Snorkeling on Sombrero Reef

One day out on the Keys, we decided to do some snorkeling on Sombrero Reef, the third largest coral reef in the world.  The two largest?  There is one off Belize that is the 2^nd largest, and the #1 reef in the world, in terms of size, is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

We snorkeled just off Sombrero Key Lighthouse on the ocean side of the Keys.  The waters looked fairly peaceful, and other boats out there added to the belief that it was just fine for snorkeling.  Our guide said the waves were only about a foot.  That did strike a bit of concern for me, as that would be the highest waves we’ve ever snorkeled in, but I figured that we could handle it, given that other people were.

When I first hit the water, I was lucky enough to land in the best position, facing away from the waves coming at me.  This allowed me to catch my breath and get my snorkel situated so that I could easily breathe.  I was quite surprised by the height of the waves and at first, and sort of struggled to breathe correctly (long, deep breaths vs. the shallow breaths I tend to default to).  I didn’t see Jeff, who jumped in about 10 seconds before me, but that wasn’t unusual.  We tend to be separated at first, and then make our way together after a while.  In the meantime, I noticed this fish once I did get my face in the water.  I thought he was a bit larger than most I would see….

….and as he swam away, I then realized that it was a barracuda!  I had always heard they could be somewhat mean and aggressive, and was glad he wasn’t, as it was a bit difficult to control myself and swim where I wanted.  I felt like I was being tossed about a bit by the waves, but then, everyone else was, too.

There were quite a few of these yellow-tailed fish around, when I could see any.  Due to the waves, a lot of sand was constantly being churned up and that made seeing the fish a bit difficult.  This little guy seemed to keep his eye on me, though!

When the sun would shine, it was amazing the number of fish that could be seen!  These small little fish (most easily seen in the upper left corner of the image) generally hung out at the floor bottom, which in this case, was the coral.

Again, due to the difficulty in swimming and seeing, I generally would just sort of point my camera in the general direction of what I wanted to capture and hope for the best.  I felt lucky to have captured this image.  It seems a very peaceful scene.  I was quite surprised at how peaceful it seemed below the churning waves above.  The only giveaway to what was going on was the amount of sand hanging about in the water.

It was generally overcast the morning we snorkeled, but when the sun did come out occasionally, it was very interesting to see how many fish there were swimming just below me!  At this point, I was getting a bit concerned that Jeff and I hadn’t met up yet.  I kept picking up my head and looking around for him.  I thought I had seen him a couple of times, only to find out, as the person drew closer, that it wasn’t him.  I’m at a bit of a disadvantage when we snorkel.  Jeff can see clearly – I am generally more limited, as I don’t (of course) have my glasses on.

This image gives the best look at the coral, with the sea grass growing up out of it.  I wished the waters would have been calmer to allow me to see it more clearly.  But, where was Jeff?

One of the last fish I noticed was this little zebra fish.  I didn’t see a lot of these and this little guy was sort of off on his own, having a solitary swim.  Right after I saw him, I picked my head up to again look for Jeff. This time, though, I looked over at the boat, and saw him already back on the boat. Since I was quite tired of fighting the waves at this point – I think they were about 3 feet high as they would come over my head when I held my head above the water – I gladly made my way back to the boat.

It turns out, when Jeff entered the water, he inadvertently faced the wrong way and was caught in the face by a wave.  He ended up with water up his nose, in his lungs, and down his tummy.  He ended up coughing so hard out in the water, the guide was almost ready to go in after him to “rescue” him.  Jeff motioned that he was ok, but he decided that he would just head in to the boat and skip snorkeling for the day.  As it turns out, I had been in the water for about 45 minutes!  No wonder I was really tired.  We both enjoyed the ride back to the pier and dock, and I especially liked getting this different perspective shot of the new (on the left) 7-Mile Bridge and the old one on the right.  The old bridge is somewhat of a park now, with people walking, running and biking along the portion of the bridge that is open.  It’s only open for a couple of the 7 mile span.  They’ve then removed a section of that old bridge to limit people’s’ access to the part that is considered the safest.

Enjoy!

At the Beach in the Florida Keys

Our first morning in the Keys began with a walk on the beach after the sun had risen.  What a soft morning!

Looking to the north, there were some mangroves that grew out over the shoreline.  This state park is on its own little island, Little Crawl Key, and there are lots and lots of mangroves on the island.  But, more about those in a later blog.

Off to the other direction, you can see another small island beyond the shoreline tree.  That island is called Deer Key, and Jeff and I had thoughts of kayaking around that island.  We’ll see…..

The beach also turned out to be perfect for wind surfing!  No, we didn’t try that (visiting an emergency room was not on our agenda!), but we did enjoy the show they often put on in the afternoons!  The bright colored parachutes really looked great against the blue, blue sky.

I did learn something interesting about wind surfing – there is a part of the parachute that gets inflated!  It helps to stabilize the chute when it’s in the air, and helps the surfer control the chute.

And, control is what’s needed to be able to fly!  Some of the tricks that they do in the air – twists, flips, etc. – certainly require them having control of the parachute in the wind, which can shift at any time!  They do a good job of doing that!!

