Snorkeling & Collecting Discussion Group

[Paul B]

oh, can anyone find the urchin lol

 

[Reefer Reboot]

Bust one open and the fish can sure find it!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Bust one open and the fish can sure find it!

Are these Garibaldis? Where was this taken ?

 

[Reefer Reboot]

Are these Garibaldis? Where was this taken ?

Yes, Garibaldis from Deadman's Reef in Laguna Beach Ca.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yes, Garibaldis from Deadman's Reef in Laguna Beach Ca.

Havent seen these in years and get crazy large

 

[Reefer Reboot]

Havent seen these in years and get crazy large

Yep, they get large and they bite when protecting their nesting sites!

 

[Ron Reefman]

We were in the Florida Keys on a snorkel trip from Monday thru Thursday of last week. Monday we visited a tiny island we call Nem Key, which is just SW of Rachel Key and a bit more than a quarter mile off the north shore of Marathon. Things were pretty 'normal' there, but just a few feet away from the island, there was a lot of very thick and ugly algae. It was so thick that I managed to find 5 mostly white RFAs attached to the algae. There were lots of RFAs also tucked neatly into holes in the rocks that make up the vertical sides of the island and the floor of the Gulf that is near the island. Most were white, but there were a few that were a crazy neon bright light green! I would have loved to have collected one, but they were all very attached to the inside of holes in the solid rock. Tuesday and Wednesday stories to follow.
This is me pulling our anchor in closer to shallow water. You can see how small this island is and in the background that is Rachel Key to the left and Crane Point to the right.


The sides of the island drop 2 to 4 feet straight down into the water and the upper edge of the rocks are full of oysters!


There are some mangroves that have grown over the edge and we saw a big moray eel as it dashed away into the root system under water.


This is what the mangrove roots look like under water!


Some of the island edge is free of mangroves and it's easy to get right up to the rocks. Most of the way around the island the upper rocks at the surface, overhang the vertical drop of the rocky sides. There are quite a few RFAs here, but they are mostly all white with only a few exceptions.


Under the rocky overhang there are usually a few young lobsters that inhabit the bigger holes under the island.


We saw some white and some purple Condy anemones, but collecting these has been illegal for a few years now. Hopefully they will make a come back over the near future.


Here you can see 4 RFAs that are impossible to collect given how well they are attached into holes in the rock wall of the sides of the island. The green ones only made up about 2% of all the RFAs around the island. And I don't know if they would fluoresce, but I assume they would.


Here are 2 green ones that show different morphs. They look much more yellow in these photos than they did in person. To my eye they were a brilliant neon light green!


This is one of the RFAs I collected. As you can see, it's attached to the heavy algae that surrounds the island at the current time.

We didn't know at this point that this blanket of heavy algae was all over the shallows. On day 2 we went to Little Money Key, which is just a quarter mile out from the boat ramp at the SW end of the Seven Mile Bridge. This same heavy blanket of algae which was easily 3 to 5 inches thick was everywhere and smothering a lot of the life below.

We've seen this same kind of algae before and it has gone away and the life underneath it seems to survive. Photos of day 2 to follow.

 

[kzenoni]

We were in the Florida Keys on a snorkel trip from Monday thru Thursday of last week. Monday we visited a tiny island we call Nem Key, which is just SW of Rachel Key and a bit more than a quarter mile off the north shore of Marathon. Things were pretty 'normal' there, but just a few feet away from the island, there was a lot of very thick and ugly algae. It was so thick that I managed to find 5 mostly white RFAs attached to the algae. There were lots of RFAs also tucked neatly into holes in the rocks that make up the vertical sides of the island and the floor of the Gulf that is near the island. Most were white, but there were a few that were a crazy neon bright light green! I would have loved to have collected one, but they were all very attached to the inside of holes in the solid rock. Tuesday and Wednesday stories to follow.
This is me pulling our anchor in closer to shallow water. You can see how small this island is and in the background that is Rachel Key to the left and Crane Point to the right.


The sides of the island drop 2 to 4 feet straight down into the water and the upper edge of the rocks are full of oysters!


There are some mangroves that have grown over the edge and we saw a big moray eel as it dashed away into the root system under water.


This is what the mangrove roots look like under water!


Some of the island edge is free of mangroves and it's easy to get right up to the rocks. Most of the way around the island the upper rocks at the surface, overhang the vertical drop of the rocky sides. There are quite a few RFAs here, but they are mostly all white with only a few exceptions.


Under the rocky overhang there are usually a few young lobsters that inhabit the bigger holes under the island.


We saw some white and some purple Condy anemones, but collecting these has been illegal for a few years now. Hopefully they will make a come back over the near future.


Here you can see 4 RFAs that are impossible to collect given how well they are attached into holes in the rock wall of the sides of the island. The green ones only made up about 2% of all the RFAs around the island. And I don't know if they would fluoresce, but I assume they would.


