In the Ft. Myers area you have to get quite a ways from shore to see much in the line of invertebrates worth collecting (miles). If the water cooperates perfectly and you have a kayak or boat the closest I've ever been able to snorkel and actually see anything was about 3/4 of a mile off of Sanibel there is an artificial reef that I've snorkeled, but that was only for fish. Even living there and watching the water every day though I've only ever been able to get on that reef with enough vis twice is a few years because either the river is putting off to much sediment or the wind isn't cooperating and its stirring stuff up. Bunche Beach has some neat sponges and tunicates off the beach a ways, but not really anything you want to collect for an aquarium.
Snorkeling & Collecting Discussion Group
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In the Ft. Myers area you have to get quite a ways from shore to see much in the line of invertebrates worth collecting (miles). If the water cooperates perfectly and you have a kayak or boat the closest I've ever been able to snorkel and actually see anything was about 3/4 of a mile off of Sanibel there is an artificial reef that I've snorkeled, but that was only for fish. Even living there and watching the water every day though I've only ever been able to get on that reef with enough vis twice is a few years because either the river is putting off to much sediment or the wind isn't cooperating and its stirring stuff up. Bunche Beach has some neat sponges and tunicates off the beach a ways, but not really anything you want to collect for an aquarium.
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Ron Reefman
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Out at the big reefs that are about 5 miles off shore you can get a feel for the size of some corals compared to the scuba diver who was also on our charter. At Lighthouse Reef we saw a brain coral that was bigger than a VW bus!
The water here is about 20 feet deep and the reef is covered with corals.
A big brain coral out at the big reef.
There are some great spots that get a great mix of corals.
Here is a typical multiple sea fans display from the big off shore reef.
A nice stand of elk-horn coral out at Looe Key which is about 5 miles southwest of Bahia Honda State Park and it only just breaks the waters surface in a couple of small spots at extreme low tide.
Coming up next is the other side of snorkeling... the shallows off the beach.
The water here is about 20 feet deep and the reef is covered with corals.
A big brain coral out at the big reef.
There are some great spots that get a great mix of corals.
Here is a typical multiple sea fans display from the big off shore reef.
A nice stand of elk-horn coral out at Looe Key which is about 5 miles southwest of Bahia Honda State Park and it only just breaks the waters surface in a couple of small spots at extreme low tide.
Coming up next is the other side of snorkeling... the shallows off the beach.
Out at the big reefs that are about 5 miles off shore you can get a feel for the size of some corals compared to the scuba diver who was also on our charter. At Lighthouse Reef we saw a brain coral that was bigger than a VW bus!
The water here is about 20 feet deep and the reef is covered with corals.
A big brain coral out at the big reef.
There are some great spots that get a great mix of corals.
Here is a typical multiple sea fans display from the big off shore reef.
A nice stand of elk-horn coral out at Looe Key which is about 5 miles southwest of Bahia Honda State Park and it only just breaks the waters surface in a couple of small spots at extreme low tide.
Coming up next is the other side of snorkeling... the shallows off the beach.
Hey Ron,
Looks great! Would you recommend the charter you went out with? I’m hoping to drive down for a dive or two this year
Peter Clark
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Beautiful shots! By Lighthouse Reef, I assume you mean Sombrero Lighthouse? One of my personal favorites from when I lived in Marathon. I think that Elk Horn Coral at Looe Key I have photos of too from years ago. Ahh the memories. I need to get back. Maybe this summer my wife and I can drive down.
Ds04384, there are many great dive shops down there. I would first pick the area you want to dive and then find a good shop that dives there. Key West to Key Largo is 100 miles. I lived in Marathon 6 years ago and was last there about 2-3 years ago, so my info is a bit dated. I am embarrassed to admit I have never been diving in Key Largo (bad weather the few times I tried). Islamorada has ok diving, but not great. The only shop there I used was Holiday Isle Dive Shop, and they were only ok. The Marathon area is what I know best. I highly recommend Tilden's dive shop. Fantastic staff and they go to the Sombrero Lighthouse which is the best in the Middle Keys. I often found myself using Dive Duck Key for smaller local sites since they were owned by the same person as Tilden's and I lived a little closer to it, but Tilden's had the better sites. I tried a few other shops in Marathon, and while they were good I didn't like them as much. Further south, the only time I went to Looe Key was with Looe Key Dive Shop. That reef was one of the best I saw in the Keys so I highly recommend it. Closer to Key West I wouldn't consider. There is a big wreck dive there, but not much reef so I never bothered. If you are staying in Key West, go to Looe Key. If you are in Marathon, lots off there. And if you are in Key Largo, Pennekamp is right there.
