near shore key snorkeling???

[ctenophors rule]

from what i have read in numerous sources (including posts in here) the nearest reef in key west is 5- 6 miles out. the reefs in between that distance are patch reefs and hardly worth swimming a mile for!

but my friends uncle has just informed me that dive shops in the keys supply charts with reef sites within swimming distance (if you can swim a mile out and back without getting lost)

the whole thing worries me a little, but i wanted to get some info from others who may have had experience.

p.s. I wont be swimming alone, buddy system, and we are both strong swimmers.

 

[zachfishman]

Wherever you decide to search, ask the locals which patches/reefs weathered the winter well. Many reefs of the northern Keys as well as many of the shallower patch reefs were hit HARD this last winter. Tons of coral and fish death. For example, I snorkeled a patch reef off of Long Key called "Coral Gardens" (I think) during a recent fish ecology class, and estimated 90% coral death (mostly in the large, once-prominent Montastrea faveolata of that reef), and very low fish diversity.

 

[ginnboy]

any good spots to snorkel from shore near key largo

 

[billsreef]

Have you ever actually swum a mile? That makes for long way from shore. I'd try swimming a proper measured mile a couple of times along shore first

 

[ackee]

Swimming a mile is hard work. As part of my basic certification we had to swim a measured mile in a pool, non-stop, without fins or other equipment. People dropped out because of that requirement. That's probably why it's no longer a certification requirement.

Snorkeling a mile, with mask, fins and snorkel, is easy if there are no heavy currents or rough water. You can go as slow as you like, stopping whenever you please. I usually cover 2 or 3 miles in a morning's snorkel, sometimes along a fringing reef, sometimes straight out and back. The biggest problem with snorkeling out to an isolated patch reef is finding it, unless you have good referential shore points for triangulation. Distances are hard to judge when your eyes are 3 inches above the water, and snorkeling for extended periods over water too deep to clearly see the bottom can be disorientating.

To snorkel a mile off shore requires a high skill level, absolute confidence, and a great deal of experience. Being a strong swimmer is not the most important requirement, just as the ability to run very fast is not part of a bullfighters essential skill set.

 

[ReeferChris]

I go down to Key West in the summer a lot. The other thing to keep in mind is the amount of boat traffic that there is. Even with a dive flag buoy tied on I would still be nervous.

 

[billsreef]

Chris makes a good point, for any of us diving anywhere. Far too many boaters out there don't have a clue what a dive flag is, even if they see it, and run right over them :uzi:

 

[ackee]

Boats are absolutely a deadly threat to divers and swimmers, and especially to snorkelers. Flags are next to useless, and may actually increase the danger by attracting idiots. In Jamaica a few years ago the jetski crowd from a resort actually followed my flag, zipping close enough to have a conversation. "Yo, watcha doin?" My comments were unprintable.
I never snorkel in open water if there are any boats around, which limits my open water snorkeling to isolated low-tourist areas like Dominica. Everyplace else, I stay very close to walls, cliffs, docks, rockpiles, etc.; close enough to touch, and to wreck watercraft that stray too near. Snorkeling in open water in the Keys is an invitation to amputation by propellor.