It’s been just over six months since the USS Vandenberg was sunk.  Our artificial reef is coming along nicely- not everything is stark white any more, but covered in growth at this point.  We were out snorkeling and freediving recently, and the vis was about 80 feet.  No current, and hardly any wind.  Perfect Key West snorkeling conditions!  Here are a few photos.

You can see the growth

 

Sometimes when it’s windy, it’s fun to head out in the boat to the Gulf side, or Back Country.  It’s different there, and snorkeling is just as much fun as out on the reef.  In these pictures you can see lobster, hogfish, red grouper, puffer fish, snapper, angel fish, spade fish and more.

 

You Can See Scuba Divers Below this Freediver

After all those months of anticipation for the Vandenberg sinking, we finally got to dive it last week. Freediving the Vandenberg is definitely the ultimate wreck experience for freedivers. When the vis is good, you can see the Vandenberg from the boat! That’s because the top decks, satellite dish, and almost all other parts of the ship are painted white. They’re not covered with growth yet, either. You can look down from the surface and see a barracuda outlined against the floor of the top deck.

In fact, barracuda seem to be the only major fish that have shown up yet, at least ones you can see while freediving the Vandenberg. The top deck is about sixty feet down. I can get down to 45 feet if I crunch my eardrums a little, which means it’s my limit for now. One guy we were with swam under a beam (no tanks, remember) but I’m not there yet!

The fun part was freediving down, tankless, and seeing scuba divers nearby with all their bubbles streaming out behind them, all that gear, oy! In some of the pictures below, you can see the scuba divers. The Vandenberg is exciting for everyone, including Key West scuba enthusiasts. But for me, freediving the Vandenberg was the ultimate experience. I can’t wait to go back.

Freediver Sitting on the Vandenberg Crane

A spearfishing friend of ours who works for FWC was among the first to dive the Vandenberg, the day after the sinking. He took some amazing pictures, so here they are. The satellite dish did come loose in the sinking process, but not totally loose. It’s still attached via a huge cable, and sits on the deck of the ship, where it will remain. Thanks for the awesome pics, Mike!

 

Star Gazer is an underwater sculpture set on crystal white sand near the main reef.  It’s also an artificial reef,  since some coral has managed to latch on and grow.  There’s a nice Jew Fish (oh, sorry, Goliath Grouper), some very large Angel Fish, and lots of Mangroves.  Star Gazer is kind of surreal and surprising, since it’s obviously some sort of scupture with meaning.  It’s got something to do with stars and navigation, and I hear you can get a map to it, which shows certain elements you can hunt for, like a game.

Even without the chart, Star Gazer reef is fun to snorkel or dive.  It’s maybe 20 feet deep and clearly outlined against the white sand so even from the surface you can see the massive table-like steel shapes.  Look  for the  newest resident, the Goliath Grouper.  He’s really shy, so you can’t get too close to him.  He hasn’t figured out yet that Star Gazer isn’t very good cover for a huge monster like himself!

Star Gazer Reef is Full of Fish

Goliath Grouper Thinks He's Hiding

Bye Bye Jewfish

Yay, it’s a celebration!  It’s April 15, and taxes are done!  In Key West, we celebrate by heading out to the Nine Foot Stake and jumping in.  It’s a Key West snorkeling celebration.  The conditions were perfect for a pleasant day of snorkeling.  It’s only blowing 8 knots, and the water temperature, according to our local Key West dolphin tour guide, is a wonderful 82 degrees.  Lovely weather for a 3/2 wetsuit.  For spearos, not ideal conditions, as you can see below.  But everything is relative, and we spotted mackeral all over the Nine Foot Stake area.

Here are some vis report pictures.  One is taken from the surface, at about 30 feet depfth.  The next is taken halfway down.  The one with the diver in is at about 30 feet.  Very green.

Key West is a sub-tropical island. To those of you in offices up in Manhattan, or St. Paul, or Green Bay, residents of Key West have no right to ever utter the words “it’s cold out”. But yes, we’re saying it.

It’s Cold Out

We have had temperatures down in the high 40s this winter, and the wind howls every day. Howls, like 25 knots every single day. Temperatures are in the mid 60s and combined with the wind chill, combined with driving in an open boat, brrrr.

But It’s Still Lovely Outside

But it’s still lovely here, nevertheless. Know why? All you need to adjust to the slightly cooler weather is a light sweater. And some tourists don’t even notice at all! Yes, you still see people in sleeveless tops. Our coldest weather is still vacation paradise weather. The only people who get really cold are the ones riding scooters and riding on boats. No problem at all!

Snorkeling is Still Great

When the water temperatures get lower in the winter time here, you can still spend hours in the water snorkeling, diving, or just taking pictures. All you need of course is a wetsuit. All the big Key West snorkeling boats provide their guests with rental wetsuits so you’re golden.

While you can overcome the cooler water temperatures while snorkeling, it’s hard to beat high winds. Our solution is to stay close to Key West in your boat and go shallow water diving or snorkeling. There are coral heads and other things to see under water all around the island. Take a look:

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