Sunday: We went all day without realizing that it was St Patty’s Day. Our plan for today was to go diving. We’ve been waiting for the weather, wind and waves to calm down enough so that it would be fun. We have been to Sombrero Reef before, and it is an easy schmeazy place to go diving. It is part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, so there are lots of fish, and there are 14 mooring buoys to tie up to. We wanted to get out there before all the buoys were full, so we headed out at 8:00. It would take us about an hour to get there. We were a little nervous as we approached, because there were a lot of boats there, and more approaching. We quick scoped it out and saw a couple of buoys open. They aren’t placed very far apart, but it looked like we would fit ok, so we grabbed SO13 and got all tied up. The buoys have a long yellow rope lead with a loop on them so you slip your own line through the loop and tie off. This shows where it is in relation to Marathon.
And here is a Google close-up of where we were. Look at that reef!!
I found this website that is so helpful. It has a list and maps of all of the buoy sites in the Florida Keys, and a map of each site. I circled the area where we tied up.
https://floridakeys.noaa.gov/mbuoy/maps/sombrero_buoys.html
The water looked really calm, so we were surprised at how much rocking and rolling we experienced. It must have just been from boat wakes, but we were in constant motion.
There were several snorkel and dive boats there, and lots of day boats. It was fun to listed to the girls snorkeling nearby as they squealed with delight through their snorkels.
The water was nice and clear and very inviting! I got my wetsuit on (THAT was an epic struggle!) and snorkeled around a little bit. There were lots of fishies! