Deep Reefs in Dry Tortugas

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simbrooks

Snr LayZboy Meteorologist
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Someone at work notified me to this - seems on a NOAA research trip that they found deep reefs around the Dry Tortugas. These are supposedly the deepest reefs in the US, not sure about the world though. Dont know if this has been covered elsewhere, didnt bother to search :wink:
 
I am sure this is out of my range bt I'll ask for everyone else. How deep?
 
The report says 60-100ft, quite deep compared to say WPB where coral seems to taper off at 80ft or so. Although i did hear from my unsubstantiated rumour at work that it was something like 200ft, but i find this hard to believe. They are comparing it to the flower gardens.
 
I heard about it this morning on the news, and read it again in the local newspaper. The reef was "tentatively identified as a coral reef in 1999", but it took a few years to confirm the reef was alive. Its in 250' of water - yowza! Aparently, they took video with an unmanned submersible and the reef provides a home for both deep and shallow species of fish. Its about 3 miles wide and 20 miles long. The article says its a flat reef, unlike the reefs in the Keys that grow vertically, which is supposed to be an adaptation to the low-light conditions(I can imagine at 250'). They are looking to restrict fishing/trawling on the reef to keep it pristine.

There was another smaller thread on this in the General Scuba Discussion - http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=82957 not much more information, if any.

I saw some video of some of the reefs that were damaged from that tsunami, broken elkhorn coral everywhere. It was a relief to hear new news on a healthy reef :D

Perhaps I need some deco-training.
 
SuPrBuGmAn:
Its in 250' of water - yowza!
Like i said, wasnt sure if that was official or not, the NOAA document i found on a search suggested shallower - who knows, but it could be deco deep if this is to be believed. If anyone finds other articles post them up!
SuPrBuGmAn:
There was another smaller thread on this in the General Scuba Discussion - http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=82957 not much more information, if any.
Yeh i thought it might have been covered, but couldnt be bothered to do a search beyond what i had already heard and seen today on the board.
SuPrBuGmAn:
I saw some video of some of the reefs that were damaged from that tsunami, broken elkhorn coral everywhere. It was a relief to hear new news on a healthy reef
The reefs on the east coast looked a bit like that post-hurricanes too!
 
The other post here on SB didn't really cover much, I posted on it earlier this morning - I wouldn't have noticed it either :)

Some more info, basically an expanded version of what was put into the local newspaper(which was brief).

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/10551995.htm

All the other hits I found through Google were the same info, just cut shorter. The NOAA article you've found was the only article that differed at all really - I wonder which is the case. 60-100' isn't all that deep, I wouldn't think...

We have some 100-110' limestone living coral heads in the northern Gulf, granted, not so big.
 
SuPrBuGmAn:
The other post here on SB didn't really cover much, I posted on it earlier this morning - I wouldn't have noticed it either :)

Some more info, basically an expanded version of what was put into the local newspaper(which was brief).

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/10551995.htm

All the other hits I found through Google were the same info, just cut shorter. The NOAA article you've found was the only article that differed at all really - I wonder which is the case. 60-100' isn't all that deep, I wouldn't think...

We have some 100-110' limestone living coral heads in the northern Gulf, granted, not so big.
That is what i was thinking about the 100ft, coral does seem to pieter out somewhat, but i wouldnt call it deep and its not really the magnitude as what i heard from the other reports. We shall see in time i guess.
 
simbrooks:
That is what i was thinking about the 100ft, coral does seem to pieter out somewhat, but i wouldnt call it deep and its not really the magnitude as what i heard from the other reports. We shall see in time i guess.

Yes, the NOAA article has an incorrect depth figure. They're probably confusing the Flower Garden Banks. I went to a presentation on "Sherwood Forest" back in '02, and it was certainly deeper than 100 feet. I even recall the story about the nasty midwater jellyfishes. Guess they recur from year-to-year, that or the NOAA article is cutting/pasting both recent and older news into a confusing jumble.

CNN's report probably is getting the most national dissemination.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/01/02/deepest.reef.ap/index.html
 
Moved all posts regarding a possible trip to this thread, probably should have done that to start with :wink:
 
Most of the boats that run to the Dry Tortugas are heavily oriented to spearfishing. They do 6 or 7 dives a day (no night dives) with minimal surface intervals. Most divers use nitrox until they redline on oxygen loading, then switch to air. The boats typically do not tie off or anchor at a site, but rather drop off divers in buddy pairs well apart from each other. Each diver carries a signalling device, typically a flag attachable to the end of your speargun, which you display when you want the boat to come get you. There are beautiful reefs in the Tortugas and Marquesas, but the dive sites tend to be selected not for beauty but for the abundance of king-size black groupers and hogfish. If you aren't a spearfisher, try to book a charter oriented to non-fishers if you want to see the pretty stuff.
 
https://xf2.scubaboard.com/community/forums/cave-diving.45/

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