My Trip to the Keys

[Noober]

Well I just got back from the keys. I went snorkeling at lou key reef, however you spell it. I have some digi cam pics, and have yet to develop the pics on the underwater camera. I saw a lot of coral I am not familier with, and some that I am familier with. Tons of fish though, angels, shark, gobies, damsles, basslets, horseshoe crabs, tons of blueleg, emerald, pom pom crabs, turbos, ceriths, unknown stars, brittle stars, serpant stars, literally thousands of sea cucumbers out in the mangrove beds, balls of chato that could fill up the bed of a full size pickup, shaving brush plant, and so many other alages that I cant identify them. It was like a giant refungium where I was the last two hotels. Lets see, big blue crabs, rays, I saw an approx. 4 ft lime green moray eel. Black tipped shark, nurse shark, barracuda, grouper, pipe fish, tons of other unidentified reef fish, flame scallops, puffers, jelly fish, upsidedown jelly fish, tons of anenomes of multi color, and so much other stuff that I cannot recall all of it. I'll post my digi cam pics on here now and the underwater pics as soon as they get developed.

[Gseclipse02]

sounds like a blast ....

[Noober]

Here is some pics of the trip along with some decriptions. I found a nice place on IH 1 that sold live rock as well as a place that catches reef fish from the ocean daily. They don't have memberships as retailers on this site so I won't advertise for them. They both did sound excited about the thought of spreading the word through reef clubs though. They both have quality setups that take water straight out of the ocean into big vats and tanks and then they drain right back into the ocean, and they ship. I also found a cheap cleanup crew guy, he had mostly typical quality stuff, but he did quote me some cheap prices on crabs and snails. He did not have ocean front property so I am not sure about his water parameters but everything looked to be surviving nicely. He said he mostly sales to warehouses and wholesalers. Anyway on to the pics:

This is the first place we stayed, in this lagoon there is tons of turbo's emrald crabs, thousands upon thousands of blueleg hermits, flame scallops, a lot more crabs I cant identify, sponges everywhere, tons of reef fish and life. It gets approx 30 ft deep in the middle.
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0431.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0452.jpg
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http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0504.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0536.jpg
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http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0560.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0629.jpg

[Noober]

Here is some more freshwater wild life and some shark pics that we caught. I was so caught up in looking at everything that I didn't take the time to worry about taking pics of all that I saw. When I get the underwater camera developed I will definatly post all the pics... So until next time, here's what I got:


http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0731.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0728.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0727.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0725.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0723.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0721.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0718.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0697.jpg

The long fish are tarpon.
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0675.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0670.jpg
and the one I caught:
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0667.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0657.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0656.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0639.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0562.jpg
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http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0613.jpg


And finally the key west sunset:
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/keys/100_0598.jpg
Enjoy! I know I did :)

[mama]

You have got to tell me where you stayed...I lived in Boca Raton and Miami, but did not have the passion I have today, so I never went on this kind of adventure. We went to the Keys and stayed at The Southern Most Point, right on Duval St. I want to leave yesterday!! These photos are truely fantastic...

[Noober]

We visted key west at mile zero, then stayed at about mile 30 at the state park, then at about mile 100 on islamarada. It was a blast, I wish I could have taken pictures of even 1/10th of all that I saw. Thanks for the nice comments!

[JeffCo]

Great pics, makes me want to take a vacation there.

[ErikH]

LOL that shark was posin' away in your hands. Looks like a ton of fun man! Love the pics, keep them rolling in!