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Unread 05/30/2016, 08:16 AM   #226
Speedfreak241
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1. I was at money key on the ocean side facing away from the bridge.

2. Even though I'm local I don't get to snorkel down at money key often because our house in in Islamorada and it takes a lot of fuel to get down there.

3. My screen name comes from one of my old dragsters. It was called speed demon and was painted with a nice old flame paint job. The nickname speed freak kinda stuck because we were always shooting to be the fastest car. As for the 241 that was my old racing number.


4. The motor itself is fine but when we almost sunk the boat a month back when we left the back hatch unsealed and tried to launch it in a steep boat ramp, it corroded a wire and isn't letting the motor turn over correctly so it makes it hard to start. It's an easy fix since the guy who owns the boat is a outboard mechanic.


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Unread 05/30/2016, 09:04 PM   #227
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Reefman while at marathon one day was too rough so we went to the bay side. I saw a purple tip anenome and a baby blue tang. I was a little surprised to find the little anenome in a grassy mangrove type area.

I made it out to Sombrero reef and it was nice. Thanks for all the advice and this thread I can't wait to go back.


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Unread 05/31/2016, 07:08 AM   #228
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Went out fishing for mahi this week. A lot of boaters out there. But the weather was great so that helps out with the craziness.
Caught a nice sized filefish while out there. And 4 babies ones the size of a finger nail.


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Unread 06/01/2016, 06:53 AM   #229
Ron Reefman
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Reefman while at marathon one day was too rough so we went to the bay side. I saw a purple tip anenome and a baby blue tang. I was a little surprised to find the little anenome in a grassy mangrove type area.

I made it out to Sombrero reef and it was nice. Thanks for all the advice and this thread I can't wait to go back.
You're welcome, I'm really happy to try and help out and that you enjoyed the Keys! My wife and I will be down in the Middle Keys again in mid June with about 20 members of our local saltwater aquarium club.

I started this thread so people who don't scuba dive and don't have a boat could find places to snorkel and get some of the same kind of underwater experiences that divers do. And if you live close enough to the area, you can do some collecting for your personal aquarium at home. I live just over 4 hours from the Middle Keys. And with the right equipment I have been able to keep everything I collect alive for the trip home until I can get them into my 65g shallow reef tank.

If you got out to Sombrero reef and liked it, next time get out to Looe Key reef. Bahia Honda State Park has a charter and several independent outfits go out there as well. I think it has much better shallow water (less than 15 ft) corals. But not the big stuff that Sombrero has in the deeper water which is better for scuba divers.

The purple tip anemone is a Condy. They are pretty common in the Keys and as of a year or two ago have become protected in Florida. They vary from mostly white with purple tips to all purple. Very often they are home to the anemone shrimp which can be VERY difficult to see. They hide quickly and are mostly clear with some small spots on their body.


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Unread 06/01/2016, 07:23 AM   #230
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You're welcome, I'm really happy to try and help out and that you enjoyed the Keys! My wife and I will be down in the Middle Keys again in mid June with about 20 members of our local saltwater aquarium club.

I started this thread so people who don't scuba dive and don't have a boat could find places to snorkel and get some of the same kind of underwater experiences that divers do. And if you live close enough to the area, you can do some collecting for your personal aquarium at home. I live just over 4 hours from the Middle Keys. And with the right equipment I have been able to keep everything I collect alive for the trip home until I can get them into my 65g shallow reef tank.

If you got out to Sombrero reef and liked it, next time get out to Looe Key reef. Bahia Honda State Park has a charter and several independent outfits go out there as well. I think it has much better shallow water (less than 15 ft) corals. But not the big stuff that Sombrero has in the deeper water which is better for scuba divers.

The purple tip anemone is a Condy. They are pretty common in the Keys and as of a year or two ago have become protected in Florida. They vary from mostly white with purple tips to all purple. Very often they are home to the anemone shrimp which can be VERY difficult to see. They hide quickly and are mostly clear with some small spots on their body.
I have always loved aquariums and when I hit that water my mind was blown. I want to go there again next year. I did some deep sea fishing in Mexico and it was cool, but I would much rather see them then catch them lol. I definitely need to get to looe key.


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Unread 06/01/2016, 12:39 PM   #231
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I have always loved aquariums and when I hit that water my mind was blown. I want to go there again next year. I did some deep sea fishing in Mexico and it was cool, but I would much rather see them then catch them lol. I definitely need to get to looe key.
Well, I should be able to wet your appetite in a few weeks. We (my wife and I along with our aquarium club) are using a charter that is taking us to Looe Key and giving us an hour in one location on the reef and then a second hour at a different location! I wouldn't be surprised if my wife take 500 to 1000 pictures!


