Reef Central Online Community

Go Back   Reef Central Online Community > Special Interest Group (SIG) Forums > SCUBA/Snorkeling
Blogs FAQ Calendar Mark Forums Read

Notices

User Tag List

Reply
Thread Tools
Unread 06/27/2016, 08:29 AM   #251
G_Sanab922
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Keys
Posts: 1,392
Nice pics.
The "pipefish" is actually a Scrawled Filefish ( Aluterus scriptus )
Very beautiful fish, pretty common down here.

That sure is a beautiful parrotfish. Never seen one like that before.


G_Sanab922 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 06/27/2016, 05:38 PM   #252
Ron Reefman
Registered Member
 
Ron Reefman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Cape Coral, FL
Posts: 10,431
You are 100% right about the Filefish, my bad. I know a pipe fish when I see one... and that's not one! LOL!


__________________
The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. (Neil deGrasse Tyson)
Visit my build thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2593017
Ron Reefman is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 06/28/2016, 05:31 AM   #253
Ron Reefman
Registered Member
 
Ron Reefman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Cape Coral, FL
Posts: 10,431
After we snorkeled Looe Key on Saturday morning we had a picnic lunch at the Horseshoe and then snorkeled there for a couple of hours. The county has turned the Horseshoe (an old Flagler Bridge quarry) and the open space on the opposite side of the road into a park and linked them together with an above ground boardwalk from the parking lot on the quarry side, going NE and under the bridge at the NE end of the island and around to the other side of the road which is now a park with a nice shallow flats area to snorkel. The conditions there are a lot like those off the oceanside beach at the SW end of Bahia Honda State Park.


The Horseshoe has become a spot where we now find some upside down jellyfish. These are kind of pretty and quite unusual looking. I'd love to have one in my tank but they do get up to 8" to 12" in diameter, they tend to like dirty water like shallow flats reefs and oh... they do pack a good sting! But we were here one time and there were probably 40 or 50 of them in an open area and it made a very cool scene.




I'd also love to have a nice sea star in my tank. I have quite a few serpent and brittle stars spread over my 4 tanks already, but they all hang out under rocks most of the time. I'd like a more common star that stays out in the open. This guy might have been perfect, but I was unsure of the species and it's needs, so I left it.




Even inside the Horseshoe there is some room for some nice coral. I think it's always cool to see nice stony corals growing in places where you wouldn't expect it... like here.




I've given up on trying to collect and keep a big Spaghetti worm in my tank. They seem to be quite delicate to transport, especially when they are outside the parchment tube they normally live in. But they seem to evacuate their tube at the first sign of danger.




If you are on shore looking out over the Horseshoe, this is the view from inside the far left corner looking out. It seems to us that most of the cool stuff we find here tends to be out near the break in the quarry wall where boats can come in and out. Along the outer wall and into the boat channel. Be very careful snorkeling out there as some boats do run through there and a few don't seem to know it's a snorkel hangout. I'll only go out to the channel if we have our 11' Zodiac so we can anchor along side the channel with a dive flag up on the boat and another one with us in the water.




On our way back to Marathon we pass Veterans Beach just before you start onto the Seven Mile Bridge from the SW end. It's a very large and very, very shallow swim beach. There isn't much to see there as far as snorkeling. But we happened to be passing by at low tide and I was amazed at how much of what is normally under water was exposed. BTW, my aquarium club T-shirt says, " I'm a REEFER... it's not what you think."




__________________
The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. (Neil deGrasse Tyson)
Visit my build thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2593017
Ron Reefman is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 06/29/2016, 11:14 AM   #254
dinger28
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Indian Land, SC
Posts: 385
Amazing!!! I love hearing about your adventures and especially seeing the pictures! I grew up in Naples and have been to the keys once to snorkel. As soon as I stuck my head underwater I saw 2 huge tarpon swimming towards the bottom of the reef! I'm in Madeira Beach now and am going snorkeling on Friday in Egmont Key. Will post some good pics hopefully!


dinger28 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 06/29/2016, 02:47 PM   #255
Ron Reefman
Registered Member
 
Ron Reefman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Cape Coral, FL
Posts: 10,431
dinger28, it's always nice to read that at least a few people enjoy this thread. And I look forward to seeing your photos and reading about your snorkel.

