sdwho
Contributor
Got back from Key Largo last night and, as promised, here is a report of our REEF Discovery Tour experience.
The diving. Most of my diving has been in the Carribbean or South Pacific, frequently on liveaboards. The only time I dove the Florida keys was 8 years ago in Islamorada. I must tell you, I was very pleasantly surprised by the diving in Key Largo. My memories of Islamorada were that the water was silty, the coral so-so, and the fish life sparse. No more. Whatever you folks are doing, you're doing it right. The vis was much improved, the reef looked much healthier than I remembered and the fish life was varied and abundant. We did two dives each morning, plus two dusk and one night dive. The dives were very shallow -- deepest one was 45 feet and most had a max depth of less than 30'. But there were plenty of highlights: the minnows at minnow cave, a group of spotted drum (including one less than half the size of my fingernail), large numbers of highhats, lots of nurse sharks, and my favorite: a Thomson's Angel (a hybrid of a Blue and Queen).
The event. The REEF Discovery Tour apparently differs from regular REEF Fish ID classes in that it doesn't focus as intensively on fish ID. Instead, each afternoon there was a slide presentation/lecture by Paul Humann, starting out with basic fish ID, but moving onto invertebrates and some ecological/environmental discussion. Very interesting. We were encouraged to do fish surveys on our dives (we were given slates and "forms" on underwater paper). I wanted to take pictures, so I didn't fill out the forms as diligently as some, but the whole process gave me a different outlook. Instead of thinking "there goes a whole bunch of snapper" and turning to look for the "good" stuff, I learned to study the schools, finding that they typically include a mixture of different species (and now I can recognize the difference between various snappers and grunts). I even can tell the difference between most parrotfish (albeit not the juveniles yet!).
The accomodations: Stayed at the Best Western Suites and dove with Horizon Divers, right next door. Very convenient and Horizon (especially Joe, Capts. Bob and Mike, and crew Roy, Andre and Scott) was great! The hotel room featured a full kitchen which was nice, but they could do a better job of cleaning the place (although I've stayed in much worse)!
All in all, a most enjoyable week.
Seth
The diving. Most of my diving has been in the Carribbean or South Pacific, frequently on liveaboards. The only time I dove the Florida keys was 8 years ago in Islamorada. I must tell you, I was very pleasantly surprised by the diving in Key Largo. My memories of Islamorada were that the water was silty, the coral so-so, and the fish life sparse. No more. Whatever you folks are doing, you're doing it right. The vis was much improved, the reef looked much healthier than I remembered and the fish life was varied and abundant. We did two dives each morning, plus two dusk and one night dive. The dives were very shallow -- deepest one was 45 feet and most had a max depth of less than 30'. But there were plenty of highlights: the minnows at minnow cave, a group of spotted drum (including one less than half the size of my fingernail), large numbers of highhats, lots of nurse sharks, and my favorite: a Thomson's Angel (a hybrid of a Blue and Queen).
The event. The REEF Discovery Tour apparently differs from regular REEF Fish ID classes in that it doesn't focus as intensively on fish ID. Instead, each afternoon there was a slide presentation/lecture by Paul Humann, starting out with basic fish ID, but moving onto invertebrates and some ecological/environmental discussion. Very interesting. We were encouraged to do fish surveys on our dives (we were given slates and "forms" on underwater paper). I wanted to take pictures, so I didn't fill out the forms as diligently as some, but the whole process gave me a different outlook. Instead of thinking "there goes a whole bunch of snapper" and turning to look for the "good" stuff, I learned to study the schools, finding that they typically include a mixture of different species (and now I can recognize the difference between various snappers and grunts). I even can tell the difference between most parrotfish (albeit not the juveniles yet!).
The accomodations: Stayed at the Best Western Suites and dove with Horizon Divers, right next door. Very convenient and Horizon (especially Joe, Capts. Bob and Mike, and crew Roy, Andre and Scott) was great! The hotel room featured a full kitchen which was nice, but they could do a better job of cleaning the place (although I've stayed in much worse)!
All in all, a most enjoyable week.
Seth