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Unread 06/04/2016, 04:16 AM   #232
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Ron, my wife and I live in Melbourne and are trying to plan a trip to the keys to do some snorkeling off the beach or accessible via kayak (which we will be bringing with us). Where exactly in Bahia Honda should we go to find shallow snorkeling? Where exactly can we collect some snails/stars if I find some cool ones? We've done a good amount of near-shore kayaking the beach so we can travel some decent distance well. Any other must see/non-snorkeling activities between the north keys and Bahia Honda?


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Unread 06/04/2016, 06:08 PM   #233
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LJA, when are you going?

I had a long, detailed reply almost done and then hit a wrong key and closed the website and lost it!

Later tonight or Sunday morning I'll do it again, I'm too frustrated now!


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Unread 06/05/2016, 05:33 AM   #234
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There’s so much I’d like to tell you. I’ve sent you a PM with my phone number, if you really want detailed help call me. I want people who visit the Keys to snorkel to have as much fun as we do, so I’m happy to share.

These are all shallow (3’to 6’) and even VERY shallow (18” to 3’) snorkel locations.

1) Snorkeling off the Bahia Honda beach is about as good as I’ve ever seen in shallow reef flats in the Florida Keys. Go to the beach at the SW end of the park (there isn’t anything to see at the north beach and very little (but some) at the beach on the NW side of the island. We think the best area is straight out from a big ‘movie’ screen that is just behind the beach and very visible from the water. After 50’ of sandy bottom there is some turtle grass and then the bottom opens up to ball and vase sponges and a lot of colorful smaller sponges. There are lots of gorgonian corals, some macro algae, juvenile tropical fish and lots of other interesting little critters. Less often, but not rarely we’ve seen moray eels, reef squid, sting rays and one time even a 4’ nurse shark. The water is fairly shallow a long way out from the beach and if you go out to where the water is 5’ deep or more it is much more pristine than in the waters closer to the beach. Collecting is not allowed.

2) Snorkeling at Bahia Honda with a kayak is good because there is an island, Little Bahia Honda Key, that is just a 1/2 mile off the beach (it looks closer). BTW, they rent kayaks there for those that don’t have them. There is a VERY shallow reef flat on the NE side of the island. Lots of rocks and more rock boring urchins than I’ve ever seen on one patch reef anywhere! There are even more small inverts here than off the beach mentioned above. But again, no collecting.


3) With the kayak you can put in at a boat ramp right at the end of the Seven Mile Bridge on Little Duck Key, and there are up to 3 islands you can get to depending on your willingness to venture out. And all 3 are open to collecting, just be aware that Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission rangers often stop by the boat ramp to inspect safety gear, legality of caught fish & lobster and legality of collections. A) Little Money Key is a bit less than a ¼ mile from the ramp and the NW side of the island (the side away from the bridge) is a wonderful reef flat. B) Money Key is on the ocean side of the bridge and about a mile from the boat ramp. We think the SE side of the island is best (again, facing away from the bridge), but there is stuff all around. C) Molasses Key is 2.5 miles from the ramp on the same side of the bridge as Little Money. There is great snorkeling here all around the island (actually there are 2 islands). I’ve only been there once myself but if the weather is good (calm water) and visibility is good, we hope to get out there when we go down to the Keys in a couple of weeks with our local Aquarium club.

4) Final good place to snorkel in the area is Spanish Harbor Key. As soon as you get off the bridge (heading south) there is a pull off and at the bottom of a small hill there is a parking lot. On the Florida Bay side (NE end) is an old quarry from the construction of the Flagler RR that is known as The Horseshoe. It extends almost 200 yards out into the water and is over 100 yards wide. Inside its 40’ to 60’ deep (we’ve been told by divers) and there isn’t much there for snorkelers. But all around the quarry on the outside is rocky rubble with lots and lots of rocks to look under. It isn’t very pretty (reef like) but it has tons of character and lots of critters that can be collected. The other ‘special’ point about The Horseshoe is that if the winds are strong and even if visibility is low at other locations, this one is ‘protected’ from most winds by the island and the very shape of the quarry ‘arms’ extending out into the water.

Over the road from the parking lot on the SE side is another good snorkel spot. They just created a ‘walkway’ from the parking lot around the NE end of the island and under the bridge so you don’t need to walk up the hill, cross the road and down the hill on the other side. But it is like all the other sites, subject to wind conditions.