On with our weekend. We took the Zodiac out to Money Key on Sunday morning. We wanted to go to Molasses Key, but the water was a bit too choppy for Elaine. So we explored the southeast end of the Money Key and we were amazed at what we found!

First, here is a look at the SW end of the island which is were we ended up. Basically snorkeling all the way along the south shore.




I've long been a fan of the green zoas we call Money Zoas because we first found them in very small colonies at Little Money Key. They tend to grow in sponges there and were easy to harvest the 10 polyps we are allowed. But at Money Key there were huge fields of them covering rocks. But being well attached to rocks makes them much harder to collect and we didn't even try.




A close up of the Money Zoas.




I found a mass of eggs under a rock and Elaine took a few pics. She thinks these are Milk Conch eggs, but we really aren't sure. I brought one egg home to see if it would survive and hatch, but the fish in our shallow reef tank liked the egg even more than I did!




We see butterflyfish fairly regularly, but Elaine got a really nice photo of this one. Fish can be difficult to photograph in the wild because they are always on the move and underwater cameras have slightly slower shutter speeds due to the reduced light.




I'm not a big fan of Grunts (I think that's what this one is?) but again, Elaine got a really nice photo. I just love the natural framing in the tunnel through the rock.




My fascination for sponges grows bigger every time we go out. But I've found Florida Keys shallow reef sponges impossible to keep in my tanks. So I appreciate the photos.




And finally something I did collect. I found 2 of these red feather dusters that were only attached to sponges. So I was able to get them without harming them. When they are attached to rocks they are very difficult to collect without damaging them. They are home and happy in our 75g hexagon Gorgonian tank.



Next time I'll post up a couple of pics of the octopus we found and got to enjoy for several minutes along with a few other favorites...


__________________
The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. (Neil deGrasse Tyson)
Visit my build thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2593017
Ron Reefman is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 06/29/2016, 08:04 PM   #256
dinger28
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Indian Land, SC
Posts: 385
Awesome!! I will be using a GoPro, but will still shot pics from the video.


dinger28 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 06/30/2016, 09:20 AM   #257
G_Sanab922
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Keys
Posts: 1,392
[QUOTE=Ron Reefman;24604867]


I'm not a big fan of Grunts (I think that's what this one is?) but again, Elaine got a really nice photo. I just love the natural framing in the tunnel through the rock.



QUOTE]

This fish is actually a Schoolmaster (snapper).

Great picture of that butterflyfish. I never cant get close to those little guys


G_Sanab922 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 06/30/2016, 06:18 PM   #258
Ron Reefman
Registered Member
 
Ron Reefman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Cape Coral, FL
Posts: 10,431
Thanks for the correction. I have to admit that fish just aren't my think when I snorkel. I'm all about the inverts.


So to finish off the morning at Money Key, we had a fun encounter with a small octopus. This is about the 7th or 8th one I've had a chance to see up close and personal in the wild. I've even handled a few really small ones we've found in shells on the beaches back home on the Gulf of Mexico. But we just watched this one and Elaine took a lot of photos.

So this is what I found when I picked up a medium size rock. At first I didn't even see it, and even when I did, my first reaction was,'what kind of sea star is that? The tips of the legs are so curly and it's over all color is so odd?' Then the light bulb light up! So how long does it take you to see it?




Is this any better? The green eyes really give it away.



When it decided we had intruded enough it turned much more brown and of course it's always easier to see something when it moves.




It settled back down about 2 feet away and was pretty easy to see as it was still darker colors.




Then it started to camouflage, became much lighter and harder to see. The last photo and this one were taken just seconds apart!




I think this is the best photo she took and it was right near the end of our visit.




There were quite a few Queen Conchs around and Elaine caught this one looking right at her! See the eye right in the small end of the shell?




And finally, this was one of the biggest Horse Conchs I've been lucky enough to meet. Actually it wasn't all that much bigger than other Horse Conchs I've seen, but this one sure didn't have any fear of being out of it's shell and showing off it's orange!




