While it might seem I'm only here for the weather it's also about the rocks and diving. Tim has been "growing" live rocks for 16 years. We picked up 3000 lbs of coquina rock from a supplier in Florida on the way down. That's about 50 five gallon buckets.
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| Pile of rock at the supplier. |
Coquina (a Spanish word for "tiny shell") is a limestone conglomerate material named for the shells of the small mollusks it contains. The fort in St Augustine, FL is made out of over 150 million pounds of coquina all quarried and built by hand starting in 1598.
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| Working on the rock. |
To increase the surface area of the rock and add more interest holes are drilled. Eventually the rock will end up in someones salt water fish tank.
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| A nice day at the rock bin. Water cooled drill bit. |
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| A finished batch. |
The rock is only found along the coast of Florida and is form 11,500 to 1.8 million years old.
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| Close-up of some of the rock. |
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| Occasionally there are some large shells. |
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| A view of the farm from about 15 feet below the surface. |
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| At the farm. |
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| Some of my newly drilled rock ready for planting on the rebar. |
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| Almost ready rock. |
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| Packing buckets. |
Once the buckets are loaded below float bags filled with air are used to raise them to the surface. A lot easier then pulling 30 pounds of rock through 50 feet of water.
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| Up and away. |
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| Float bag hauled in. |
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| After a few years under the sea. A finished rock ready for display. |
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| Small sea urchin along for the ride. |
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