Snorkeling On The Reef (Posted 11/18/2010)

Yesterday some new friends on the sailing catamaran "Kit" asked us and a couple from Canada to go out to the reef to snorkel. Since Linda and I are "Florida winter wimps" (and proud of it!), we were a little reluctant as we were sure the water would be too cold! But we decided to give it a try as we had never snorkeled on the coral reef in the 5 winters we have spent here and the Keys are known as the best diving areas and only coral reef in the continental U.S. Soo...I told them that I might be forced to just walk on top of the water if it was too cold, but that we would go.

It was a beautiful sunny day and we motored out Sister Creek to the Atlantic Ocean side of the island and about 4 miles out in the ocean to Sombrero Key lighthouse and the coral reef. The water was a gorgeous blue and we could clearly see the reef 20 feet below us. We tied up to a mooring bouy (you are not allowed to anchor on the reef and cause any damage to the coral so they provide moorings). We donned our snorkeling gear. We jumped in. Yikes, the water was a bit cold! I think it was only 79 degrees and our limit is 80 degrees. Of course, the other people were from Wisconsin and Canada so they thought it was warm!! I was OK, but Linda was a little colder.

However, it was so beautiful that we both forgot about the temperature of the water. The water was crystal clear, the bottom looked close and perfectly clear even though it was about 18 feet deep. There was an incredible variety of tropical coral reef fish, very colorful, and they swam around us, looked at us, and kept just a few inches from our hands so that we couldn't touch them. I saw one baracuda (at least I think it was a baracuda) and one of the other women told Linda after we were out of the water that she had seen a small shark. Fortunately, neither Linda or I saw the shark or I would certainly have "walked on water" with Linda running right behind me!!

We had lunch, enjoyed the beautiful day and stunningly blue water and then motored back to the harbor. We were glad they had asked us to go as we would never have even considered going in the water in November! It was Linda's first time snorkeling on a coral reef and I hadn't done it since I was in college in Hawaii 43 years ago!

Here is a photo of the group that I took (so I am not in this one):


Here is a photo of the Sombrero Key Lighthouse:


And here is a photo looking down into the water at the reef from the boat. The light blue is sand and the left side of the photo is the coral reef 15 to 20 feet below the surface of the water:


Since we didn't have an underwater camera, the only photo of a fish I have is one that swam near the surface next to the boat:


I want our northern friends and relatives to know that I am trying (unsuccessfully) not to type, "Hope you're having a beautiful warm Fall day!" (snicker, snicker, snicker)