__________________
The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. (Neil deGrasse Tyson)
Visit my build thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2593017
Ron Reefman is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/02/2016, 10:24 AM   #259
Ron Reefman
Registered Member
 
Ron Reefman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Cape Coral, FL
Posts: 10,431
After spending the morning at Money Key, we stopped at Little Money Key on our way back to the boat ramp. We had visited Little Money Key just a month ago and found it in MUCH better condition than it was in the Fall of 2015, the last time we snorkeled there and found it covered in a heavy coat of slimy algae that was killing off everything. I was astonished how well it had recovered, so we stopped there again.

As I said in a previous post, the green zoas at Little Money are attached to sponges and small dead finger coral. We found it easy to remove the 10 polyps we are allowed to collect (5 polyps per person per day and there were 2 of us). Also notice that these zoas have more of a 'wagon wheel spokes look compared to the single cross bar on the zoas out at Money Key. And in my frag tank, under high PAR lighting they can even turn from green to azure blue.




And some polyps were growing out from under rocks and sponges which shows just how hard they can reach out to find sunlight. Here is a colony that I found when I turned over a fist size sponge.




Here is a typical find of zoas and sponges. There are purple/blue sponges as well as brown, green, orange and even red sponges. If only we could keep them alive in our aquariums!




I couldn't free dive deep enough with my 'snorkel' mask which doesn't allow me to pinch my nose to equalize the pressure in my ears. So a friend of mine collected these flames while at the Horseshoe. They have been in the DSB section of my refugium for 2 weeks now and seem to be doing just fine. I'm trying to get them to attach to some live rock so I can move them to the DT and put them some place where they will be happy and show off their 'flames'.




At the same place, 12' to 15' down inside the Horseshoe he also collected a CBS for me.




I did manage to find this chiton in about 5' of water inside the Horseshoe. I'd love to get some more of these, but they aren't that common and can be difficult to find.




It will probably be a couple of months before we get back to the Keys again. And next time I really want to get out to Molasses Key and the oceanside of Spanish Harbor Key (across the road from the Horseshoe).


__________________
The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. (Neil deGrasse Tyson)
Visit my build thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2593017
Ron Reefman is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/11/2016, 09:04 PM   #260
Dogshowgrl
Registered Member
 
Dogshowgrl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: North Central Florida
Posts: 298
This is a great thread. I have been stalking it for a while. My husband and I live up in North Central Florida and for his big 30 we are going to the Conch Republic NEXT WEEK!!!! We have a site on Bahia Honda for a week. We got our SW licenses and have read regulations as fast as we can read! I am confident in my identification. We were concerned we wouldn't be able to get out to the wrecks being only on kayaks. Your map you posted early in the thread was great! I thought I would ask you if you knew or had experience about the protocol within the park. I hope to collect a few little things and keep a live-well, I know I can only have the catch of the max of two days worth for each person with a license in possession, but if don't catch in the park and I keep it at my site, I have this feeling I am going to have an issue. What are your feelings on this? Is there a way to accomplish what I am trying to do and still stay in the park?


Dogshowgrl is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/11/2016, 10:00 PM   #261
sam.basye
Registered Member
 
sam.basye's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Lynchburg, VA
Posts: 1,227
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dogshowgrl View Post
This is a great thread. I have been stalking it for a while. My husband and I live up in North Central Florida and for his big 30 we are going to the Conch Republic NEXT WEEK!!!! We have a site on Bahia Honda for a week. We got our SW licenses and have read regulations as fast as we can read! I am confident in my identification. We were concerned we wouldn't be able to get out to the wrecks being only on kayaks. Your map you posted early in the thread was great! I thought I would ask you if you knew or had experience about the protocol within the park. I hope to collect a few little things and keep a live-well, I know I can only have the catch of the max of two days worth for each person with a license in possession, but if don't catch in the park and I keep it at my site, I have this feeling I am going to have an issue. What are your feelings on this? Is there a way to accomplish what I am trying to do and still stay in the park?

Being that you're staying in the park, you legally can't collect in the park, and you can't prove you legally collected elsewhere; I don't think they will let you.

I'm pretty sure it will be frowned upon, but it's worth giving someone in charge of the park a call to confirm though.


