Snorkeling in Key Largo

Last Saturday we went down to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo to do a little morning snorkeling. I've been wanting to go do this for a while, and hopefully we can go back again soon because it was pretty awesome. Key Largo is only about a 2 hour drive from our place, so if anybody wants to come visit and go snorkeling in the Keys, I won't argue!

  We went out on the 10:30 tour and were one of the groups that got to go out to the Christ of the Abyss statue at Dry Rocks, which is a reef about 6 miles northeast of Key Largo. "Nautical Jesus" stands on the ocean floor in about 25 feet of water, in a sandy valley between the reefs. I was really hoping we'd get to see it, as it was one of my bucket list items to see it and touch it! Not all of the tours come out there, depending on the conditions, so we got lucky. :) Although conditions were a little less than ideal... the wind had picked up and there were some pretty good swells going on that started tossing us around a little near the end. Jake will probably try to tell you otherwise but he is not usually an acute observer of his surroundings.

Anyway, the boat ride out to the reef was about 30 minutes or so, and was SO ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL. Coming out of the channel, you could see the color of the water begin to change out ahead, from dark blue to clear blue-green to turquoise, and out on the horizon, a strip of this unexplainable vibrant pale teal blue color. Once we actually got out on top of that color, where there was no coral and you could see straight down to the sandy bottom, it was even more unbelievable. I can't even think of how to describe it, except that it was this glowing, almost neon blue-teal-seafoam color that seemed to be illuminated from below. Of course the lenses on my sunglasses enhanced all the colors, but when I took them off, everything was still just as beautiful. I didn't bring our camera out because I was afraid of it getting wet. I wished I had brought it, but at the same time I was glad I didn't because there really wasn't anywhere to put it. So we will have to settle for some iPhone pics.

When we got out to the reef, we put on all our gear and got in! The water was really nice and we took our time swimming across the reef and looking at everything. We saw a bunch of different kinds of coral, which 20-25 years ago during my "marine biologist" phase I probably could have identified several of, but today wasn't really sure what was what. But it was cool. We saw several schools of these cute white/yellow/black stripey fish (angelfish?) and swam right along side them. There were a few colorful parrotfish (I was hoping we'd see these!) swimming along the reef and down along the ocean floor. I spotted a big old grouper hanging out under the boat, and Jake saw a barracuda! We saw several other kinds of fish as well, and I put the brakes on big time when we almost swam in to a mini school of jellyfish. They didn't appear to have tentacles, but I have an irrational fear of jellyfish so of course I was checking around everywhere for them after that.

Eventually, we made our way to Christ of the Abyss and Jesus popped up out of nowhere. It was so cool to actually see it in person. It stands on a concrete base on the ocean floor, nestled between the reefs. Jesus himself is about 8 1/2 feet tall. His face is turned upward, and he has his arms outstretched and is reaching his hands up toward the surface. The tips of his fingers were probably about 10 feet below the surface. With the sun streaming down through the water and reflecting across the statue, it really is something to see. We each took turns diving down to touch his hand (which was the only thing you were allowed to touch, as the rest of him is covered in fire coral). Favorite part of the day. :) Bucket list: Check!

So you can see what he looks like, here is a picture (not ours) of Nautical Jesus. (guess who gave him that nickname.)

That is not me.

So I had mentioned to Jake the night before how I wished we had remembered to buy one of those cheap-y underwater disposable cameras, and maybe we could pick one up on the way. When we were on the boat on our way out to the reef, I brought it up again and how we forgot to try and pick one up that morning. To which my husband responds, "Oh, they had them at the gift shop." WHAT. Way to not mention it!! So you will just have to take my word for it on all the colorful fish and coral that we saw and also that we high-fived Nautical Jesus.

After snorkeling, we went to lunch at Sundowners, which is where we stopped for lunch on our way down to Key West 2 years ago for the second part of our honeymoon. :) We had beautiful views and a little bit of entertainment watching people flyboarding out in front of the restaurant.

So that's it, and I want to go back again!!! (and get some underwater pictures this time!)