Ds04384, there are many great dive shops down there. I would first pick the area you want to dive and then find a good shop that dives there. Key West to Key Largo is 100 miles. I lived in Marathon 6 years ago and was last there about 2-3 years ago, so my info is a bit dated. I am embarrassed to admit I have never been diving in Key Largo (bad weather the few times I tried). Islamorada has ok diving, but not great. The only shop there I used was Holiday Isle Dive Shop, and they were only ok. The Marathon area is what I know best. I highly recommend Tilden's dive shop. Fantastic staff and they go to the Sombrero Lighthouse which is the best in the Middle Keys. I often found myself using Dive Duck Key for smaller local sites since they were owned by the same person as Tilden's and I lived a little closer to it, but Tilden's had the better sites. I tried a few other shops in Marathon, and while they were good I didn't like them as much. Further south, the only time I went to Looe Key was with Looe Key Dive Shop. That reef was one of the best I saw in the Keys so I highly recommend it. Closer to Key West I wouldn't consider. There is a big wreck dive there, but not much reef so I never bothered. If you are staying in Key West, go to Looe Key. If you are in Marathon, lots off there. And if you are in Key Largo, Pennekamp is right there.
Peter Clark
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I don't have access to all my files currently since I'm at work, but here is the Elkhorn I saw at Looe Key. Sorry for all the watermarks.
Peter Clark
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Just got to my original files. Looks like there were several nice Elkhorn heads at Looe Key. Ahh how I miss it!
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Peter said exactly what I would have said. I don't dive, so I'm not a good source for info. But we always stay at the Blackfin Motel & Resort in Marathon. It's a nice, clean mom & pop kind of motel. They have a small marina and Tiden's is right next door and keeps their dive boats in the same little marina. Some of the people in our local club do dive and they seem to like Tilden's just fine.
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OK, lets look at some easy off the beach snorkeling. At Bahia Honda State Park in 3 feet of water there are gorgonians everywhere!
This spiny gorgonian is a bit less common where we snorkel in the Middle Keys.
A common stony coral found all over in the Keys. These can get a big as a softball. I believe they are also non-photosynthetic so not a great aquarium coral, but then it's a stony coral so totally illegal to collect. Let FWC find you with one small sample and you're looking at a HUGE fine and you don't get to keep the coral!
This gorgonian is 4 feet tall and the base is several inches in diameter and it's growing in 5 to 6 feet of water depending on the tides. It was about 200 yards off the beach at Bahia Honda.
Here you can see a nice size stony coral colony in about 4 feet of water and only 200 feet off the beach at Bahia Honda State Park. We've seen this same colony every 2 or 3 years and are always happy to see it's still there and still doing well.
Next I'll find some photos from another off the beach site that is a little harder to get to.
This spiny gorgonian is a bit less common where we snorkel in the Middle Keys.
A common stony coral found all over in the Keys. These can get a big as a softball. I believe they are also non-photosynthetic so not a great aquarium coral, but then it's a stony coral so totally illegal to collect. Let FWC find you with one small sample and you're looking at a HUGE fine and you don't get to keep the coral!
This gorgonian is 4 feet tall and the base is several inches in diameter and it's growing in 5 to 6 feet of water depending on the tides. It was about 200 yards off the beach at Bahia Honda.
Here you can see a nice size stony coral colony in about 4 feet of water and only 200 feet off the beach at Bahia Honda State Park. We've seen this same colony every 2 or 3 years and are always happy to see it's still there and still doing well.
Next I'll find some photos from another off the beach site that is a little harder to get to.
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So lets move on to Little Money Key. It's just off the north side (Florida Bay) at the west end of the Seven Mile Bridge. There is one house on the island and it has a dock facing the northeast. The island was hit very hard by Hurricane Irma but when we snorkeled there last summer, 8 months after Irma, everything underwater looked fairly normal except for one thing. We had been seeing a year by year growth, over 6 years, of Queen Conchs in the area. The summer after Irma about 90% of the mature Queen Conchs were dead and we only saw a handful of juveniles.
Here is a close up of the bottom that is covered in small finger shaped stony corals, some turtle grass, some sponges and even some green zoas we named Little Money zoas.
Just off the north and east sides of Little Money Key in 1 to 3 feet of water there are several acres where the bottom is covered with corals algae and lots of small critters . This has become one of our 'go to' spots when the weather is good. We have spent entire days here more than a few times. In fact, if you pick up a small chunk of the stony branching coral (it's all loose on the bottom), the odds are you will also get an emerald crab. And if you're lucky maybe a serpent star.
I was crazy about this colony of Maze Brain coral and I hated leaving it just sitting on the ocean floor in just 3 feet of water and not 30 feet from the beach My concern was that it would likely get rolled over and die. Back when this photo was taken I had a 65g shallow tank that I was keeping locally collected livestock in. I wanted so badly to just take this entire rock, but I didn't. There is enough other 'stuff' out there that I could collect that not taking stony corals or live rock isn't a big issue for me.
