Florida Keys snorkeling locations

[Ron Reefman]

Weather forecasting is a joke. They're lucky if they can get today and tomorrow right, let alone try for a week or more out. Although in south Florida during the summer it's pretty accurate. Mostly sunny in the morning, 30% to 50% chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon, clearing overnight with highs in the low 90's and lows in the high 70's. That works out pretty close about 5 days out of 7 from June through September and into October.

Well, we will be there in about 2 weeks. We hope to do a lot of near and just off shore snorkeling this trip. If we get a calm day I'm hoping I can get Elaine to go out to Molasses Key (along side the Seven Mile Bridge) about 2.5 miles from the boat ramp. She isn't real keen on getting too far from shore in an 11' inflatable. Or at least out to Money Key which is just a mile off shore.

The other place I want to hit is Little Money Key. For years we've always had good snorkeling out off the southwest to northeast sides of the island. But the last visit there in 2015 the coral flats were loaded with a 'scummy' balls of algae that was growing over everything. The previous year, 2014, we saw more queen conchs than ever before. But last year we found mostly empty conch shells. Everything seemed to be having a hard time, stoney corals, zoas, sponges, macro algae, everything.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Heading to Marathon on Tuesday. I'll try to post some pics during the week while we are there.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Back from the Keys last night and now I finally have all my new critters moved to various tanks.

Wednesday was windy, 10 to 15 mph and at Bahia Honda the visibility was really bad on the ocean side. We took the Zodiac out and did a trip around the island. Visibility and waves were much better on the lee side of the island (Florida Bay side). But there is very little back there that is worth getting out of the boat to see, mostly just grassy flats and a very few sponges. We did snorkel just outside of the Bahia Honda marina exit, on the side opposite the swimming area. There are gorgonians, sponges and a few other things to see. Since we had paid to get in and launch the Zodiac, we figured we'd get all we could out of the day.

Thursday winds were only 5 mph and visibility was about all you could hope for close to shore. We launched right at the southwest end of the Seven Mile Bridge and went out to Money Key (Oceanside of the bridge about a mile from shore). We spent a couple of hours looking around on the bridge side of the island. It's pretty lean at the north east end, but as you get near the southwest end things get a lot better.

This is the view looking southwest, away from the bridge where we found snorkeling to be just short of spectacular for what we like to do. The water was 2' deep and we were about 20' to 50' off the island.




There were a few rocks with some nice stony corals like this Brain Maze.






Another rock had my attention because it was good size and that often means potential for cool stuff underneath. As I got close I saw this stony coral on the side that was facing away from me as I approached.






I tipped the rock up and what a treasure trove of cool critters all together under one rock. There were 3 or 4 big fire worms (one was about 12" long), 3 or 4 sea cucumbers of different colors, 5 or 6 brittle stars (some big, some small), several spaghetti worms attached to the underside of the rock, more emerald crabs than I could count as they all scurried off instantly. Ay the side of the rock facing away from me there was an Atlantic Deer Cowrie that my wife spotted as I was setting the rock back down. Here are some pics.

The big view as I picked up the rock.




Fire worms and brittle stars living together along with sea cucumbers.

 

[Ron Reefman]

The cowrie had it's mantle out completely covering it's shell and it makes for a very strange looking sight.




I played with it a bit and it pulled in the mantle and exposed a beautiful glossy shell.




And just for fun we tried to get a picture of the cowrie's face. It's upside down in my hands, but you get the idea.




On our way back to the boat we found this sea cucumber in a grassy flat all off on it's own. Probably one of the biggest and coolest looking ones I've seen.




I'm just trying to figure out if I should put it in our 180g mixed reef or our 65g shallow reef? :lolspin: Just kidding!

 

[Ron Reefman]

We don't see many long spine urchins in near shore where we tend to snorkel. But we did see one at Money Key.




And hiding under the rocks right next to it was a huge crab. It appears to have very little or no claws and I didn't bother trying to get it out of it's home to find out. And I find some crabs as 'cute', like Porcelain crabs and Emerald crabs, but this guy looked like the over sized dumb guy in a cartoon show.




We also saw some small lobsters in the same area.