As I was looking up at the wind surfers, I noticed all the coconuts ripening on the palm tree!  No wonder anyone chose to sit under this tree!

Our last view will be a mid-day view of Deer Key.  I like this because the blue of the sky and the ocean is so vibrant!  The trees and beach grass compliment it perfectly, too.

Enjoy!  

A Walk on the Wild Side

Across from Curry Hammock State Park (where we stayed for 2 weeks) is a sort of annex of the park, what is billed as a Nature Trail.  One morning, Jeff and I decided to take Max on a trail walk, since it was pet-friendly.  The walk began on Grassy Key Trail, a trail that will, eventually, run the entire length of the Keys and will be paved (black-topped) so that walkers, runners and bikers can easily enjoy it.

But, there is a nature trail that branches off from Grassy Key Trail after about ¼ mile from the point where we started.  The map from Curry Hammock provided a map and we thought it would be a good morning outing.  I guess I sort of assumed it would be somewhat of an easy trail to walk (by that, I mean sandy), so I just had my sandals on.  However, as we started down the trail, I realized that it wasn’t going to be a sandy trail!

In fact, the path was covered in patches of coral!  As a bit of history, this part of Florida, the Keys, is fairly “new” land in the overall history of the world.  It’s only about 100,000 years old, a mere baby when you consider the Earth has been around for 4.5 billion years!!  I guess  some  might say the ancient people of the Earth were also responsible for the last great ice age (prehistoric global warming, I guess!) , because, at that time, while snow accumulated forming glaciers in some areas, in other parts of the world, sea levels were dropping, exposing coral reefs that flourish in the Keys.  So, the foundation of the Keys is coral, like you see in the photos above.  It was rather difficult walking on these coral reefs, since the coral is now like some extremely hard and unforgiving rocks, and not the delicate living organism that one finds underwater!  Needless to say, my sandals weren’t really made for this type of walking!!

One thing we did come across that wasn’t plant life, or coral, in nature, were these bones.  We have no idea to what they really belong, but we are guessing that maybe they are those of a Key Deer.  Key Deer are a subspecies of the white-tail deer and are only found on the Florida Keys. They are smaller than typical deer.  There is a protected refuge for them in the Keys.  However, it appears that the area was quite extensively damaged during Hurricane Irma (first Category 5 storm of the Atlantic 2017 hurricane season).  Did this little deer get lost and somehow end up here, several miles north of the protected refuge, due to the storm?  We’ll never know, but it is a mystery of nature.

I have to admit, I really like to photograph palms, and the Keys are certainly a great place to find them!  There were also plenty on this trail.  Here are 2 of my favorite images – one because of the great pattern of lines, leading to or away from the “heart” as I think of it.  The second image is one that really shows how lovely they can look when the sun shines from behind and really lights up the green!

Another interesting thing we saw was this perfectly round hole in the ground as we walked along what seemed to be the main path.  We couldn’t imagine what it was until, a few steps further on the trail, we came to a palm tree growing out of what looks like a similar hole!  Apparently, the palm tree that the hole we discovered once held was pulled out or somehow removed (no palm tree lay around that area) and left that perfect hole!

I call this “perfect irony”.  As we walked off and out of the trail, back onto the paved Grassy Key Trail, not far from our Jeep, we noticed this sign.  A fine time for a warning!!  LOL!!

Enjoy!

Introduction to the Keys

Driving down the Keys from mainland Florida is a treat I’ve gotten to experience twice in my life, this time being the second.  It’s the colors that grab me each time!

The first touch of the great tropical color comes just as we leave mainland Florida and head on the Overseas Highway.  The colors of turquoise are magical in their own way, and different from the turquoise I see in my home state of New Mexico.

Blue, white, turquoise and deep green.  Such lovely colors of the color wheel, arranged by Mother Nature to tantalize us as we travel to the mid-Keys area of Marathon, FL.

Enjoy!

Gators Galore along Loop Road

If you are in Big Cypress, you will see gators, and if you drive along the Loop Road Scenic Drive, odds are, you will see LOTS of gators, if you know where to look!

This seems to be truly an environment that alligators love – I like to call it hidden in plain sight.  As we were driving along this road, a car stopped and the driver asked if we had any luck seeing any gators, clearly implying they hadn’t.  I said yes, but said you really need to look for them, explaining the areas of water at each culvert of the road.  I’m not certain if they wanted to go through that much trouble (his reaction seemed less than enthusiastic about actually having to look for the gators), so who knows how “lucky” they were at seeing any.  As you can see from this guy, he just sort of seems to be hanging out among the swampy growth floating on the surface of the water in some areas.

So, then, I thought it might be fun to give you an idea of what I was trying to explain to that driver.  I’m calling this “Find the Gator”.  I’ve taken a close-up shot of the gator and then an image of the complete environment in which we saw him (for some reason, gators are always male to me!).  Do you see him in the larger image?  Hint: He’s on the left side of the image.

Let’s try another one – This one might be a bit tougher.  The image at the bottom is the closer image of him. Look closely along the brush along the shoreline in the larger scene.

