Have you been to the Reefs?

[Ocean’s Piece]

Have you been to a Reef before? I recently traveled to the Florida Keys and went to Looe Key Reef. It was the first reef I had ever been to. It was also my first experience scuba diving. In this video, I documented everything we saw. We saw all kinds of fish and corals, many of which I had seen before at stores. It was a great experience and I would recommend it for any reefer.

Please share your experiences!!

Sorry for the shaky footage and the watermark. If you enjoyed this video, if you could show your appreciation, a like and subscribe would be greatly appreciated. Also, check out my other videos on my reef tank here:

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCEWCIj6yc7Goxg-ez80CbuA/featured

 

[blaxsun]

Yes we have, although what the reefs were then compared to now is light night and day.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Went snorkeling in Aruba - not as colorful as some others but some amazing fish.
I’d love to get a spotted trunkfish and some sergeant majors one day!

 

[Karen00]

Not a full reef. I went to Cancun when I was young with my family and we went snorkeling in a beautiful lagoon. It was kind of reefish. It was a totally different world under the water. Previous to that I have only been to beaches in Florida and up here in Canada.

 

[Karen00]

BTW: I just watched your video. That's amazing! What camera did you use? It looks like 4k quality.

 

[PatW]

The Florida keys have good fish populations and good soft corals such as gorgonians. But the hard corals are largely no more. I snorkeled in the keys in the seventies. There were unblemished brain coral colonies the size of Volkswagens and they were abundant. Now those corals are largely dead.

I understand that the keys had acres of staghorn corals. I do not recall seeing healthy staghorn in the keys now. I know of a few places that have some healthy staghorn but it is not abundant. I also know a few places that have healthy elkhorn coral.

Coral reefs face a number to stressors: way too much nutrient runoff usually in the form of sewage or the nutrients from treated sewage, overfishing, and climate change. When a reef gets above 84 degrees it can have a coral bleaching event. I was at a place which 3 years ago had a fair amount of healthy stoney coral and it had a major bleaching event. It no longer has healthy stoney coral.

 

[Crash13jcg]

Reef drifting in cozmel was breathe taking.

 

[Karen00]

The Florida keys have good fish populations and good soft corals such as gorgonians. But the hard corals are largely no more. I snorkeled in the keys in the seventies. There were unblemished brain coral colonies the size of Volkswagens and they were abundant. Now those corals are largely dead.

I understand that the keys had acres of staghorn corals. I do not recall seeing healthy staghorn in the keys now. I know of a few places that have some healthy staghorn but it is not abundant. I also know a few places that have healthy elkhorn coral.

Coral reefs face a number to stressors: way too much nutrient runoff usually in the form of sewage or the nutrients from treated sewage, overfishing, and climate change. When a reef gets above 84 degrees it can have a coral bleaching event. I was at a place which 3 years ago had a fair amount of healthy stoney coral and it had a major bleaching event. It no longer has healthy stoney coral.

I can only imagine how glorious the world's reefs would've looked 300 years ago. Probably even 150 years ago would've been fabulous (before industrialization and globalization). It's sad to see how much money is being plowed into space exploration. I bet if just 10% of that money were put to solving earth's problems we probably could. It's like people have given up on trying to save our planet. :-(

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

Yes we have, although what the reefs were then compared to now is light night and day.

I wish I had the opportunity to see what they used to be. I definitely saw many bleached corals, but fortunately, Looe Key seems to be in better shape than a lot of the reefs.

Went snorkeling in Aruba - not as colorful as some others but some amazing fish.
I’d love to get a spotted trunkfish and some sergeant majors one day!

I loved the trunk fish, and the sergeant majors were very neat.

BTW: I just watched your video. That's amazing! What camera did you use? It looks like 4k quality.

It was a 5 year old GoPro Hero 4 lol. It was 1080p in 60 fps. I ran it through an app on my phone called Dive+ which color corrected the footage since most was very blue. Crazy those GoPros. Some of the best cameras I’ve used.