BTW, we saw several good size feather dusters that were in corals. They aren't Christmas Tree feather dusters, but they were living like them. I'd love to collect a few and bring them home, but like most rock flower anemones, they set up their home in a deep hole and can retreat in so far there is no prayer of getting them out alive.




Elaine has such good eyes for seeing things in the water. That's why she takes the photos. I never got to see this stone fish. And in glancing through the almost 500 photos she took, I almost skipped right past this one because I didn't see anything.




Elaine seems to find other animals that tend to hide well. she found a several sea urchins that were pretty well camouflaged. I've seen some carrying a lot of shells and stuff, but this guy was carrying an entire eco-system!




After a couple of hours we got back in the boat and moved over to Little Money Key. We really enjoy hanging out in the boat, having lunch and rehydrating. It's fairly quiet, although the traffic on the bridge does provide some background noise, it's far enough away that it's kind of strange. Here we are floating over a shallow reef flat just off a small island, the water is calm and soothing and the world seems kind of far away. Yet just 1/4 mile away there is the hussle and bussle of daily life passing by on the bridge. It reminds me of how lucky we are to be able to enjoy these sights that inspire us to keep glass boxes of ocean at home too. Relaxing at home in front of the tank is very cool, but out on the water, surrounded by it... it's like visiting an alien world.

 

[sam.basye]

You're killing me Ron...

Stop posting these pictures... They make me want to take a trip to the keys! Take me with you


If your personal photographer has any more pics, don't be skimpy on the sharing! What kind of camera doe she use? They are great quality.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Sam, I'm retired so all you have to do is let me know when you want to meet up in the Keys (or I meet you at the Miami airport... or the Ft Myers airport... fly Allegiant, it's cheap!). LOL! BTW, the water was 77/78 degrees this trip and I wore a dive skin and a 3/2mm wetsuit and it was just enough, especially if we stayed in the shallower, warmer water.

Elaine takes a lot of photos, nearly 500 in the water on Thursday. Many are worthless, many are OK and some are pretty darn good. We/she uses an Olympus TG-1. I gave it to her as a Christmas present so she could have fun taking pictures (which I enjoy) and I can do critter collecting). It was their first 'tough' camera introduced a few years ago and has been improved some since then. It's got the biggest lens opening of all the tough cameras so it has the smallest f/stop which means it the lower light underwater, it will shot the fastest shutter speed. It has worked flawlessly for us.

Now I do use Photoshop and do the 'auto correct' feature because the camera sees the water as way to green and 'flat'. Auto correct makes the photos look like what we see with the naked eye.

And Elaine says 'thank you' for the compliment about her photos. I admit, she has a better eye for finding stuff and for being creative with the camera.

 

[Ron Reefman]

So Thursday after lunch, Elaine was chilly and stayed in the boat to warm up more in the sun. Besides, the last time we snorkeled Little Money Key it was awful! Everything was covered in a slimy algae bloom and everything was dying. We could tell from the boat that things were better, but we couldn't tell how much better. I did an hour snorkel and then convinced Elaine it was too good to past up, so she joined me and we did another hour.

This is me just after lunch sitting in the boat with Little Money Key in the background. The island isn't more than about 100 yards in diameter and 5' above sea level, but there is a very rustic house on the island and it's their dock you see behind me. BTW, the top of the dock is VERY white as it's completely covered in poop from the sea birds that hang out there! Uck!




The bottom here is a wide mix of textures. There are open sandy areas, some deeper sections (3' to 4' deep) have lots of big sponges. I like the real shallows that are just 2' to 3' deep. And this is a typical view of the bottom in that close to the island. Look closely at the next photo and you can see loose 'finger' coral and 'golf ball' coral, both are non-photosynthetic corals and illegal to collect as they are both stony. There is turtle grass, lots and lots of smaller, colorful sponges, some loose rocks with emerald crabs, serpent and brittle stars, fire worms, spaghetti worms and sea cucumbers... oh and quite a few mantis shrimp. But they are all small (1" to 3" long) and the move super fast when you uncover them. If you look very carefully and closely you can see some Little Money Zoas and there are also some Cinnamon Palys.




This is typical of the small rocks or finger corals you can pick up.