Ok, one more.  You can find this guy by looking for the tree he’s right up against.  It’s amazing how they are so well hidden, but in the open!  It suits their hunting style very well.  And, to be sure, Jeff and I were both very careful as we exited the Jeep, always looking down to make sure a gator wasn’t lurking just off the road in the brush.

Even gators were somebody’s baby once!!  This is the first time I’ve seen a baby gator off on his own.  I looked very carefully to try to spot Mom, but I couldn’t.  I purposely took a wider angle on this shot so you could get an idea of how little he was!  I’m guessing he was maybe a foot long from his head to the tip of his tail.

Can you see this guy under the water?  He was at the surface, but when Jeff closed the Jeep door rather loudly, he seemed to semi-startle, turned and then dove for the deep, or as deep as this area got!  I did manage to catch this image of him before he totally disappeared – about 10 seconds later!  Jeff and I were wondering what the substance was floating on the top of the water…..and then we decided we really didn’t want to know!

The rangers at the Visitors Center say that gators generally eat once per week.  The gator in the previous image clearly wasn’t hungry, as he dove to hide from us when we made a noise.  We may have encountered the gator in the image directly above, though, on his eating day.  As soon as he saw us get out of our Jeep, he quietly turned and began to make a beeline for us!  All the more reason to learn how to spot them ASAP!

I thought I’d end this post with this image.  It’s actually one of my favorites from the day.  This guy was a good distance away from us, and just content to lie in among the leaves of what I believe were mangroves growing in the area.  I really like how the leaves reflect below him on the water.  He’s so low in the water, you really have to look closely to see the small reflection he cast in the water.  I find alligators both beyond intimidating and fascinating at the same time.  Hopefully, you now have some idea why I feel this way!

Enjoy!

Birds of Loop Road Scenic Drive

There is wildlife on Loop Road, and this visit, we saw a lot of birds!!  It’s probably just me, but I think the tropical birds we found here are really cool.  Now, some you will recognize from other areas of the country, too.  Perhaps they just over-winter here!

I remember seeing these when I lived in the Midwest, at a rookery I lived close to – it’s an egret and this morning, he was searching the waters for food!  I just happened to capture him in between bobs into the water!

The anhinga is a very cool bird.  In this shot, a male anhinga was sitting on a branch drying his wings.  One of the things that make him so cool is that he doesn’t just bob his head in the water looking for food.  He actually dives into the water and swims through the swampy weeds incredibly fast!  Then, as you see here, he dries himself in the sun!

Here’s another bird I used to see from time to time in Illinois – a great blue heron.  I love this shot of him, standing rather majestically.

And, right after I captured that image, he turned and noticed something up higher than he was.  I was lucky enough to still have him in my sights and captured the somewhat awkward grace of a heron taking off.  He sort of leans into it and then gives a little hop before his large wings provide the lift to get him airborne.  He actually just settled in a new place, with his eye still on whatever it was that captured his attention in the first place!

My last image of my casual bird watching of the morning was this little guy.  I have no idea what type of bird he was, and when I asked the rangers in the Visitors Center, they didn’t know either.  We poured over all the known birds that inhabit Big Cypress, but he wasn’t there.  His coloring is similar to what’s called a purple bunting, but their beak isn’t nearly as long as this guy’s.  I thought he was really pretty, though!

Enjoy!

Cypress Strands along Loop Road Scenic Drive

One day while at Big Cypress National Preserve, we decided to drive the Loop Road Scenic Drive.  It’s a great way to see all sorts of nature and it’s free!  Well, except for the gas for your car.  No tickets or tour guides – you are your own tour guide with a flyer to help you along the way!

The beginning of the Loop Road seems like any other dirt road in any other part of the country, but it will be very cool in just a few minutes!!  This post will focus on the wonderful “forest” that can be seen, called a cypress strand.  When I looked up the definition of the word “strand”, it refers to strands in Florida as being swamp strands and it’s a type of swamp.  Another requirement is that the tree that predominates must be a type of cypress.

I love the look of the cypress reflection with other greenery growing alongside.  It just looks like the temperature is very pleasant and perhaps cool in the shade of the strand.  However, you wouldn’t want to be in that water…..

I think of this scene as a watery forest.  To me, it looks like many other forests I’ve seen in my life, except for the types of trees and the fact that it’s not dirt that is on the forest floor, but water!  Still, it’s such a peaceful scene….

When I stood on the edge of this part of the strand, I felt like I was looking into a very deep forest.  I kept expecting some deer to peek out at me from behind some of the trees.  But, that won’t happen in this forest!

This looks like a larger river or small lake or pond.  In fact, this is called Sweetwater Strand.  This is one of the deepest strands along this road.  It’s actually just a tad cooler in this area, due to the deeper water.  Such a relaxing scene.

Air plants, or bromeliad, which is its more formal name, abound in this area!  It’s rather refreshing to see these plants just sprouting up all over this area!

And, I will end this post from Loop Road with, of course, another lovely peaceful scene of this swamp.  Funny, I always picture swamps as damp, smelly, semi-scary places, but, truly, they can be quite beautiful!

Enjoy!