The Florida keys have good fish populations and good soft corals such as gorgonians. But the hard corals are largely no more. I snorkeled in the keys in the seventies. There were unblemished brain coral colonies the size of Volkswagens and they were abundant. Now those corals are largely dead.

I understand that the keys had acres of staghorn corals. I do not recall seeing healthy staghorn in the keys now. I know of a few places that have some healthy staghorn but it is not abundant. I also know a few places that have healthy elkhorn coral.

Coral reefs face a number to stressors: way too much nutrient runoff usually in the form of sewage or the nutrients from treated sewage, overfishing, and climate change. When a reef gets above 84 degrees it can have a coral bleaching event. I was at a place which 3 years ago had a fair amount of healthy stoney coral and it had a major bleaching event. It no longer has healthy stoney coral.

The fish populations are very abundant. There’s definitely a ton of soft corals. I rarely saw staghorns or any large ones. I saw several brains, but they were no bigger than a football and most of them had some bleaching. There was a spot the guide told us that had staghorn corals, but they weren’t letting anyone dive there because they were protecting them. Sad that that’s what it’s come to. Hopefully the efforts scientists are making will help save the reefs

 

[fish farmer]

I've been to John Pennekamp State park in Key Largo. Snorkeling only and it was a rough day so we only went to the back reef.

I've also snorkeled Beach 69 on the west side of Hawaii, didn't venture too far out, but far enough.

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

I've been to John Pennekamp State park in Key Largo. Snorkeling only and it was a rough day so we only went to the back reef.

I've also snorkeled Beach 69 on the west side of Hawaii, didn't venture too far out, but far enough.

What did you see at Key Largo. I went to John Pennekamp several years back but I only snorkeled on the beach. Really wanted to go dive there at the time, but couldn’t because I wasn’t certified. I would love to dive Hawaii.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

I have never been on the reef. Someday I will, but I am very far away from the closest healthy reef. Even the closest unhealthy reef is thousands of miles away.

 

[Mr.OK]

Snorkled on the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns, AU

 

[vetteguy53081]

been in reefs at:
Jamaica
Cancun
Cozumel
Bahamas
Grand Caymans

 

[Chrisv.]

The Florida keys have good fish populations and good soft corals such as gorgonians. But the hard corals are largely no more. I snorkeled in the keys in the seventies. There were unblemished brain coral colonies the size of Volkswagens and they were abundant. Now those corals are largely dead.

I understand that the keys had acres of staghorn corals. I do not recall seeing healthy staghorn in the keys now. I know of a few places that have some healthy staghorn but it is not abundant. I also know a few places that have healthy elkhorn coral.

Coral reefs face a number to stressors: way too much nutrient runoff usually in the form of sewage or the nutrients from treated sewage, overfishing, and climate change. When a reef gets above 84 degrees it can have a coral bleaching event. I was at a place which 3 years ago had a fair amount of healthy stoney coral and it had a major bleaching event. It no longer has healthy stoney coral.

Came here to say this. It's a cool video, but it's heartbreaking to see the decline in stony corals even in the last 10 years.

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

Snorkled on the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns, AU

Very neat. When you went, was it in good condition or was it very bleached like what most people have seen?

 

[Ly78]

Many years ago in Bali, got me hooked into this hobby.

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

Came here to say this. It's a cool video, but it's heartbreaking to see the decline in stony corals even in the last 10 years.

Thanks, means a lot! Very sad for sure. I rarely saw any stony corals. Maybe spotted 4 staghorns no bigger than a baseball. Seems like the fan corals, gorgonians, and soft corals have taken over there.

 

[Chrisv.]

Many years ago in Bali, got me hooked into this hobby.

It's funny you say that. When I went on my first scuba vacation I came home and thought "what's the point in keeping a reef tank when the real reef is so magnificent?"

 

[Mr.OK]

Very neat. When you went, was it in good condition or was it very bleached like what most people have seen?

It was awesome, I went 12+ years ago or so.