Other points of interest we’d recommend…
If the weather is bad and you don’t mind a 30 minute drive, The History of Diving Museum on Islamorada is a great spot to visit. We spent several hours there, but then we love these kinds of museums.
Also on Islamorada is The Rain Barrel Artisans Village is cool. Out front there is a HUGE fiberglass lobster and the front couple of shops are typical tourist traps shops. But out back there a bunch of much nicer shops and artist workshops.
While you are at Bahia Honda, visit the Nature Center there. It’s small but it has some pretty cool stuff.
If you want some exercise, walk the Flagler RR Bridge from the SW end of Marathon out to Pigeon Key. The starting point was used in the film True Lies with ‘Arnold’ and Jamie Lee Curtis. It’s almost a 2 mile walk out to the end, but then you get to look down on the reef flats around Pigeon Key. We (I) hope to snorkel there some day soon (my wife is pretty iffy about taking an 11’ Zodiac out there). We saw a couple huge Spotted Eagle Rays digging up conch and a huge barracuda and a 6’ shark swim right past each other about 2’ or 3’ apart directly below us as we watched from the bridge. It was like 2 workers passing each other during shift change at a factory! Hi Joe… Hi Sam… that’s it, no emotion and just the minimum recognition that the other was even there. There is also a touristy trinket shop in an old RR car just across from the parking lot.

We have not done much other than snorkel, eat and rest up for the next day when we visit the Keys. We go to get maximum face time looking down into an alien world that we can’t get at home. We’ve visited most of the State Parks, but not many other attractions like the Aquarium Encounter, the Turtle Hospital, the Dolphin Center, the Crane Point Museum & Nature Center or the Theater of the Sea. We’ve been to Key West, but it’s not our cup of tea. On the other hand I’d love to hear what other people who have visited any of these attractions has to say about them.

If you want motel or restaurant suggestions, call me. I’ve probably been too commercial with this post already!


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Unread 06/06/2016, 05:06 AM   #235
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Tropical Storm Curtis is going to pass by us here in SW Florida and head up toward the Big Bend area of Florida. We get some good winds from the west and some rain, but the wind means that 'stuff' will get washed up on the beaches of Sanibel Island. Right now it looks like Wednesday will best the best day, still rainy, but the best day to find stuff alive on the beach. If I go, and I want to, I'll report back here.

And in a couple of weeks we have a Florida Keys snorkel vacation for 5 days.


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Unread 06/06/2016, 06:53 AM   #236
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Tropical Storm Curtis is going to pass by us here in SW Florida and head up toward the Big Bend area of Florida. We get some good winds from the west and some rain, but the wind means that 'stuff' will get washed up on the beaches of Sanibel Island. Right now it looks like Wednesday will best the best day, still rainy, but the best day to find stuff alive on the beach. If I go, and I want to, I'll report back here.

And in a couple of weeks we have a Florida Keys snorkel vacation for 5 days.
I just got back from Sanibel. Have friends in naples and it was raining every single day. In Sanibel it was clear beautiful skies the whole weekend lol left at the perfect time.

On low tide I was able to find some nice critters while walking the beach. Love it there!


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Unread 06/07/2016, 07:16 AM   #237
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TS Colin never blew very hard here and a friend just invited me to go with him to World Wide Corals in Orlando for the day. I've never been so I'm blowing off the beach walk to go see (and maybe buy) some cool corals!


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Unread 06/08/2016, 02:04 PM   #238
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TS Colin never blew very hard here and a friend just invited me to go with him to World Wide Corals in Orlando for the day. I've never been so I'm blowing off the beach walk to go see (and maybe buy) some cool corals!
WWC is a very nice store. they have one of the best show tanks in the from I have ever seen. They are known to have some really nice stuff but can be pricey.

I have a trip to the Bahamas this weekend and was concerned last weekend when I heard about the storm. It seems like it didn't do anything down there as far as I can tell. I live in Jacksonville so it cam right through us but for the most part it was like a bad thunderstorm here. we did get a few tornados but luckily not to bad.


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Unread 06/09/2016, 06:41 AM   #239
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WWC was pretty nice. Two very nice DT's up front. But of all the LFS stores and coral selling locations I ever been to, they had by far the best system for displaying frags and having prices posted and multiple frags to pick from! I ended up with a couple cool frags I've never seen locally. I wish it was closer to home. But a 3 hour drive there to spend and hour looking and buying and then a 3 hour drive home just isn't worth it.

Just a week till we leave for some Keys snorkel time!


