Fishing and Snorkeling our way up the Keys!

We departed Key West this week and determined that we were going to go out to Dry Tortugas National Park (a group of islands about 60 miles west of Key West). Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, Cindy researched the regulations and determined that we couldn't visit the islands without a permit. It was after hours by the time we realized we needed the permit so we just decided to head East instead of West from Key West.

We chose to transit the Hawk Channel which is a deep water (relatively) trough between the keys and the shallow reef that lies about 5 nautical miles offshore. On our first night after leaving Key West the weather was particularly calm and clear. The ocean was as still as a lake so we decided to spend the night offshore moored at Looe Key. Looe Key is not a "Key" at all, but a coral reef that has developed over an island that has sunk over time. The sights there are absolutely unbelievable. Thousands of tropical fish congregate beneath your boat so all you have to do is jump right in and enjoy them.

After we were snorkeling for a short time, the very large Barracuda pictured above started hanging around us a little too close so we decided to get out of the water and take a break. The barracuda then started circling the boat as if he was just looking for something to fall over so he could gobble it up. As luck would have it, Jack decided to lean as far as he could over the side to get a better look and then fell into the water right on top of the Cuda. I don't know who panicked more....Jack, Cindy, Hayley, me or the Barracuda but there followed a large amount of yelling, screaming, cursing and crying. Luckily the Barracuda instinctually chose "flight" instead of "fight" and bolted away.

After all that excitement we decided to head a little further off the reef and do some fishing on the steep ledge going from about 10 feet deep to about 500 feet deep in only a mile. We had a fantastic fishing day! We caught lots of "Little Tunny", Spanish Mackeral and yellowtail snapper (pictured above). Jack has decided that he's giving up school and just going to go fishing instead. He actually told this to his mother (teacher).