On Saturday we took the 1pm snorkel trip on the “Starfish” which takes you out about 5 mi. to the Sombrero Reef Marine Sanctuary and Lighthouse. We thought it was pretty reasonably priced at $28/person plus $6 if you want a wetsuit. Before we left, we got to meet “Lumpy” a manatee who frequents the area, this is Lumpy getting a drink (this is a no-no but I guess they really like it). I did get to touch this one (another no-no).
Here’s a picture of the power catamaran, Starfish. They can take as many as 40 passengers; on Sat. we had 15 people plus a crew of three.
This is Capt. Steve and his son, Tristan. Steve was very knowledgeable about the area and lives aboard his sailboat so Paul enjoyed talking with him all the way out to the reef. He was nice enough to give us a ride back to our dinghy and Carolyn, one of the employees, picked us up on her way to work so that worked out great for us “no wheels” people.
We took our time getting out to the reef as there was a group of dolphins ready to put on a show. The one furthest out of the water was the baby of the group. We’ve seen dolphins quite often but never saw such a little one.
I wasn’t able to stay in the water that long; I was feeling a bit claustrophobic with the mask and snorkel plus the waves that far out were a bit intimidating – I probably need to practice first in a swimming pool! But what I did have a chance to see of the underwater world was just beautiful. The coral and plant life and brightly colored fish are truly God’s handiwork! It was 15 – 20 ft. deep and the water was crystal clear. There are mooring balls at various places along the reef to protect it from the damage from anchors – a pretty neat system. The State of Florida and the federal government have been working together for over 25 years to protect the marine environment in the Keys. The Keys National Marine Sanctuary is North America’s only coral barrier reef and the third longest in the world. Here’s some of the group in the water and a group of yellowtails going crazy after Steve threw food overboard for them.
We’d first met Mark and Linda of the m/v Lolligag, a Nordic Tug 32, back in September in Chicago where they began the Loop. The last time we saw them was back in the Kentucky Lakes so it was fun to get together. We have been able to keep up with each others’ trips through our blogs which is great. We each dinghied over to Burdine’s for dinner Saturday night, had a great meal and the smoothest dinghy ride in memory on the way back. The only bad thing was our nav. light (the red and green one in the bow) must have come loose and went overboard while we were climbing up on the dock because it was nowhere to be found when we needed it in the dark.
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