Here is a better look at the Little Money Zoas. They like to grow on sponges and dead finger coral. Most are some shade of green and many have kind of a wagon wheel spoke look to them. They are kind of a cross between a zoa and a paly as they are small heads like a zoa, but they can have long stems like a paly.




And if you are REALLY lucky, you can find some that are sky blue. Elaine took this photo and I never got to see them live or 10 of them would be in my frag tank now. BTW, the limit on soft corals (except Gorgonians) is 5 polyps per person per day, so Elaine and I could take 10 heads. But I didn't see them... arrrrgh!!!




Elaine loves big conchs and last spring we saw quite a few here. But in the late summer with the algae bloom we found lots of dead ones. It was a very pleasant surprise that in a 200' x 200' area we snorkeled, we saw 15 to 20 Queen conch. So Elaine got this close up of the conch looking out from under the tip of it's shell.




And as she watched it started to feed. I'm not sure what this protrusion is called? I didn't even know Queen conch had them. To me, it's kind of like the trunk of an elephant or the proboscis of a butterfly.

 

[ace_92101]

Kudos To your wife for the pics.

 

[AWD]

Florida Keys snorkeling locations

Great pictures and information. Thank you!!

What kind of camera are you using?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ron Reefman]

Great pictures and information. Thank you!!

What kind of camera are you using?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My wife says"Thank you."

We love the fact that we can tow our little Zodiac down to the Keys behind our Scion xB and have so much fun playing in a giant aquarium. I started this thread because I want to share. I want anybody who ever considers a trip to the Keys and might think about a simple snorkeling day, that it can be done and there is a lot to see. You really don't need a boat, snorkeling off the beach at Bahia Honda State Park is excellent and if you want to do a little collecting, just a couple miles down the road and you are at Spanish Harbor Key and the 'Horseshoe' on the Florida Bay side is also very good. We've been so many times that we got the boat so we can get out to other places.

She uses an Olympus TG-1. I gave it to her as a Christmas present so she could have fun taking pictures (which we both enjoy) and I can do critter collecting (which I enjoy). It was their first 'tough' camera introduced a few years ago and has been improved some since then. It's got the biggest lens opening of all the tough cameras so it has the smallest f/stop which means in the lower light underwater, it will shoot the fastest shutter speed. If I remember right, it's good to 35 or 45 feet. It has worked flawlessly for us and has been in the water probably 100 times or more.

 

[sam.basye]

Sam, I'm retired so all you have to do is let me know when you want to meet up in the Keys (or I meet you at the Miami airport... or the Ft Myers airport... fly Allegiant, it's cheap!). LOL! BTW, the water was 77/78 degrees this trip and I wore a dive skin and a 3/2mm wetsuit and it was just enough, especially if we stayed in the shallower, warmer water.

Elaine takes a lot of photos, nearly 500 in the water on Thursday. Many are worthless, many are OK and some are pretty darn good. We/she uses an Olympus TG-1. I gave it to her as a Christmas present so she could have fun taking pictures (which I enjoy) and I can do critter collecting). It was their first 'tough' camera introduced a few years ago and has been improved some since then. It's got the biggest lens opening of all the tough cameras so it has the smallest f/stop which means it the lower light underwater, it will shot the fastest shutter speed. It has worked flawlessly for us.

Now I do use Photoshop and do the 'auto correct' feature because the camera sees the water as way to green and 'flat'. Auto correct makes the photos look like what we see with the naked eye.

And Elaine says 'thank you' for the compliment about her photos. I admit, she has a better eye for finding stuff and for being creative with the camera.

Hmmm, I wonder how mad my wife would be if I said I was in Florida when she gets off work tomorrow... Lol

Where do you usually stay when you head down?


The water there is warmer than it was here in Virginia today; 62° ugh!


Do you ever attempt to catch any fish: for your tanks?
I made a barrier net and it was quite effective the one time I got to use it in the keys.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I know what you mean. My wife still works and she is going back today after a week off. She'd be p'off if I left to go back to the Keys.

Does your wife snorkel?