Fun story - a few years ago my family went to the Bahia Honda park and on the way back to the car from a day at the beach there was an Asian woman cutting off the leaves of an aloe plant to take with her. Needless to say, the rangers were NOT happy. She didn't seem to understand and one of the rangers referenced the signs that say you can't take anything and would she like it if he went to her house and started taking her stuff. Lol


Enjoy your husband's birthday meal at the Conch Republic!


__________________
}<`SAM`;{°<

Current Tank: 30 Cube build: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2661418
26g Foam Rockwall build: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2457621
Foam Wall

Last edited by sam.basye; 07/11/2016 at 10:07 PM.
sam.basye is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/12/2016, 05:59 AM   #262
Ron Reefman
Registered Member
 
Ron Reefman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Cape Coral, FL
Posts: 10,431
Dogshowgrl, I wish I could help you, but that is a very tough set of circumstances to navigate. I once asked a park ranger if I could collect and they obviously said 'no'. Then I asked about people being allowed to fish. They are not only collecting, they kill the things they collect. The reply was 'that's different.' I asked if I could collect any live fish and was told, 'no.'

Personally, I understand the 'no collecting' in the state park rules. But then why allow people to fish in the park? And with a boat, I could put in at a boat ramp just down at the next island, move into the protected waters of the state park, collect my legal limit, and go back to the boat ramp outside the state park and even FWC rangers would not question the fact that I was under the limit of legal collection (unless they saw me collecting in state park waters... and they do have rangers in the water with boats and jet skis). But the line needs to be drawn somewhere.

Your situation is different. You could put in somewhere outside the park, collect outside the park, bring your collection back into the park by car and then get in trouble when you try to leave. Although I've never heard of anybody being stopped when leaving the park, it could happen and the fines are STEEP!!!

If I were in your situation, I'd call Bahia Honda and explain your goals, if things look bad I see 3 options, 1) Enjoy camping at Bahia Honda and don't collect. 2) Drop camping at Bahia Honda and camp someplace other than a state park or a motel. 3) Stay at Bahia Honda and find some other place to 'stash' your collection. We always pick #2. Blackfin Resort is inexpensive for a Keys motel and it's pretty clean. They have a tiny beach where we can do water changes every day for the health of our collection. They have electricity so we can run bubblers, heaters (rooms at 70 degrees cool the water quickly when you use a bubbler) and run a small pump for more water movement. They even have outside outlets by the room we stay in so the 32 quart cooler that holds our collection can stay outside (we still use a heater as cool night air and a bubbler will still cool the water too much, too quickly).

I hope you guys have a wonderful time. Happy 30th to your husband. Even if you don't collect, you can have a blast just investigating under rocks and looking around in general. I hope you have the best of weather and good visibility. And plan ahead, if the weather is bad, have a few places you'd like to visit on land, like the History of Diving Museum or the Aquarium Adventure. Please take some photos and post them here! They don't have to be underwater shots, we see plenty of those already. And tell us a little about your adventure. We all learn when we hear stories of how things go for others.


__________________
The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. (Neil deGrasse Tyson)
Visit my build thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2593017

Last edited by Ron Reefman; 07/12/2016 at 06:04 AM.
Ron Reefman is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/12/2016, 07:13 AM   #263
G_Sanab922
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Keys
Posts: 1,392
I agree with both Sam and Ron. I wouldn't risk it, plus they have employees going around making sure everything is ok. If by chance they see it and inspect they can make a fuss about it.

It's funny how ron mentioned that you can fish but can't collect marine aquarium species. I asked FWC once for a list of prohibited collection of species in state parks. The list was detailed and very long lol.

http://myfwc.com/media/3812053/Quickchart.pdf
Basically anything not on this list is prohibited from collection in state parks.

Maybe when you leave you can stop somewhere and collect.

Bahia Honda is still great for just looking around. I took my wife for the first time the other day and it was great. I actually need to upload the video I got from my gopro. Found a nice big rock yards off the beach and full of life.


G_Sanab922 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/21/2016, 08:40 AM   #264
Dogshowgrl
Registered Member
 
Dogshowgrl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: North Central Florida
Posts: 298
We are enjoying our stay. Will post pics when we get home. We have only been around the park. We have been out little monie key but got stormed out without much luck of snorkeling. Any suggestions? (reading over this thread again) we are in kayaks so things close to land is a perk. We are not collecting until we are on the drive home. Thanks for the list of things for collection, I have a close relationship with the FWC website. We even stopped by FWC offices a couple times for clarification, which was a huge help! Definitely recommend doing that to us newbies.


