Have you been to the Reefs?

[madlos123]

Im from the Bohol, Philippines. The nearest beach was only 5 min walking distance nearby. I would snorkel and scuba all the time and see the reefs.
Now I live in Iowa. I still go back and visit every 2 to 3 years and do all of that.

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

A group of us dive Looe Key just about every year for the last 6 years. I love the easy to navigate layout and the large amount of wildlife. However, the die off of the corals is very heart breaking... There is a brain coral there that is dang near the size of a VW bug. First year we saw it it was probably 70% alive. fast forward 3 years later and maybe only 20% was still alive, but looked stressed for sure. We stared diving off of Key Largo last year and really enjoyed it. So now our trips consist of a few days in Key Largo, a few days at Looe Key and finish off the trip with a drunken day/night at Key West before we stumble onto the plane for the flight home.

Sounds like an awesome trip. I know ours was great

 

[onemako]

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

I live about 4 hrs from Key Largo, have dived Bonaire, Great Barrier, Belize (1970), Pennkamp, and numerous Bahamian reefs. Diving is probably over as I just hit the 71 yoa, and ticker is not in good shape anymore. Memories will last forever though. My tank is what stirs the old memories as I watch my little buddies swimming each day.

 

[Wasabiroot]

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. :-(

Compared to the rest of federal funds, hardly any goes towards space exploration. The budget for nasa next fiscal year is 23 billion which is a drop in the bucket. That's needed to operate the incredibly complex instruments they have. I feel like we can do both things and not one or the other. But I share your sentiment...it sometimes feels like my ancestors are going to inherit a very bland world :/

 

[Rickster1334]

Yes, lived in Bermuda for 3 years, dove every week and biggest shocker was the smallest of fish are the most aggressive

 

[AquaBen]

I've been snorkeling in the Bahamas and in Maui. Also the US gulf coast. Nothing can match the turquoise clear water of the Bahamas -- simply stunning. Lots of soft corals, mushrooms, ricordias, gonis, etc. In Maui (off the beach and at Molokini) there was a greater diversity of sps hard corals and fish. Huge shoals of yellow tangs, triggers of every description, wrasses, moorish idols, damsels, butterflies, angels, and countless others. I was already a reefer and it was like seeing old friends in their native habitat. Lion fish were present in both places, as were large lobsters and moray eels. Nurse sharks in the Bahamas and white tips in Maui. Both had a lot of sea urchins in different colors. Live conch in the Bahamas and live cowerie in Maui. Loved every minute of it.

 

[Biglew11]

I was stationed on Okinawa in 99. I snorkeled the reefs a couple times. I still kick myself for not taking scuba lessons there. At the time I had absolutely no idea what I was looking at. I had no idea saltwater tanks were even a thing until several years later.

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

I was stationed on Okinawa in 99. I snorkeled the reefs a couple times. I still kick myself for not taking scuba lessons there. At the time I had absolutely no idea what I was looking at. I had no idea saltwater tanks were even a thing until several years later.

I'm so glad that I knew about a lot of the things before I went. Makes the experience much more enjoyable

 

[bnord]

Keys, Cozumel, 15X Belize, Caymans, Baja, Zactecas and drum roll please.... Galapagos

Never indo-pacific maybe someday...

 

[Karen00]

Compared to the rest of federal funds, hardly any goes towards space exploration. The budget for nasa next fiscal year is 23 billion which is a drop in the bucket. That's needed to operate the incredibly complex instruments they have. I feel like we can do both things and not one or the other. But I share your sentiment...it sometimes feels like my ancestors are going to inherit a very bland world :/

I was thinking money from the private companies (SpaceX, etc). If they put even a fraction of that money to saving this planet then we'd be much further along and both goals could be achieved. You're right that money for government space projects is a pittance but a fraction of a pittance is still setting. You're also right that future generations are going to inherit a nasty planet. They'll look at pics/videos of what the planet used to look like in disbelief that it actually looked that beautiful but more disbelief in how quickly it went belly up. :-(

 

[Lyss]

I haven't visited a reef and it's on my bucket list -- sadly any time I tell someone that, they tell me I better hurry before they're gone (that, and the Amazon rainforest). One of the things I'd really like to do is get scuba certified so I can volunteer and help the Coral Restoration Foundation plant corals. But certification has been prohibitively expensive for me so far...

