TN Traveler
Contributor
If any of you follow the Force Fin Manufacturer's Forum, I recently obtained a pair of OPS Force Fins that were designed for Jean Michel Cousteau's Ocean futures Society over 20 years ago. Since these fins are highly adjustable, I wanted to try them out snorkeling first. Finally after a couple of quick trips to the local beach, I felt I was ready to tackle the Pier. The fins outperformed my hopes but what I want to do is inform folks just how great the snorkeling at the Pier was, yesterday.
We snorkeled for over 2 hours and I can say that other than Snapper Ledge off key largo, I have never seen such an abundance of sea life and even Snapper Ledge never had the variety we observed. I don't know if it was the 81 deg crystal clear water, the partially cloudy skies or whatever but it was a great afternoon.
We encounter the usual Blue Tangs, Sargent Majors and Jacks but in huge quantities. The Glassy-eyed Sweepers were back and there were all sizes and varieties of Parrot Fish. Saw Butterfly Fish, Trumpet Fish (in a variety of colors), Peacock Flounder, Blue Headed Wrasse and Lizard Fish - and probably more than I can remember.
Saw one of largest Spotted Drum I have ever seen, a Sea Horse and turtles ranging from an 18" Green to 3' Hawksbills - all just casually cruising and feeding.
We ran into a school of over 100 Squid - ranging in size from 3" to 18" - that allowed us to literally swim into their group without spooking.
And the most special was a 2-3' Spotted Eagle Ray that was feeding at the outer dolfin. Probably watched it for 15 minutes as it found buried shellfish, sucked them out of the sand and ate them.
We watched a couple of Discover Scuba Divers for a brief moment and I thought their heads were going to spin off their heads (and they never got out to the really good stuff).
Will probably try and dive next week - get up close and personal - and maybe get some pictures.
We snorkeled for over 2 hours and I can say that other than Snapper Ledge off key largo, I have never seen such an abundance of sea life and even Snapper Ledge never had the variety we observed. I don't know if it was the 81 deg crystal clear water, the partially cloudy skies or whatever but it was a great afternoon.
We encounter the usual Blue Tangs, Sargent Majors and Jacks but in huge quantities. The Glassy-eyed Sweepers were back and there were all sizes and varieties of Parrot Fish. Saw Butterfly Fish, Trumpet Fish (in a variety of colors), Peacock Flounder, Blue Headed Wrasse and Lizard Fish - and probably more than I can remember.
Saw one of largest Spotted Drum I have ever seen, a Sea Horse and turtles ranging from an 18" Green to 3' Hawksbills - all just casually cruising and feeding.
We ran into a school of over 100 Squid - ranging in size from 3" to 18" - that allowed us to literally swim into their group without spooking.
And the most special was a 2-3' Spotted Eagle Ray that was feeding at the outer dolfin. Probably watched it for 15 minutes as it found buried shellfish, sucked them out of the sand and ate them.
We watched a couple of Discover Scuba Divers for a brief moment and I thought their heads were going to spin off their heads (and they never got out to the really good stuff).
Will probably try and dive next week - get up close and personal - and maybe get some pictures.
