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!