My two big hobby interests are reefs and plants. RN it's springtime so I'm back into plant mode -- my apartment definitely looks like a jungle.

 

[Wasabiroot]

I was thinking money from the private companies (SpaceX, etc). If they put even a fraction of that money to saving this planet then we'd be much further along and both goals could be achieved. You're right that money for government space projects is a pittance but a fraction of a pittance is still setting. You're also right that future generations are going to inherit a nasty planet. They'll look at pics/videos of what the planet used to look like in disbelief that it actually looked that beautiful but more disbelief in how quickly it went belly up. :-(

Yeahh...I will say that I see a silver lining and the latest generations seem much more conscious of their impact...I just hope it isn't too late.

 

[Jubei2006]

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

Stayed for a week at the Boy Scout's Florida sea base when I was a kid. Near Bahia Honda state park and not far from Looe key. Got to spend a long day snorkeling the area. Beautiful place, enjoyed my time there, definately didn't help my addiction to this hobby! Also lived in St Kitts for 2.5 years, had a few reefs within a 5 to 10 minute drive. Was there frequently between classes. Great times, and provide inspiration for what I want my tank to look like long term.

 

[Wasabiroot]

And to actually answer the question...Did a 5 day liveaboard at Milln and Ribbon Reef on the Great Barrier Reef. Got to do night diving with sharks which was awesome. I've also done some diving near Los Canos reserve in Costa Rica -not Cocos lol (great pelagics) and the Keys, and Maui/Big Island.

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

Keys, Cozumel, 15X Belize, Caymans, Baja, Zactecas and drum roll please.... Galapagos

Never indo-pacific maybe someday...

Wow I'd love to go to Galapagos. Very interesting place.

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

Stayed for a week at the Boy Scout's Florida sea base when I was a kid. Near Bahia Honda state park and not far from Looe key. Got to spend a long day snorkeling the area. Beautiful place, enjoyed my time there, definately didn't help my addiction to this hobby! Also lived in St Kitts for 2.5 years, had a few reefs within a 5 to 10 minute drive. Was there frequently between classes. Great times, and provide inspiration for what I want my tank to look like long term.

I have visited Bahia Honda twice, and both experiences were very cool. The first time was very cool. We had a school of massive parrotfish an arm lengths away from us and saw a ton of little small fish. Unfortunately, this was before I started reefing. The second trip (on this trip), we saw a lot of little damsels, sergeant majors and such, but I recognized all of them, so the experience was much cooler for sure.

 

[Jubei2006]

I have visited Bahia Honda twice, and both experiences were very cool. The first time was very cool. We had a school of massive parrotfish an arm lengths away from us and saw a ton of little small fish. Unfortunately, this was before I started reefing. The second trip (on this trip), we saw a lot of little damsels, sergeant majors and such, but I recognized all of them, so the experience was much cooler for sure.

It does have more impact when you know what you are looking at. Then you go to point out the awesomeness to someone who doesn't know......it's frustrating.

 

[revenant]

I've snorkeled a bit in Belize... Ranguana Caye, Laughing Bird Caye and a few other locations.. Also in Hawaii multiple locations.. Mexico too but not sure it counts as the conditions were so bad. Jamaica years ago..

Out of all of them Ranguana Caye in Belize was the best experience. It's about a 90min boat ride from the resorts in Plancencia to the island. You can stay there all day, there is food+beer, and reef surrounds 3/4s of the island so you can walk into the water from the beach and see some of the most spectacular snorkeling one can see walking into the ocean and BOOM it's all just right there... I've been there twice and both times spent the whole day exploring the reefs around that island... only saw one shark, six foot nurse.. the fish and coral diversity is quite good... Visibility not as good as some spots in Hawaii (Molokini crater being the benchmark for visibility) but overall excellent.
(not my photo but this is Ranguana Caye)

 

[Wasabiroot]

Belize is definitely on my bucket list. I would enjoy seeing the Carribean in a slightly closer to original form. Plus I love gorgonians...

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

Also would really like to go belize