A couple pictures

[stormscall]

I thought you guys might like looking a just a couple pictures from a diving trip I took a couple months ago. It was a few days after Ike so the water was not as great as it could have been.

Merry Christmas all!

 

[Mariner]

Nice pics! Where exactly were they taken?
I'm not into scuba, but love to snorkel!
Mariner

 

[stormscall]

I'm sorry. I thought I posted where I was at. We spent 4 days diving the Dry Tortugas. They are about 80 miles due west of Key West.

I have a ton of pics, but just picked a few and posted them. That last picture, the Blue Angel, was nearly 3 feet long. I had no idea they got that big. And there were a lot of Queen Angels even bigger.

 

[Abraxos]

I got certified to dive and then haven't been anywhere to do it since 95.
Great looking pics! Do you know if those "fan-like" corals can be kept in an aquarium. They would make a great centerpiece but I never see them in the hobby?

 

[Angel2626]

Nice pics!! I'm jealous!

 

[The0wn4g3]

I've no idea what that is the in second picture, but the third picture looks like a purple gorgonia

Maybe the second pic is just a really thick gorgonia? I doesn't look pretty awesome.

 

[Mariner]

Abraxos,
I believe I see several species of gorgonia in the pics (sea pens, sea fans, candelabra, etc.). Some can be very hard to keep, while others are virtually impossible to kill. Oddly, the few that are most typically sold in LFS are usually the more difficult ones.

Stormscall,
Thanks for the location. I googled it and it looks like a great place to snorkel too! Now if I can just talk my wife into it
FWIW,
Mariner

 

[H@rry]

A little less than two years ago Mary Ruth and I took the boat out from Key West. It's a day trip out to Fort Jefferson and we enjoyed it very much. We don't dive (wish we did) but the birds out there were very enjoyable. I even found a few land hermit crabs on the beach.

 

[brandon2432]

thanks for sharing the pics. I went snorkeling in the Virgin Islands. It was pretty awsome. I wanted some soveneirs for the tank but didnt wanna go to jail.

 

[stormscall]

I'm not sure about the snorkeling, I didn't pay a lot of attention to that at the time. But I am sure there are some great places. It was a great trip. One I will remember for a long time, but staying on a liveaboard ship for 4 days in the middle of the ocean, you can understand I was very happy when we pulled back into dock.

We dove in the sancuary the first day, then for the new 3 days we stayed just outside the sancuary. Most of the reefs I was on were 40-100 feet deep. I could write a book on all the cool corals and fish we saw. I hate to say this here, not sure of the reaction, but I am a big spearfisher as well. You can not fish inside the sancuary so thats why we didn't dive there past the fist day. I brought home a couple really nice grouper and a trophy Hogfish. I love reefs, coral and the fish, but I also like eating seafood so I had to bring home some.

I will post some more pictures tomorrow, I just wish I could post them a little bigger. You can't see the detail very well with them that small.

 

[Abraxos]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14004201#post14004201 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mariner
Abraxos,
I believe I see several species of gorgonia in the pics (sea pens, sea fans, candelabra, etc.). Some can be very hard to keep, while others are virtually impossible to kill. Oddly, the few that are most typically sold in LFS are usually the more difficult ones.

Stormscall,
Thanks for the location. I googled it and it looks like a great place to snorkel too! Now if I can just talk my wife into it
FWIW,
Mariner

Thanks. I have seen some Gorgonia but mostly the branch looking variety. That one would be awesome rising out the back of a batch of live rock. I sense many wives getting a speech on a snorkeling trip after people look at some of these shots.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

A friend of mine in Japan has been maintaining a number of non photosynthetic gorgonians and corals for over a year now. So obviously it's doable, although it may be difficult. I love her tank, but it makes me cringe to see her feeding her tank a few times a day with so much food, knowing that the tank is plumbed with her husband's SPS tank :eek2:.

Here's a video of her feeding the tank of gorgonians:

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[stormscall]

Here are a few more pictures. Enjoy.