We have been staying at a mom & pop motel 'resort' called Blackfin in Marathon. It's not fancy and maybe not even quite up to Holiday Inn standards, but very close. It's clean, an efficiency room with a stove, mini fridge, microwave, coffee maker and minimal utensils is only about $120/night. Regular motel rooms are less expensive. They have a pool, wifi, there is a bar & grill called The Hurricane nextdoor and a dive shop next to that. They are on the Florida Bay side of US-1 and there is a small marina (about 15 slips) and a boat ramp. The dive shop keeps 2 boats in there as well. Off the side of the marina there is a peninsula that extends out to the exit from the marina and they have a tiny, and I mean tiny, beach/waterfront. But just 100 yards off shore is a small coral head island. We drive down and arrive in the afternoon (5 hour drive). Then we decide what level of wet suit or dive skin we want to try and go for a swim to the island for an hour snorkel. The island drops 3' to 4' straight down into the water and the rock walls are full of holes. We see lots of young lobster, juvenile tropical fish, sponges, anemones, feather dusters and occasionally some other critters. It's our way to test the water temp and our gear before we go for a more serious snorkel the next day. From the motel it's only a 10 mile drive over the Seven Mile Bridge to get to Bahia Honda State Park or the Horseshoe on Spanish Harbor Key.

This photo is from the little island just out from the motel. BTW we call it Little Blackfin Key, but I don't think it has a real name. Obviously it wasn't lobster season as even these juveniles would be hiding. I think there are about a dozen of them in the photo.



I'll be happy when the water warms up a bit more, like 85F and I can get by without a wet suit. I always wear a dive skin just to keep the sun off. It's bad enough that the back of my neck and my bald head need sun block!

I haven't tried catching any fish, but there aren't many I'd be interested in having. There are lots of damsels, sergeant majors, some butterflyfish and Atlantic Tangs but not much else. And catching fish takes a lot of patience as I've had it explained to me.

June 18th & 19th about 20 people in our local aquarium club do a field trip to the area. One guy in the club is great at catching fish and banded coral shrimp. Last year he got a small spear sling and collected (speared) a bunch of Lionfish from the channel that runs across the front of the Horseshoe. Some members go out diving, many more snorkel. We always do a charter boat out to a section of the big reef 5 miles out. It's fun to see the big stuff, but you can't collect anything and they don't want people even touching anything. In fact charter boats don't allow snorkelers to wear gloves! BTW, when we snorkel near shore I ALWAYS wear gloves!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Here are a few extra photos from the trip.

These Curly-Q anemones are all quite small at this location in the wild. But I've had a couple at home and they have grown to be several inches across and 4" or 5" tentacles. But they have not been 'pest' anemones that have spread like aiptasia or majano in my tank. But they are all over the place in the Keys.




I haven't seen many Atlantic Pearl Oysters in the areas we snorkel in the Keys. But this trip I did see some at both locations. I did bring a couple home and so far they seem to be doing OK. But it's hard to say what the long term survival rate will be. I have kept several clams from the Keys and the Gulf of Mexico for years, so maybe? BTW, these oysters have been known on rare occasion to produce low quality pearls! Maybe next year's anniversary present for my wife! :dance:




There are a number of very cool sponges in the shallow reef flats in the Keys. I only wish some of them could survive in my aquarium at home. I tend to collect one every other trip or so (maybe 2 a year) but they tend to just get smaller and smaller until they disappear from the tank. I never expose them to the air, I pick ones that are on top of rocks in shallow water where they are exposed to the sun in hopes that they might be photosynthetic, but my understanding is that most sponges aren't.




I used to have a lot of tiny spaghetti worms in my tank until I added a wrasse and it ate them all in the first week! I would like to have a bigger one, like these, in my 75g gorgonian tank, but they have proven to be very fragile and have very low survival rate. In this photo you can see one worm has pulled out of it's tube just because we've tipped up the rock. It's the white one with the multiple 'strings' at one end. The orange ones are fire worms. We've seen many of them in the past, but this trip we saw more than usual and they were bigger than usual.




I have 1 or 2 sea cucumbers in each of my 3 tanks with sand bottoms. The first one I brought home a few years ago has tripled in size from 1-2" to about 6-8" when stretched out. And I have lots of sandy bottom for them as I keep all my Live Rock 1-2"above the sand on egg crate platforms sitting on pvc pipe legs.




