leonida.
Conclusion
The Leonida Keys are small in scale and large in story importance: a tropical island chain where GTA 6 begins, where Jason lives in a stilt house owned by a smuggler, and where water is the main road.
Key Lento, the safehouse, Brian's boatyard, and the Rusty Anchor are the confirmed heart of the region. The rest of the chain, its island count, and its other names are still unconfirmed, waiting for launch to reveal them.
Start here, learn the water, and meet the people who make the Keys feel lived in. When the story carries you to Vice City and beyond, the Keys will remain the place it all started.