Dogshowgrl is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/21/2016, 09:59 AM   #265
Ron Reefman
Registered Member
 
Ron Reefman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Cape Coral, FL
Posts: 10,431
Even when the conditions are not good, the Horseshoe can be worth visiting. It's the northeast end of Spanish Harbor Key which is just over the bridge south west from Bahia Honda. It's quite protected and you don't need the kayak. If you can free dive, the vertical walls inside the quarry about 12' down we found both white and red flame scallops and coral banded shrimp. Out near the opening of the quarry there are a lot of rocks on the sloping bottom and there can be a lot to see under them. The arms of the quarry make for fairly calm water. If the conditions are good, the other side of the road from the Horseshoe has some interesting spots as well. If you are in the Park, the little island a short 1/4 mile off the beach has some cool stuff on the side away from the channel.

If the weather is really bad, we have friends down there now and they said no snorkeling out at the main reef due to 4' seas. Consider the History of Diving Museum on Islamorada. Here is a link:
http://www.divingmuseum.org/

I really look forward to reading and seeing what you have to say when you get home.


__________________
The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. (Neil deGrasse Tyson)
Visit my build thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2593017
Ron Reefman is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/21/2016, 12:09 PM   #266
G_Sanab922
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Keys
Posts: 1,392
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dogshowgrl View Post
We are enjoying our stay. Will post pics when we get home. We have only been around the park. We have been out little monie key but got stormed out without much luck of snorkeling. Any suggestions? (reading over this thread again) we are in kayaks so things close to land is a perk. We are not collecting until we are on the drive home. Thanks for the list of things for collection, I have a close relationship with the FWC website. We even stopped by FWC offices a couple times for clarification, which was a huge help! Definitely recommend doing that to us newbies.
Thank you for doing your due diligence. It's appreciated. FWC also appreciates people who take the time to become familiar with laws and wildlife.


G_Sanab922 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/21/2016, 02:55 PM   #267
Dogshowgrl
Registered Member
 
Dogshowgrl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: North Central Florida
Posts: 298
Quote:
Originally Posted by G_Sanab922 View Post
Thank you for doing your due diligence. It's appreciated. FWC also appreciates people who take the time to become familiar with laws and wildlife.
I find that part of it fun. I have friends and family that are FWC that urge me to be familiar.


Dogshowgrl is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/21/2016, 07:22 PM   #268
AWD
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: USA
Posts: 66
I feel a little guilty passing on things that I haven't done but I've heard paddle boarding in key west is great. Sharks and rays are normal and for some reason standing up gives a more direct visibility into the water.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


AWD is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 07/27/2016, 05:24 AM   #269
Ron Reefman
Registered Member
 
Ron Reefman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Cape Coral, FL
Posts: 10,431
Me (and a couple of friends) are pulling together a snorkel & Camping trip to the Dry Tortugas and Ft Jefferson next April 26th & 27th, 2017. The date is fixed for a variety of reasons. Obviously this is a public charter and state park, so anybody is welcome to join the adventure. Want more details? I started a new thread here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2591649


__________________
The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. (Neil deGrasse Tyson)
Visit my build thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2593017
Ron Reefman is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 08/16/2016, 07:38 PM   #270
matt888
Registered Member
 
matt888's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Tampa, FL
Posts: 152
Great pics! It doesn't get much better than snorkeling down there in the Keys! I'm a freediving spearfishing enthusiast and enjoy the shallow snorkeling down there as much as the deep fishing myself.

Keep an eye out for Mythrax crabs... There are the green ones with red joints down there on the Atlantic side and Ruby red ones all over the Gulf side.

Over the past few yrs I've found alot of zoa variety, but for sure, those green ones are the most common. My wife and I have collected them for yrs and they all do quite well in the home aquariums. Better than some of the expensive store bought stuff at that! They have all multiplied for us. We are fortunate to have a place down there on Big Pine Key, so we get alot of opportunities to scout for stuff for the aquarium.