Some of the yellow porites coral is very attractive. And as it's just laying on the sea floor with the turtle grass and sponges, half of it is just dead skeletons, a lot of it is alive and tan, but a few are bolder looking yellow.
This small stony coral is known locally as Rose coral. It's usually fairly colorless and I believe it non-photosynthetic. The underside of the coral is shaped like a slightly flattened cone and ends at the bottom with something that looks like a fine twig. The biggest one I've ever seen was about 6" in diameter and growing out the side of a big black ball sponge.
Then one day I found this one in yellow and it was all I could do to resist it. But I believe it's not photosynthetic (not 100% sure about that) and I was told by a licensed wholesale collector that they don't survive in reef tanks very well. BTW, some wholesale collectors are allowed to collect some stony corals. But that is a much different license than mine... and I believe costs more and is hard to obtain!
More shallow water corals coming soon.
Here is a close up of the bottom that is covered in small finger shaped stony corals, some turtle grass, some sponges and even some green zoas we named Little Money zoas.
Just off the north and east sides of Little Money Key in 1 to 3 feet of water there are several acres where the bottom is covered with corals algae and lots of small critters . This has become one of our 'go to' spots when the weather is good. We have spent entire days here more than a few times. In fact, if you pick up a small chunk of the stony branching coral (it's all loose on the bottom), the odds are you will also get an emerald crab. And if you're lucky maybe a serpent star.
I was crazy about this colony of Maze Brain coral and I hated leaving it just sitting on the ocean floor in just 3 feet of water and not 30 feet from the beach My concern was that it would likely get rolled over and die. Back when this photo was taken I had a 65g shallow tank that I was keeping locally collected livestock in. I wanted so badly to just take this entire rock, but I didn't. There is enough other 'stuff' out there that I could collect that not taking stony corals or live rock isn't a big issue for me.
Some of the yellow porites coral is very attractive. And as it's just laying on the sea floor with the turtle grass and sponges, half of it is just dead skeletons, a lot of it is alive and tan, but a few are bolder looking yellow.
This small stony coral is known locally as Rose coral. It's usually fairly colorless and I believe it non-photosynthetic. The underside of the coral is shaped like a slightly flattened cone and ends at the bottom with something that looks like a fine twig. The biggest one I've ever seen was about 6" in diameter and growing out the side of a big black ball sponge.
Then one day I found this one in yellow and it was all I could do to resist it. But I believe it's not photosynthetic (not 100% sure about that) and I was told by a licensed wholesale collector that they don't survive in reef tanks very well. BTW, some wholesale collectors are allowed to collect some stony corals. But that is a much different license than mine... and I believe costs more and is hard to obtain!
More shallow water corals coming soon.
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Hello AiKkz in Naples! 18 years ago I lived in North Naples near Wiggins Pass State Park and until just now, I had never even heard of Clam Pass Park! Thank you for that information! Googling it showed me a nice video. It looks a bit like a variation on Lovers Key State Park, just south of Ft Myers Beach.
So what can you tell us about the barge? At 5 miles out, who deep is it? Remember, I'm not a diver, just a snorkeler, so if it's more than 15' deep, there probably isn't much there for me to see. But any divers who are reading this may be interested. So what can you share?
AiKkz
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It's about 25 to 30 feet deep. Not alot of corals, but tons of fish. For example snook, redfish, red and gag grouper, tons of snapper and baitfish. If you swim like 20 yards west there's also a couple really nice ledges.
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There are areas just north of the Horseshoe (across the boat channel) that have lots of this branching coraline algae. There is so much covering the seafloor you'd think it would be easy to keep in an aquarium, but I've collected some and found it's really quite difficult!
Occasionally we find some brown palys, but they seem to like dirty water. We find these under the dock at Little Money Key where the pelicans and Comorans congregate. The dock is white with bird poop which washes into the water under the dock when it rains.
I find it interesting that at Money Key the green zoas seem to love living with sponges (or vice versa). While out at Money Key, just half a mile away they grow in big sheets on flat rocks! Here are money zoas close up growing on a sponge that is over growing a stony finger coral.
Out at Money Key just half a mile away, the same green zoas cover huge rocks almost like a carpet. Since these are soft corals we're allowed to collect 5 polyps per person per day. After putting a group of 5 polyps up high in my DT at home the green wagon wheel look of the face morphs into a pretty sky blue color.
Sometimes we find some of this stony coral growing among the rubble. But it's not very common.
A group of golf ball stony coral growing attached to the rocky bottom. Sometimes we find this growing as a ball that isn't attached to anything and just rolls around on the bottom and sometimes it grows like a big hump attached to the hard bottom.