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Unread 06/09/2016, 07:44 AM   #240
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WWC was pretty nice. Two very nice DT's up front. But of all the LFS stores and coral selling locations I ever been to, they had by far the best system for displaying frags and having prices posted and multiple frags to pick from! I ended up with a couple cool frags I've never seen locally. I wish it was closer to home. But a 3 hour drive there to spend and hour looking and buying and then a 3 hour drive home just isn't worth it.

Just a week till we leave for some Keys snorkel time!
What'd you get?!?!

Can't just say you got cool frags and not give details.. That's just cruel! Lol


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Unread 06/09/2016, 09:09 AM   #241
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What'd you get?!?!

Can't just say you got cool frags and not give details.. That's just cruel! Lol
I agree. Pics or it didn't happen! LOL


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Unread 06/13/2016, 02:10 AM   #242
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Thanks so much for taking the time to reply with the scoop on snorkeling spots Ron. We're planning on going either the last week of June or the following holiday weekend, hoping to see some cool stuff. WWC is great, check out them out on eBay too! Sometimes cheaper than in store with flat rate shipping.


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Unread 06/16/2016, 02:46 PM   #243
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Leaving for the Keys and the weekend weather looks so good I can't believe it! Saturday the club goes out to Looe Key as a group. I'm hoping to get Elaine to go out to Molasas Key with the Zodiac this trip. Especially if the wind is going to be anything like I'm seeing in the Windfinder weather forecast!

My goal is a couple different Gorgonians and 1 or 2 Flamingo Tongue snails for my 75g Gorgonian tank.


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Unread 06/16/2016, 02:53 PM   #244
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I agree. Pics or it didn't happen! LOL


He's ignoring us...

Do you think he has buyers remorse or the frags are soo cool he doesn't want to make us jealous?

Come-on Ron, share the goods! Lol




Looking forward to seeing if you find the gorgonians and snails your on the hunt for. Tell your wife we want pics


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Unread 06/16/2016, 04:01 PM   #245
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Ron, have you ever tried keeping one of those ever prevalent sea-fans that occur near the top of the reef? There are tons of them...

On a side note, I went down to marathon for a week in april. Enjoyed some snorkeling off the beach, and went out to sombrero reef twice. Sombrero was amazing.

Post some pictures!


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Unread 06/21/2016, 05:09 AM   #246
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OK guys, it's going to take a bit of time, but I have a ton of pictures to post and I'll start with the corals from WWC. Oh, and Fisses, where are your photos from your Keys trip??? I'd like to see even some taken on land (in case you didn't have an underwater camera)!

I haven't been ignoring the requests for pics, but I was in the Keys with our aquarium club for the last 5 days and all in all we had a great trip! We snorkeled Looe Key with a charter boat and personally I found that a bit disappointing. But then I've been there multiple times, this time we were over a deeper section of reef, the water was a bit murky with super fine sediment and for most of the 2 1/2 hours the sun was behind clouds. Take all those things together and the reef wasn't as 'vivid' as I'd have wanted and the corals were looking a bit 'beat up' even though it was a deeper section of reef. And maybe it's that just looking a bigger coral colonies and pretty fish is getting a bit old for me. I admit, I like hands on exploring and seeing stuff that we NEVER see out snorkeling on the big reef. If you've never been, it's a very cool experience and well worth the trip. But I get out to Looe Key or Sombrero Lighthouse once or twice every summer. My wife enjoys it because she is a photographer and if the conditions are right, it can be a great photo opportunity.

But I'm an explorer, investigator, collector and I like having a hands on experience. I'd rather be on a shallow reef flat where I can poke around, look under rocks and find things like an octopus, or a huge horse conch, or a field of green zoas, or a hideaway with 3 juvenile lobsters that I can get up close and personal with.

So we snorkeled a small island just off the marina at Blackfin Resort on Friday afternoon. That's been kind of our warm up snorkel where we make sure our gear is all in good condition and we get to see how warm (or cold) the water is so we can pick the right dive skin or wet suit for the next couple of days were we will be in the water for hours. Then on Saturday we did Looe Key and the Horseshoe, and finally Money Key and Little Money Key on Sunday.

For me, Sunday was the best day. I love being out at a small island with a shallow reef flat, almost no other people or snorkelers around and lots of acreage to explore. We wanted to get out to Molasses Key (2.5 to 3 miles from shore) on Sunday but in the morning the tide and wind were opposing each other and making for some chop. And being in an 11' Zodiac, that made my wife just uncomfortable enough that we opted for Money Key (barely a mile from shore) instead. In the afternoon the wind died down and we could have gone on to Molasses Key, but we had already spent close to 3 hours in the water and we were getting tired. And on the way back to the boat ramp we had the opportunity to stop off at Little Money Key. So that's what we did, and as is almost always the case, we were impressed.

