![](FloridaKeys-001.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-002.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-003.jpg) |
Get seven good friends together at 5 am... Dave and Arlene, Lynn and Dave, John and Joan, and Jan (she took the pic)
| ...pack up the car...
| ...and take a picture of every state as you drive from Canada to Florida! (I got W. Virginia)
|
![](FloridaKeys-004.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-005.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-006.jpg) |
Our rental backed on to this canal...
| ...we lowered the boat, loaded our gear...
| ...and headed out to dive. It was awesome! (Except for the time we ran out out gas!!)
|
![](FloridaKeys-007.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-008.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-009.jpg) |
We passed a research station...
| ...saw a couple dolphins jump!... look close, my super telephoto lens caught the jump :-)
| and arrived at the dive site buoy, with another Keys diveboat..
|
![](FloridaKeys-010.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-011.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-012.jpg) |
A baracuda watches us do our backroll...
| Jan and Lynn check out the scenery...
| ...and look up to see a school of baracuda.
|
![](FloridaKeys-025.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-026.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-027.jpg) |
We look up and see our dive boat...
| ...and then see some other power boat zoom directly over us with prop spinning! (Fast shutter speed freezes the motion.)
| Jan says, "I can't believe how stupid some boaters are!"
|
![](FloridaKeys-028.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-029.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-030.jpg) |
A beautiful school of bluestriped and white grunts.
| Common and plentiful throughout the Keys...
| ...these are beautiful fish.
|
![](FloridaKeys-031.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-032.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-033.jpg) |
"We dove our brains out." :-)
| Boulder coral
| Soft coral with polyps extended.
|
![](FloridaKeys-034.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-035.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-036.jpg) |
Yellowtail parrotfish, initial phase
| Rock beauty
| Gray anglefish
|
![](FloridaKeys-037.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-038.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-039.jpg) |
Dave Steadman watches a midnight parrotfish...
| ...have a meal of chomping on coral.
| Beautiful soft coral seascape.
|
![](FloridaKeys-040.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-041.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-042.jpg) |
Beautiful underwater topography...
| ...of sand and coral.
| A giant apple?
|
![](FloridaKeys-043.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-044.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-045.jpg) |
Hogfish, young intermediate, at a cleaning station.
| Trunkfish
| Black grouper
|
![](FloridaKeys-046.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-047.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-048.jpg) |
Channel clinging crab. (Feeding)
| Silversides with a black margate in the background.
| Another school of bluestriped grunts.
|
Common snook
| Blue tang
| Spotted drum
|
![](FloridaKeys-073.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-074.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-075.jpg) |
Sargeant majors and grunts amidst elkhorn coral.
| Spiny lobster
| Black grouper
|
![](FloridaKeys-076.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-077.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-078.jpg) |
Something you don't see very often... a parrotfish with a sharksucker attached.
| ...another view of the sharksucker...
| and a bluehead shadow feeds.
|
![](FloridaKeys-079.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-080.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-081.jpg) |
A scorpion fish hides with its cameoflage.
| Beautiful bubbles
| We dove "Pickel Barrel Wreck". Carrying cement in pickel barrels, the concrete shapes are now a lasting memorial!
|
![](FloridaKeys-082.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-083.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-084.jpg) |
An open-heart surgery seems to have been interrupted.
| Elephant ear sponge. (Or is it cauliflower ear sponge?)
| A blind sea monster's head.
|
![](FloridaKeys-085.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-086.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-087.jpg) |
We find another parrotfish with a sharksucker.
| Another beautiful school of bluestripped grunts...
| ...up close.
|
![](FloridaKeys-088.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-089.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-090.jpg) |
The sargeant majors were frantic protecting their eggs.
| They definitely didn't like me getting this close.
| Spanish grunt
|
![](FloridaKeys-091.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-092.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-093.jpg) |
Another gorgeous seascape.
| Jan takes a picture.
| Tube sponges.
|
![](FloridaKeys-094.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-095.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-096.jpg) |
A nudibranch! This one is a red-tipped sea goddess.
| Moray eel
| Banded shrimp
|
![](FloridaKeys-097.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-098.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-099.jpg) |
Jan finds a little budda holding up a boulder coral!
| Bizarrly, it was gone the next time we dove this reef!
| Everyone loves finding a scorpion fish. This one wasn't exactly using his camouflage to best advantage!
|
![](FloridaKeys-100.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-101.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-102.jpg) |
Spanish hogfish
| Banded butterfly fish
| Porkfish
|
![](FloridaKeys-103.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-104.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-105.jpg) |
Leafy flat-blade alga
| Flamingo tongue (Gently touch the carapace and watch it withdraw back into the shell.)
| Loggerhead sponge
|
![](FloridaKeys-106.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-107.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-108.jpg) |
Beautiful school of bluestriped grunts.
| Beautiful school of tupe sponges.
| Beautiful school of schoolmasters.
|
![](FloridaKeys-109.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-110.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-111.jpg) |
Now he's got his camouflage working!
| Another parrot fish with a sharksucker! This one is sleeping. (night dive)
| Scorpion fish have such gorgeous pectoral fins.
|
![](FloridaKeys-112.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-113.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-114.jpg) |
Hawksbill turtle
| Yellowline arrow crab
| Channel clinging grab
|
![](FloridaKeys-115.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-116.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-117.jpg) |
Roughlip cardinalfish The Humann and DeLoach Fish ID book states: Abundance and Distribution: Occasional Bahamas, northwestern Caribbean. Not reported Florida or balance of Caribbean. "Hey, I'm reporting it!" (Or maybe this is just the common Flamefish [pale phase])
| This was the vis on the last day of our 10 day stay!
| Longspine squirelfish
|
![](FloridaKeys-118.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-119.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-120.jpg) |
Jan and I did a dive at the Jules Vern undersea lodge site.
| Exterior
| Interior
|
![](FloridaKeys-121.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-122.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-123.jpg) |
Transfer module
| Control room
| Someone's cute mailbox :-)
|
![](FloridaKeys-124.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-125.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-126.jpg) |
If you're in the Keys you gotta stop at the Pelican Sanctuary
| At feeding time, look out! It's every pelican for him/her self!
| If you've got the nerve, anyone is welcome to "toss out the grub!" Jan's got the nerve, and I'm happy to stay behind my camera. :-)
|
![](FloridaKeys-127.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-128.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-129.jpg) |
It was bird chaos!
| "burp"
| "Hey! Will you guys keep the noise down!"
|
![](FloridaKeys-130.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-131.jpg) |
![](FloridaKeys-132.jpg) |
At the end of our stay, my log book had reached 199 dives. I called this dive #200!
| "Come-on in, the water's great!"
| "What a great holiday!" (But we gotta go home.)
|