Occasionally we find some brown palys, but they seem to like dirty water. We find these under the dock at Little Money Key where the pelicans and Comorans congregate. The dock is white with bird poop which washes into the water under the dock when it rains.
I find it interesting that at Money Key the green zoas seem to love living with sponges (or vice versa). While out at Money Key, just half a mile away they grow in big sheets on flat rocks! Here are money zoas close up growing on a sponge that is over growing a stony finger coral.
Out at Money Key just half a mile away, the same green zoas cover huge rocks almost like a carpet. Since these are soft corals we're allowed to collect 5 polyps per person per day. After putting a group of 5 polyps up high in my DT at home the green wagon wheel look of the face morphs into a pretty sky blue color.
Sometimes we find some of this stony coral growing among the rubble. But it's not very common.
A group of golf ball stony coral growing attached to the rocky bottom. Sometimes we find this growing as a ball that isn't attached to anything and just rolls around on the bottom and sometimes it grows like a big hump attached to the hard bottom.
AiKkz
Hard work beats talent every time
There are areas just north of the Horseshoe (across the boat channel) that have lots of this branching coraline algae. There is so much covering the seafloor you'd think it would be easy to keep in an aquarium, but I've collected some and found it's really quite difficult!
Occasionally we find some brown palys, but they seem to like dirty water. We find these under the dock at Little Money Key where the pelicans and Comorans congregate. The dock is white with bird poop which washes into the water under the dock when it rains.
I find it interesting that at Money Key the green zoas seem to love living with sponges (or vice versa). While out at Money Key, just half a mile away they grow in big sheets on flat rocks! Here are money zoas close up growing on a sponge that is over growing a stony finger coral.
Out at Money Key just half a mile away, the same green zoas cover huge rocks almost like a carpet. Since these are soft corals we're allowed to collect 5 polyps per person per day. After putting a group of 5 polyps up high in my DT at home the green wagon wheel look of the face morphs into a pretty sky blue color.
Sometimes we find some of this stony coral growing among the rubble. But it's not very common.
A group of golf ball stony coral growing attached to the rocky bottom. Sometimes we find this growing as a ball that isn't attached to anything and just rolls around on the bottom and sometimes it grows like a big hump attached to the hard bottom.
That's so awesome, I want me some wild zoas
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AiKkz, if you want to see wild collected zoas, come on up to Cape Coral and you can see mine. Or, join the SouthWest Florida Marine Aquarium Society at SWFMAS.com and come along on our June field trip to the Keys.
AiKkz
Hard work beats talent every time
I'm down on marco,so that's a long drive!! If swfmas was closer I would definitely join..
Decided to check out the beach this morning up here in pinellas county and there was more stuff around than normal. A few big sponges that I don’t see too often up here
And several large gorgonians with interesting critters growing on them
Any idea what that is in the last pic? At first I thought it was a really unhappy anemone all closed up tight but I’m not sure
And several large gorgonians with interesting critters growing on them
Any idea what that is in the last pic? At first I thought it was a really unhappy anemone all closed up tight but I’m not sure
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Thanks for this post. I haven't seen a sponge wash up yet this winter down here. And that's where I find the porcelain crabs and pistol shrimp. But it's the soft orange sponges mostly.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think that last photo is a distant relative of the Flamingo Tongue snail. I think it's a Single-Tooth Simnia also known as a Simnia uniplicata. They only feed on gorgonians and the purple you see in the mantle, not the shell. The shell is off white. And this guy can change color depending on the color of the gorgonian it is eating! I've seen a few on purple gorgonians I've found on the beach down here. But it's super easy to miss them because they are thin and blend in so well. As opposed to a Flamingo Tongue which is super colorful (mantle) that says 'don't eat me'!
Here is a Flamingo Tongue my wife photographed in the Keys.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think that last photo is a distant relative of the Flamingo Tongue snail. I think it's a Single-Tooth Simnia also known as a Simnia uniplicata. They only feed on gorgonians and the purple you see in the mantle, not the shell. The shell is off white. And this guy can change color depending on the color of the gorgonian it is eating! I've seen a few on purple gorgonians I've found on the beach down here. But it's super easy to miss them because they are thin and blend in so well. As opposed to a Flamingo Tongue which is super colorful (mantle) that says 'don't eat me'!
Here is a Flamingo Tongue my wife photographed in the Keys.
Js.Aqua.Project
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@Ron Reefman what camera are you using for these photos?
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My wife and I both use Olympus Tough 1 cameras for snorkeling. They are good to 35 feet or more and they have a bigger lens opening, 2.0 f, than the other tough cameras. That mean on sunny days you get a pretty quick shutter.
I also use it to take photos in our reef tank at home. In fact I just took this one of our Rock Flower Anemone kids this morning!
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