Keys Dive Trip

[seafansar]

I went to the Keys last weekend with my dad and lucked out! The weather was perfect for going out in the boat. We stayed on Big Pine Key (near where we used to live when I was little) and dove, fished, snorkeled, and found some lobster. We saw a ton of reef fish and the bottom was beautiful. I took a bunch of pictures during the dives and some came out really good. I used an Olympus Stylus 1030 sw camera. Here are some of the pictures. Hope you enjoy!

Can you believe we were out on the ocean side?! It was glassy for two days.

The water was very clear too. This picture was taken from the boat and he's 23 feet down.

I was so excited when I found pearly jawfish! They were almost always in pairs with holes about 2ft apart. Found them at two dive sites.

Pretty damsel

There were butterflyfish everywhere! I think there were four different kinds.

Blue reef chromis

Baby blue tang

Only found this one staghorn, but it looked like it was doing good. Don't worry, I didn't frag it! It looked like someone broke it when they were lobstering.

 

[seafansar]

More pics!

Cute couple.

Fire coral. They definitely let you know if you've touched them! It burns!

 

[seafansar]

This sponge was beautiful! Bright purple. Looked so much better in person.

Grey angel

Rock beauty

Queen angel

 

[seafansar]

These guys were creepy! Very pale and they were all sitting sideways on the bottom.

That's the end of day one.

 

[reef dummy]

Awesome,awesome,awesome! I want to retire there. I can attest that fire corals will let you know when you touch one. Vinegar kind of helps.

 

[redsea reefer]

very nice pics, thanks for sharing...I'm jealous

 

[seafansar]

Awesome,awesome,awesome! I want to retire there. I can attest that fire corals will let you know when you touch one. Vinegar kind of helps.

Thanks! Yeah, I touched one with my leg, but it quit stinging by the time we got back to the boat.

very nice pics, thanks for sharing...I'm jealous

Thanks! We really lucked out with the weather!


I have more pictures of day 2 and 3. I'll post those soon.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Thanks for sharing, brings back lots of memories, I love diving the Keys.

I have dove in Islamorado, some of the pretties coral & fish I have every seen.

I started my 1st swt this year to help me live these memories. Will be watching for more pics

 

[sneaks03]

Love the pics, especially the ones of the Jawfish checking you out.

 

[BigAl07]

Amazing pics Thanks for taking the time to post them.

 

[seafansar]

Thanks! Having a reef tank sure makes you notice a lot more things on the reef and appreciate them more.

The jawfish were my favorite. Soooo cute!

 

[seafansar]

Pics from day two. We went on the Gulf side to find some lobster (got our limit in 3ft of water!). We saw about 5 sea turtles where we dove. It was weird, I don't know why there were so many there. And we saw a dolphin and tons on jellyfish (they hate me!). I'm still itching from the jellyfish.

The weather was still great!

My dad getting a lobster.

Barnacle blenny (I think). Found three of them. They were tiny.

This guy was huge! Like 5 ft long! You can sort of see it in the picture. It wouldn't let me get that close. Goliath groupers are really common out there.

Can you find the fish?

 

[seafansar]

Day three on the ocean side. Not as glassy, but the water wasn't too choppy.

My dad.

Me.

 

[seafansar]

Chalk basslet

 

[seafansar]

This coral was bright orange in person. Very pretty.

This was a cool fish. Looked like some sort of wrasse.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

I love the Christmas tree worms!!!

 

[DublD]

Awesome! I've always wanted to dive the keys.........thanks for the pix

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Having a reef tank sure makes you notice a lot more things on the reef and appreciate them more.

I have not gone diving since I got my swt, I always kind of over looked the smaller fish & sea life, I can't wait now to go again. Funny I have been diving for over 30 years & I have learned more about sea life in the last year since getting my swt, then in all the other years

Sara - thanks again for sharing !

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

If anyone gets the chance try diving the keys for sure... my wife snorkels...

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is the nation's first UNDERWATER park

The Pennekamp Page!

 

[seafansar]

I have not gone diving since I got my swt, I always kind of over looked the smaller fish & sea life, I can't wait now to go again. Funny I have been diving for over 30 years & I have learned more about sea life in the last year since getting my swt, then in all the other years

I did the same thing. We used to have a house on Big Pine Key and dove/snorkeled a lot at Looe Key. I never remembered paying much attention to the corals or inverts at all, other than flamingo tongues. I always liked looking for them on the sea fans. It's quite different and more fun for, me at least, when you know more about the stuff and what to look for.