Snorkeling near Sombrero Buoy, in the Florida Keys

Snorkeling in the Florida Keys

On Nov 1-3 there was a computer networking conference in Naples Florida. What to do after the conference, when I was so close to the Florida Keys, a chain of islands south of Miami? So I drove to Marathon, a small town located on Marathon Key (I think) and found a place to stay and met Captain Joseph. He suggested that I snorkel at a place called Sombrero Buoy - which sounded fine with me since I knew nothing about the area. So - with fins, mask, snorkel and camera, the Captain and I set out - about 10 km from the shore. The coral was interesting, but the fish were fantastic. First are the GPS track from Naples to Marathon (left) and then, on Capt. Joseph's boat to the Sombrero Buoy - about 10 im from the shore. Here are some photos.

Here are the GPS tracks of my route. I started from Miami across I-75 to a meeting on the west coast of Florida near Naples. Friday I drove south on US 41, south-east to the bridge to the keys - and then to Marathon. The dive/snorkel site was at Sombrero buoy - about 10 km south of Marathon and Sombrero beach. The photos tell the story.

Here is the buoy (above water) and here are a number of interesting fish. The camera is a Minolta APS underwater camera, using 100 speed film and always with the flash enabled (this was Adi's suggestion, and these are the best yet). The quality is not as good as that from the 35 mm Minolta underwater camera - at least when I am the operator. But Laura makes fantastic photos with the 35 mm Minolta.

There was a huge (30 cm) jelly fish, dancing in front of me - Not as beautiful or as graceful as the medusa of Greece, but quite interesting in its own right. Here, you see this jelly fish - like a cell-attached patch without the electrode. We saw fish, that I've got to learn to identify - but as you can see, the diving was full of color - both fish and coral.

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