Sunset on the Keys

Well time has run out on my time in the Keys. One of my original goals for this trip was to avoid the winter in Seattle and spend it in Florida or at least someplace warm and sunny.  I can say mission achieved.  Here are some more photos.

Sunset on the Bay.

A rare calm morning.

An afternoon on the dock of the bay.

It's hard to describe the color of the water over the reef.

Checking out the new rocks.

Can you spot the fish?

On the last dive of the trip I took a tour around the farm.  This Goliath Grouper was hanging out in a "cleaning station".

The farm besides being a place to grow live rock is also a new habitat for fish and sea creatures.  It provides a place for them to hide out from larger predators and feed on what's growing on the rocks.  The cleaning stations are places where the larger fish stop to let the smaller fish clean off parasites etc.  Turtles have been seen nearby and there is evidence they use the rocks to scrape their shells against.

Another resident.  Grey spotted Eel.

Smile for the camera!

There are also green eels that hang out around the farm.  They like hiding in the piles of rocks.

The new "Patio" addition added this trip.

This is what things look like underwater.

This is what they look like underwater with a flash.

This school of bar jacks was swimming around under the boat.  It was a little interesting being in the middle of a mass of bait fish while hanging on the anchor line for a safety stop.

They are hard to see because it's a night photo but two large manatees stopped by the house dock one night. 

A nice place to spend a month.