tracy_from_oz
Contributor
Hi guys
I am coming back to Florida again and I found a couple dive sites that sound great but was wondering if you guys had any advice as well as knowing if a dive operator goes to these sites.
One is called Turtle rocks/reef and the other dive I wanted was in the mangroves.
I wasnt fussed about where the mangroves dive was, hopefully near the Turtle Rocks/reef.
Do you guys know of any operators that go here?
The information I have one the two sites is:
Turtle rocks/Reef
If you want to see turtles you should visit Turtle Reef or Turtle Rocks just north of Key Largo.
Diving Florida Scuba Trips at Turtle Reef or Turtle for the Worlds Ultimate Diving Experience
Name divesite: Turtle Rocks
Depth: 10-25ft (3-7m)
Visibility: 30-130ft (9-39m)
Accessibility: Boat, Live-aboard
Time to visit: All year around with warmest water in summer (apr-aug)
Turtle Reef is actually the northern edge of the reef which is named Turtle Rocks. This shallow reef runs north-south with a channel at its left side for about one and a half mile..
Turtle Reef or Turtle Rocks is one of the most northern reefs of Key Largo at the edge of the Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary and Biscayne National Park. This reef a few miles west of Grayvik has become a prime attraction because of the hundreds of turtles that live there. Hawksbill turtles, green turtles and loggerhead turtles are all very normal here. Other sights may include a nurse shark sheltering under small archways and inside tiny caves, some eagle rays and moray eels.
Miami diving Florida mangroves diving in Key Biscayne national park
Florida Mangroves is the best known mangrove forest dive site inside Biscayne Bay, Florida Keys.
Name divesite: Florida Mangroves
Depth: 2-10ft (0-3m)
Visibility: 30-130ft (9-39m)
Accessibility: Shore, Boat
Time to visit: All year around with warmest water in summer (apr-aug)
Biscayne National Park, but also other area's around the coast of Florida, has a tropical climate that is the perfect location for mangroves. Florida Mangroves is one of the many places we have chosen to mark on the map as it is one of the best known mangrove dive sites around the Keys, but remember that there are many others. Mangroves or mangal are found in shallow high nutrient coastal area's protected from heavy wave action. Its roots serve as food source for birds such as herons, egrets and frigate birds.
Mangrove trunks, tunnels, alley ways and many small overhangs create a very healthy and nutrient area full of fish and marine mammals. Many of them are known to divers from diving at all the different dive sites at the Florida Keys, but some are also particularly common in mangrove forests. Animal species such as the manatee will provide an extra underwater encounter you won't often see in other regions around the world. Also crocodiles and rattle snakes have known to live near mangroves although we think you have to be quite lucky if you encounter one underwater. Snooks, mangrove snappers and channel bass are some of the larger species known to live and breed inside its trunk habitat.
Some notes that appear to diving in mangroves are the following:
§ Try to move around by pulling yourself along the roots of the mangroves. Most mangrove forests are heavily silted and very shallow, which are perfect conditions for many divers to kick up silt with their fins.
§ Always carry a dive flag around your belly as most mangrove forests are heavy travelled by boats and other tourists. And you don't want to get hit by a boat engine while playing with a manatee.
§ Pay special attention to maintaining your buoyancy as this is often difficult in shallow areas with some surge.
§ Its shallowness provides for the brightest red and orange coloured sponges, blue crabs and many types of algae, bryozoans and barnacles.
Thanks
tracy
I am coming back to Florida again and I found a couple dive sites that sound great but was wondering if you guys had any advice as well as knowing if a dive operator goes to these sites.
One is called Turtle rocks/reef and the other dive I wanted was in the mangroves.
I wasnt fussed about where the mangroves dive was, hopefully near the Turtle Rocks/reef.
Do you guys know of any operators that go here?
The information I have one the two sites is:
Turtle rocks/Reef
If you want to see turtles you should visit Turtle Reef or Turtle Rocks just north of Key Largo.
Diving Florida Scuba Trips at Turtle Reef or Turtle for the Worlds Ultimate Diving Experience
Name divesite: Turtle Rocks
Depth: 10-25ft (3-7m)
Visibility: 30-130ft (9-39m)
Accessibility: Boat, Live-aboard
Time to visit: All year around with warmest water in summer (apr-aug)
Turtle Reef is actually the northern edge of the reef which is named Turtle Rocks. This shallow reef runs north-south with a channel at its left side for about one and a half mile..
Turtle Reef or Turtle Rocks is one of the most northern reefs of Key Largo at the edge of the Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary and Biscayne National Park. This reef a few miles west of Grayvik has become a prime attraction because of the hundreds of turtles that live there. Hawksbill turtles, green turtles and loggerhead turtles are all very normal here. Other sights may include a nurse shark sheltering under small archways and inside tiny caves, some eagle rays and moray eels.
Miami diving Florida mangroves diving in Key Biscayne national park
Florida Mangroves is the best known mangrove forest dive site inside Biscayne Bay, Florida Keys.
Name divesite: Florida Mangroves
Depth: 2-10ft (0-3m)
Visibility: 30-130ft (9-39m)
Accessibility: Shore, Boat
Time to visit: All year around with warmest water in summer (apr-aug)
Biscayne National Park, but also other area's around the coast of Florida, has a tropical climate that is the perfect location for mangroves. Florida Mangroves is one of the many places we have chosen to mark on the map as it is one of the best known mangrove dive sites around the Keys, but remember that there are many others. Mangroves or mangal are found in shallow high nutrient coastal area's protected from heavy wave action. Its roots serve as food source for birds such as herons, egrets and frigate birds.
Mangrove trunks, tunnels, alley ways and many small overhangs create a very healthy and nutrient area full of fish and marine mammals. Many of them are known to divers from diving at all the different dive sites at the Florida Keys, but some are also particularly common in mangrove forests. Animal species such as the manatee will provide an extra underwater encounter you won't often see in other regions around the world. Also crocodiles and rattle snakes have known to live near mangroves although we think you have to be quite lucky if you encounter one underwater. Snooks, mangrove snappers and channel bass are some of the larger species known to live and breed inside its trunk habitat.
Some notes that appear to diving in mangroves are the following:
§ Try to move around by pulling yourself along the roots of the mangroves. Most mangrove forests are heavily silted and very shallow, which are perfect conditions for many divers to kick up silt with their fins.
§ Always carry a dive flag around your belly as most mangrove forests are heavy travelled by boats and other tourists. And you don't want to get hit by a boat engine while playing with a manatee.
§ Pay special attention to maintaining your buoyancy as this is often difficult in shallow areas with some surge.
§ Its shallowness provides for the brightest red and orange coloured sponges, blue crabs and many types of algae, bryozoans and barnacles.
Thanks
tracy
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