posted by admin on Nov 7
Tons of life hanging out in the Sea Grass
Well, temperatures are dropping in Key West. Winter time is here but it doesn’t mean the snorkeling ends. Depending on the weather and your tolerance to cold, you may want to rent or use a wetsuit. Of course cold here is relative and it may be really warm compared to where you are from. Sometimes the wind blows more in winter and sometimes not, but if it is very windy most experienced snorkel operators will know where to take you. The sheltered areas of Casa Marina and Contrell Key will be popular when the wind blows.
When you are in the water remember to check out the grass as well as coral. The sea grass in Key West can actually be loaded with life.
posted by admin on Aug 30
Summer brings bath-like water temperatures in the mid to high eighties, even warmer in the inshore waters in front of Key West. These Key West snorkeling pictures were taken during the last days of August.
In general in summertime, the bigger fish on the reef head out to deeper cooler waters. The fish you can count on for always being there in droves are mangrove snappers, and all kinds of colorful ornamental fish. Here you can see colorful yellow grunts and mangrove snappers, and the ever-present angel fish.
Note the sand dollar, too. These beautiful specimens are sand-burrowing urchins who should be left alone, no matter how tempting a souvenir they make.
The triggerfish is very curious, but also very careful. As you can see, he’s keeping an eye on the photographer but trying to camoflouge himself behind a rock. We call him a Jersey-style triggerfish because he’s not like the gray triggerfish usually seen out on the reef in Key West. He’s more colorful and a bit smaller.
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Angel Fish
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Grunts
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Sand Dollar
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Jersey-style Triggerfish
posted by admin on Jun 14
Well the gulf side of Key West has been crystal clear and great for snorkeling. We have seen turtles, numerous types of fish, a curious nurse shark and many types of live coral. Water temperature has been in the high 80′s so you can forget about wearing a wetsuit. Honestly I will let the photos of our trip this week do the talking.
Read the rest of this entry »
posted by admin on Mar 28
Black grouper and an angelfish in the back ground
Well I guess our stretch of unusually cold winter weather is over, temperatures are up to 75 and the sun is starting to get hot ( so remember your sunscreen). Thew water is still cold enough to warrant a shorty wetsuit if you are going to be in the water any length of time. Water visibility has been variable, but has greatly improved this last week with 35-40 feet of visibility at Eastern Dry Rocks, Rock Key, and Sand Key light house.
posted by admin on Dec 20
[singlepic id=115 w=320 h=240 float=left]Well cold weather has become the norm in Key West, time to break out the wetsuits. The water never gets too cold to dive and snorkel here but it does get cold enough where a wetsuit will make you a lot more comfortable if you plan on staying in the water. With the light winds the past couple weeks we have been going out to the reef’s edge and even snorkeling over top some of the wrecks in front of Key West.
Some interesting things we have seen the past couple weeks; hogfish and gag grouper, both seen at the 9 foot stake. A giant antique anchor and other sea life. Water clarity has ranged from 30 feet to over a hundred. Read the rest of this entry »
posted by admin on Aug 3
The Alexander wreck is located on the gulf side west of Key West and is broken into two pieces. The wreck sits in 20-30 feet of water and is home to a large variety of sea life. The visibility can be very variable on this wreck. When we snorkeled it there was close to 20 feet of visibility which is considered good for this area.
The wreck was filled with lane snappers and although we looked inside we did not see any grouper or jewfish. Perhaps they are all the on the other piece of the wreck, we only explored one piece. It is rumored there is a 600 pound jewfish that lives in and around that wreck but we didn’t see him. There were huge schools of bait hovering over the wreck and spade fish, blue runners, parrot fish and cero mackerel swimming on and around it.
