Considerations for snorkeling off Garden Key, Dry Tortugas?

[danpass]

Videos are a bit sparse so I was curious what it was like beyond the marketing-speak.

I'll be camping on the island (for ham radio ) so SCUBA is out since I can only carry so much gear lol but I can jump in the water at any time.

 

[Wookie]

SCUBA is out anyway unless you arrange a private boat to get you there. The ferry won't carry it. Doesn't matter anyway, there really isn't any diving close enough to swim to anyway. The marketing hype doesn't really exist, because no one is running snorkeling trips.

All that aside, the corals are extremely fine at the South and North coaling dock. You should run into Nurse Sharks, Goliath Grouper, lionfish, tarpon, and a whole host of tropicals. If you are lucky, you will run into the crocodile (the very lonely crocodile) that lives in the moat, but leaves now and again to go fishing. The coral reef on the North side is spectacular, with staghorn and lots of stony corals, but a bit sparse when it comes to octocorals.

Have fun.

WDA7434

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Salt water works great for a ground plane vertical, speargun could help you get a dipole hung up and spools are handy for wire, and you can easily snorkel as deep as the bandwidth of some bands! Have fun mixing hobbies!


Note:spearing is prohibited in the dry tortugas and loading a speargun on land is never a smart idea.

 

[iluvtheocean]

Salt water works great for a ground plane vertical, speargun could help you get a dipole hung up and spools are handy for wire, and you can easily snorkel as deep as the bandwidth of some bands! Have fun mixing hobbies!

umm...I thought spearing & lobster were prohibited in Dry Tortugas

Frequently Asked Questions - Dry Tortugas National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

 

[Wookie]

umm...I thought spearing & lobster were prohibited in Dry Tortugas

Frequently Asked Questions - Dry Tortugas National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

It was a joke, using dive equipment to make Ham radio calls. Combining the 2 hobbies.

 

[iluvtheocean]

ahhh.. and i thought he was just bringing a small portable ham rig to continue his hobby my grandfather used to be big into ham radio while he was alive in San Diego