A few have brought up the concern of camping in state parks and how to handle livestock and follow the rules, etc. Staying in a hotel with "buckets" could be a little inconvenient and problematic with staff also. If you want to avoid all of that nonsense and collect your legal livestock, feel free to PM me about my 3/2 home on 50' of canal. Short boat ride to Looe Key or the backcountry. You would be surprised to see how inexpensive it is to rent a full house split between 2 or 3 couples!

Here's a few pics of zoas we have from down there and we also have Ricordia. The Rics are out deeper though in 30-45'.






__________________
40g Mixed Reef

210g SPS, 4 Seaswirls, 75g Sump, 3x400w Radiums (Taken Down)
_________________________________________
matt888 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 08/29/2016, 10:24 AM   #271
E.litvin
Registered Member
 
E.litvin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 57
Amazing thread this is everything I've ever looked for when it comes to a keys snorkeling guide. Great pictures thank you for sharing! Did you ever come across any rock flower anemones, i feel like those would be cool to see in the wild.


E.litvin is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 08/29/2016, 11:58 AM   #272
matt888
Registered Member
 
matt888's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Tampa, FL
Posts: 152
Quote:
Originally Posted by E.litvin View Post
Amazing thread this is everything I've ever looked for when it comes to a keys snorkeling guide. Great pictures thank you for sharing! Did you ever come across any rock flower anemones, i feel like those would be cool to see in the wild.
All you had to do was ask.

They are everywhere down there once you know the right habitat and depths. The hard part is removing them. They typically have their foot in cracks or holes on rock, making them difficult to retrieve. I try to find the sandy areas where they are less commonly found because they are much easier to get a flat blade under the foot for removal (before they shrink down into the center of the earth).




__________________
40g Mixed Reef

210g SPS, 4 Seaswirls, 75g Sump, 3x400w Radiums (Taken Down)
_________________________________________
matt888 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 08/31/2016, 01:14 AM   #273
Ron Reefman
Registered Member
 
Ron Reefman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Cape Coral, FL
Posts: 10,431
Quote:
Originally Posted by E.litvin View Post
Amazing thread this is everything I've ever looked for when it comes to a keys snorkeling guide. Great pictures thank you for sharing! Did you ever come across any rock flower anemones, i feel like those would be cool to see in the wild.
The really colorful ones tend to be in deeper water in my experience. A friend of mine in Miami finds the colorful ones on a reef that is 40 feet down and he claims they never see any other boats in the area when they dive there. But he won't tell me where it is. The ones we find snorkeling in the shallows near shore tend to be shades of black, white, gray with some green or tan thrown in. They have some very cool patterns, but not the crazy fluorescent colors found in the ones down 30 or 40 feet.

I know one very small island that is 1/4 mile off shore on the Florida Bay side that has a 1' to 2' vertical drop into the water and that wall is literally wallpapered with rock flower anemones. Nobody goes there because the water is only 2' deep for a 100 yards or more in every direction and the sea grass is really thick once you get 10' away from the island. So not many boaters are interested in going there.


__________________
The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. (Neil deGrasse Tyson)
Visit my build thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2593017
Ron Reefman is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 08/31/2016, 09:49 AM   #274
bhbell
Registered Member
 
bhbell's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Lake of the Ozarks, MO
Posts: 344
That would be a phenomenal picture.

Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk


bhbell is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 08/31/2016, 02:55 PM   #275
Ron Reefman
Registered Member
 
Ron Reefman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Cape Coral, FL
Posts: 10,431
Next time we go to that little island we'll work on getting one. I just looked and all the pics we have from there are close ups of rock flowers rather than a long shot. But part of the problem is the visibility in the water there is always shaky at best. It's shallow so waves stir it up and the bottom is sandy and the grasses near by hold a lot of muck that gets stirred up as well.


__________________
The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. (Neil deGrasse Tyson)
Visit my build thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2593017
Ron Reefman is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:17 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Powered by Searchlight © 2024 Axivo Inc.
Use of this web site is subject to the terms and conditions described in the user agreement.
Reef CentralTM Reef Central, LLC. Copyright ©1999-2022
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging v3.3.0 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.