One of the most common sponges where we snorkel is the big Ball sponge. This one is very average size, about a foot or more in diameter. We do see some that are 2 feet and bigger. I often find turbo snails and ceriths feeding on the 'stuff' covering the sponge. On really calm days at slack tide we have seen the water exhausting out the bigger holes in the top of the sponge which is 'cleaner' than the rest of the water. It probably has less salt and/or a different temperature and we see it as a shimmer. Like when you mix fresh water into salt water. One time we even found a green moray eel living under a particularly big sponge. BTW, there is a clam attached to the base of this sponge.

 

[G_Sanab922]

Like always, great pics!
Those Ball sponges are very nice. Right by my house we have a bunch of them and like you said you can see the water exhausting from the middle of the sponge. They are like miniature springs. I'm pretty sure a lot of them are fresh water, which leads to why manatees love to hang around those types of areas.
A lot of little things like that, people tend to overlook because they are looking for the most colorful or biggest fish/corals.
This is one of the reasons why I enjoy your pics. You and your wife tend to look for the little things that other people often miss. And I believe this is the best way to enjoy yourself when snorkeling or even diving.
Take your time, blend in with the environment and all the critters will come out to play.

 

[sam.basye]

I know what you mean. My wife still works and she is going back today after a week off. She'd be p'off if I left to go back to the Keys.

Does your wife snorkel?

We have been staying at a mom & pop motel 'resort' called Blackfin in Marathon. It's not fancy and maybe not even quite up to Holiday Inn standards, but very close. It's clean, an efficiency room with a stove, mini fridge, microwave, coffee maker and minimal utensils is only about $120/night. Regular motel rooms are less expensive. They have a pool, wifi, there is a bar & grill called The Hurricane nextdoor and a dive shop next to that. They are on the Florida Bay side of US-1 and there is a small marina (about 15 slips) and a boat ramp. The dive shop keeps 2 boats in there as well. Off the side of the marina there is a peninsula that extends out to the exit from the marina and they have a tiny, and I mean tiny, beach/waterfront. But just 100 yards off shore is a small coral head island. We drive down and arrive in the afternoon (5 hour drive). Then we decide what level of wet suit or dive skin we want to try and go for a swim to the island for an hour snorkel. The island drops 3' to 4' straight down into the water and the rock walls are full of holes. We see lots of young lobster, juvenile tropical fish, sponges, anemones, feather dusters and occasionally some other critters. It's our way to test the water temp and our gear before we go for a more serious snorkel the next day. From the motel it's only a 10 mile drive over the Seven Mile Bridge to get to Bahia Honda State Park or the Horseshoe on Spanish Harbor Key.

This photo is from the little island just out from the motel. BTW we call it Little Blackfin Key, but I don't think it has a real name. Obviously it wasn't lobster season as even these juveniles would be hiding. I think there are about a dozen of them in the photo.



I'll be happy when the water warms up a bit more, like 85F and I can get by without a wet suit. I always wear a dive skin just to keep the sun off. It's bad enough that the back of my neck and my bald head need sun block!

I haven't tried catching any fish, but there aren't many I'd be interested in having. There are lots of damsels, sergeant majors, some butterflyfish and Atlantic Tangs but not much else. And catching fish takes a lot of patience as I've had it explained to me.

June 18th & 19th about 20 people in our local aquarium club do a field trip to the area. One guy in the club is great at catching fish and banded coral shrimp. Last year he got a small spear sling and collected (speared) a bunch of Lionfish from the channel that runs across the front of the Horseshoe. Some members go out diving, many more snorkel. We always do a charter boat out to a section of the big reef 5 miles out. It's fun to see the big stuff, but you can't collect anything and they don't want people even touching anything. In fact charter boats don't allow snorkelers to wear gloves! BTW, when we snorkel near shore I ALWAYS wear gloves!

Well, my wife floats and looks around from there. More of a basic snorkel sightseer. I, on the other hand, swim around and get in everything's business. Lol The sun doesn't get a chance to burn me as I spend +80% of the time exploring at the bottom with only brief air exchanges at the surface.

I will swim though wrecks and float over with very minimal clearance where you have to really suck it in not to get scraped. My wife prefers 6' or less of water and plenty of clearance from touching things or tight spaces. She was fine with the 15'-20' areas on our honeymoon in Curacao because it was nice and clear where you could easily see the bottom. She will usually go with me anywhere if she can hold my hand; makes her feel more secure or safe.