Here are 2 green ones that show different morphs. They look much more yellow in these photos than they did in person. To my eye they were a brilliant neon light green!


This is one of the RFAs I collected. As you can see, it's attached to the heavy algae that surrounds the island at the current time.

We didn't know at this point that this blanket of heavy algae was all over the shallows. On day 2 we went to Little Money Key, which is just a quarter mile out from the boat ramp at the SW end of the Seven Mile Bridge. This same heavy blanket of algae which was easily 3 to 5 inches thick was everywhere and smothering a lot of the life below.

We've seen this same kind of algae before and it has gone away and the life underneath it seems to survive. Photos of day 2 to follow.

Heade there Friday for a week or more. Lol thanks for the info.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Heade there Friday for a week or more. Lol thanks for the info.

Will be there following Wednesday myself. Should be quite a bit of pics forthcoming

 

[kzenoni]

Will be there following Wednesday myself. Should be quite a bit of pics forthcoming

Have a great time I know we will lol

 

[vetteguy53081]

Have a great time I know we will lol

I see the heat is going north and will return to 90's by end of the week which is a blessing opposed to 109 average heat index the last 6 weeks.

 

[kzenoni]

I see the heat is going north and will return to 90's by end of the week which is a blessing opposed to 109 average heat index the last 6 weeks.

I will take it haha

 

[vetteguy53081]

drysuit picked up - ready to go down the depths with the sea life !!

 

[tripdad]

You may not need that suit. Waters around Florida are at near record highs. Have great time diving, hope you see lots of life.

 

[vetteguy53081]

You may not need that suit. Waters around Florida are at near record highs. Have great time diving, hope you see lots of life.

yes they are. This is for Hawaii where i will be going scuba diving

 

[Ron Reefman]

Day 2 of our Keys snorkel trip. We took the inflatable out to Little Money Key (just off the Florida Bay side of the SW end of the Seven Mile Bridge). This has long been one of our favorite spots to snorkel. The day's weather was predicted to be a bit iffy, especially in the afternoon. We snorkeled all morning but headed for the boat ramp when some dark clouds and rain started to get too close. We hung out at the ramp for about 30 minutes and the string of bad looking weather kept just passing by off to the NW. We decided that the conditions at Little Money were so bad that we gave up after 30 minutes and went home.

The visibility was quite bad given that the wind had been below 10mph for several days. Even worse, EVERYTHING at Little Money had a 3 to 6 inch cover of thick algae. We've seen it this way before, after the cold snap year were so many fish died. I just hope it recovers by the next trip.

Elaine saw a lobster and in the photo you can see how heavy the algae mat was that laid over everything!


There were some middle aged Queen Conch in the area, but not many big, full adults.


Elaine found an emerald crab. I've stopped collecting them as they only seem to survive in my tanks for 6 to 12 months.


The high spot of this visit was when I found a small octopus when I picked up a rock. And it hung around long enough for Elaine to swim over to me and get some photos.


This cowrie shell was empty and is now at home in our collection.


Elaine loves to take photos of fish. This one seems to be looking directly at her and saying something!


We usually see a lot of big fire worms under rocks out here, but not this visit. In fact, this was the only one we found.


Elaine and I both found a brittle star at the same time. This is the one she found. My was smaller and it's now in my 40g coral tank.


Here is a view of the island when we arrived in the morning.


We both got up into the mangrove growing right next to the dock which is very shallow water and just a bit spooky given lack of light, visibility and room to move.


Here is Littl Money as seen from the boat ramp as we watched the weather track by.

 

[kzenoni]

 

[vetteguy53081]

Was this the Keys? - we found an area on a private island today with conch about softball size - thought it was a hermit crab at first as they have what looks like a claw , also a ton of gulf rock with halameda and caulerpa, sponge and barnacles

 

[kzenoni]

Was this the Keys? - we found an area on a private island today with conch about softball size - thought it was a hermit crab at first as they have what looks like a claw , also a ton of gulf rock with halameda and caulerpa, sponge and barnacles

Yes it is, we are here for another 3 or 4 days. Finding a lot of the same things as you. Will be collecting Saturday. Did see lots of damsel and sgt. major. Found pistol shrimp, mantis shrimp, rock flowers, nems, various colored sponges. I do love snorkeling and rock flipping in the waters around this area.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yes it is, we are here for another 3 or 4 days. Finding a lot of the same things as you. Will be collecting Saturday. Did see lots of damsel and sgt. major. Found pistol shrimp, mantis shrimp, rock flowers, nems, various colored sponges. I do love snorkeling and rock flipping in the waters around this area.

Were finding Sargeant majores too as well as seeing a stingray about 2 foot round. We wanted to keep conch for the shell and were told we needed permits as fines start at $500 at the airport. If driving, you are clear
We are now aboard Carnival Conquest and can see fish and reef from the top of fish as water is so clear and this is a harbor !