*You don’t judge Turtle, Turtle Judges You!*

I run into issues when friends finally decide to get their scuba certification. I just feel the need to get them down to the Keys and show them that 4-5 dives a day is the way! Unfortunately, this was March and we needed wetsuits with the 75º water.

I always like it when my scuba friends take to the water naturally. We did a bunch of dives over the long weekend including both a day and a night dive on the Benwood, which is my favorite shallow water spot. Obviously, since Walter was a freshly minted denizen of the underwater kingdom, we didn’t do any of the cool deep wrecks like the Speigal, Duane, or the Bibb.

Always nice to have shark encounters in the keys. Saw a few reef sharks on the shallow reefs, but no big ones. Although a young male great white was hanging out up the coast in Jupiter at the time.

The smooth trunkfish is one of my favorites, especially when they let you follow them around on their daily activities. They meander, almost drunkenly, from sandy spot to sandy spot, gently blowing puffs of water in the sand to expose breakfast. their triangular shape and leathery flat bottom means you will not mistake them for someone else… Well maybe a honeycomb cowfish if you have some salt in your eyes or something.

I always find angelfish a little hard to photograph. It is not that they are shy, it’s just that they tend to twist and give you the tail when you press the shutter. They also act pretty damn haughty. PRO TIP: the best way to tell the difference between the Gray Angelfish (pictured above) and the French Angelfish (not pictured above) is that the Gray Angelfish is more gray. IYKYK

I think someone in the group may have gotten a little too close and got this lady startled. She recovered and found another place to eat fish and chill.

And thanks to Rainbow Reef for an excellent trip again.

Key Largo Scuba Boot Camp

A Day In The Swamp