A Sea Turtle

Sea turtles are everywhere near the reef in Key West – most of them are Green Sea Turtles, not to be confused with similar-looking Loggerhead turtles.  The spring we’ve seen lots of baby turtles in the water, as well as curious adult turtles surprising us as we swim and dive on and around the main reef and patch reef areas of Key West.  Green Sea turtles can be distinguished from Loggerheads by the two front scales above the eyes.   Greens have two, whereas loggerheads have four.

Jewfish or Goliath Grouper on Stargazer

Stargazer Reef is not a reef – it’s an underwater sculpture that looks like a series of metal saw horses.  A thin layer of coral has grown to cover the table tops and legs, so there is a small neighborhood of fish living there.  You can always bet on finding mangrove snappers, angel fish, and one huge resident Goliath Grouper, A.K.A jewfish.  The jewfish really stands out, since Stargazer Reef is located on a desert of sand.  The poor thing tries to hide under the “tables” but you can always spot him a million miles away!

Here you can see the one small colony of Elkhorn Coral, which sadly has some rope tangled on it.  The Glass Bottom Boat likes to take its passengers out to see it, so it gets a lot of attention.  There are colorful parrot fish in this area, as well as barracuda, grouper, snapper, lobster, jacks, and lots of other marine life.

At Rock Key, snorkelers will encounter parrot fish, barracuda, angel fish, snapper, lazy nurse sharks, chubs, butterfly fish, lots of tiny colorful species of wrasses, gobies, file fish, puffer fish, and more.  You might also see rays, eels, sea turtles, and other creatures of the marine world who exist on and near the main reef system.

The conch itself is like a crab, and sits way inside the shell.  you can see his claw if you look closely at the crevice in the shell.  It’s a mollusk, also the second most well-known snail in the world, after escargot from France.

The shells are sold in tourist shops in Key West, but since harvesting Conchs is illegal, these shells come from Haiti.  So, if you’re in town doing some Key West snorkeling and you come across a Queen Conch, admire it but leave it there.

That’s a Gag grouper there under that rock.  You don’t see them every day in Key West.  They look kind of like snappers from the surface. There’s also a picture of a hogfish.

Butterfly Fish

This is a Butterfly Fish.  You see them all over the reef and other snorkeling spots around Key West.  Today we had a short run to clear vis in the back country. This area north of Key West revealed some beautiful coral heads. The Back Country is the Gulf side of Key West, usually very murky and green. We took advantage of the clear waters and had a great day of Key West snorkeling on the Gulf side for a change.

[View with PicLens]

 

Recently the vis on the Gulf side has been super clear, so we tried some backcountry snorkeling. Usually, if you go north out of Key West the water is murkier and greener than on the Atlantic side. For just a few days, however, it cleared up and we got to see what’s in the water out there. Turns out there are some nice coral patches that look very healthy. Take a look.

[View with PicLens]