I love the water and can snorkel for hours on end. When I was younger I was a Jr lifeguard for LA County and a lifeguard at a local pool in NC in addition to a swim team in high school. I'm very fish like, according to my mother in law. Lol


The motel seems pretty nice for what you get and where it's located. Will definitely have to check it out!


What gloves do you wear?
I use the thin mechanic gloves with a silicone like grip.


Do you ever do any night snorkels?

 

[Ron Reefman]

Like always, great pics!

A lot of little things like that, people tend to overlook because they are looking for the most colorful or biggest fish/corals.
This is one of the reasons why I enjoy your pics. You and your wife tend to look for the little things that other people often miss. And I believe this is the best way to enjoy yourself when snorkeling or even diving.
Take your time, blend in with the environment and all the critters will come out to play.

Thanks. I made my wife read your post because I think it says exactly what we think.

We go to Looe Key and watch all the people from the charter boats scurrying about to see the big corals and chase the Parrotfish around and they are lucky if they see 25% of what is there to see. We go to the edges of the reef or away from the masses of people so we can just float and watch life on the reef happen. And in doing so, we see so many little things. Like finding the urchin that has collected so many shells and other stuff to camouflage itself. We call it nature's hoarder... it doesn't want to let go of anything!

And when we go to the shallow reef flats just off shore, we find a lot less people and therefore a more peaceful experience. And we are in water where it is easy to pick up things to look at them more closely. Big corals are very cool, but so is finding a big, bright red brittle star and having it climb all over your hand and arm, or a small reef octopus do the same thing, or have an emerald crab try to get away from you by trying to climb inside the cuff of your dive glove to hide!



I've always been a big fan of science fiction, especially when it involves going to another planet and finding alien life. That will never happen for me in real life and this is about as close as I can come to seeing and watching very alien creatures up close and personal.

 

[thelawnwrangler]

Lol did my first 2 snorkel tours in Key West and had a blast chasing parrot fish lol

Any suggestions for Marathon? I am not confident enough to do on my own yet. Coworker is saying looe key

I don't think I could ever own a tang after seeing blue tangs school and I saw some sharks really cool. How does one join tang police?

 

[ace_92101]

Looe Key is one of the better dive spots in the Keys. It's shallow, so snorkeling is also good.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Lol did my first 2 snorkel tours in Key West and had a blast chasing parrot fish lol

Any suggestions for Marathon? I am not confident enough to do on my own yet. Coworker is saying looe key

I don't think I could ever own a tang after seeing blue tangs school and I saw some sharks really cool. How does one join tang police?

You can go to Bahia Honda State Park. They have great snorkeling right off the beach on the ocean side. You won't see as much big stuff, even like parrot fish, but we've seen lot and lots of very cool stuff there. But rather than 'chasing' the fish, when you see something cool, just try floating and very gently and slow move toward it. We've seen reef squid, moray eels, cow fish, hog fish, sea biscuits, huge hermit crabs in queen conch shells and we've even seen a big ray and a 4' nurse shark... although those two were in much cooler weather when there was virtually nobody in the water but us in heavy wet suits. The further you get out from the beach the more pristine the bottom is and the bigger the Gorgonians and sponges are. We've been out 1000' off the beach and the water is only 5' or 6' deep.

You can rent a kayak and go out to Little Bahia Honda (about a 1/4 mile off shore) and see even better stuff. I had a 2' long cow fish follow me for 20 minutes while I was looking for stuff under the rocks. I would swim easily within my arms reach. It would occasionally expose a rock boring urchin (there are literally thousands... maybe tens of thousands of them out there) and the cow fish would break it open, eat what it could and the other juvenile and small tropical fish would swarm in and finish the clean up. At one point I poked at it to try and keep it away. I forgot that they have a hard shell like skeleton just under the skin. I was expecting a soft fish body and almost jammed a knuckle in my finger! The cow fish was pretty unfazed by my poke.

And Bahia Honda has a big pontoon boat that does 2 trips a day to Looe Key (mentioned above). We get out there ever couple of years. Big fish, big corals, water that ranges from 20' in the valleys to almost breaking the surface at the ridge tops.