I came home with some green zoas, a few emerald and ruby crabs, a few sea stars, a yellow sea cucumber, 1 red and 1 white flame scallop, a coral banded shrimp, an Atlantic oyster, 2 small clams, a hand full of feather dusters, a couple of sponges (to experiment with), some turbo snails, some small star snails, some cerith snails, some tiny hermit crabs, a small rock flower anemone, a few tiny Curly-Q anemones, 1 chiton and some macro algae. I also brought home about 2/3rds to 3/4ths of a red brittle star's arm that broke off while I was moving a rock. I made sure the star was OK and safely back under a rock and I collected the arm. At 48 hours, yesterday afternoon while I was sorting critters out, it was still moving. I found it a quiet spot in a corner of my 65g shallow reef and I'll do my best to watch it and see if it develops into a full blown star. Frankly, I was surprised at 48 hours that it was still moving! My best guess is that it won't make it, but I wanted to try.

That's the same thing I'm trying with the couple of sponges I collected. I have a few sponges (2 nice photosynthetic) in my tanks already. And I have been able to keep most other animals I try to keep, like a non-photosynthetic hitchhiker anemone, clams, oysters, non-photosynthetic gorgonians, sea cucumbers (sand cleaners and filter feeders), stars, feather dusters, chitons and more. But almost every sponge I bring home from the Keys fails to survive longer than a couple of months.

Elaine took about 900 photos and I have only looked a a couple she sent off to friends and family. So over the next few days I'll sort through them and each day I'll post some. And I'll start later today with the corals I got from WWC (I still haven't taken a photo of them).


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Unread 06/21/2016, 06:25 AM   #247
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Looking forward to the pictures!


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Unread 06/21/2016, 10:18 AM   #248
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OK, first things first. Here are the 2 corals I got from WWC. And these are awful pics. I can't seem to get the color right with my camera. I may take Elaine's underwater camera and try again.

This, believe it or not, is a gold colored porites coral.




And this was called Jingle Bells by WWC and is in the same family (Cyphastrea) as meteor shower. It's really quite green with red polyps.




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Unread 06/22/2016, 08:41 AM   #249
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Highlite number one of the weekend was Saturday morning. We went out to Looe Key with Strike Force Charters and they did a very nice job. The Captain and First Mate were very friendly and helpful. It was an fairly cloudy day with the sun only peeking out infrequently. That made viewing the reef a bit better, but most of the time the reef was a bit darker than I would have liked. One of the bright spots was a 5'+ goliath grouper that came by and hung out under the snorkel boat for a while. I managed to be up beside the boat when it decided to swim away and I could almost have reached out and touched it! Elaine did manage to get a few photos. But while under the boat it was heavily shaded and those photos didn't turn out well at all. That's why digital photography is so cool. Elaine took over 900 photos over 2 days and I picked out about 100 that I liked and looked usable. No film cost and no developing or printing cost... technology does work to improve some things!

So here are the goliath grouper photos taken as it was swimming out from under the boat.







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Unread 06/25/2016, 05:42 AM   #250
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After we did our 'test' snorkel out at the little island just 100 yards of shore from the motel on Friday, we were ready for our aquarium club group snorkel with Strike Force Charters on Saturday morning. The weather was OK, low winds and calm water, but mostly cloudy which makes even shallow waters less vibrant to look at. But we all had fun and we got about 2 1/2 hours in the water!

There was quite a school of light blue tangs at the reef.




This pipe fish was pretty shy and didn't want to allow Elaine to get a good photo.




There were several schools of sergeant majors in the area.




Our favorite fish of the day (after the huge grouper in the previous post) was this midnight blue parrotfish. We've seen a lot, and I mean a LOT of parrotfish over the years and we've never seen one of these. And blue happens to be Elaine's favorite color so she stayed after this one as long as she could!



On a side note, anybody having issues with Photobucket since they did some kind of maintenance or upgrade a few days ago? I'm finding it very difficult to upload new pics to their site. I have storage space left, and after several long failures to load, the same image that has failed 2, 3 even 4 times, then loads and works OK??? That's why photos are so slow coming from me. I'd post a buch more, but Photobucket has become a giant pain to use!

I think I'd be interested in a new photo hosting site. Any suggestions? I wish I could just upload them here directly from my computer.


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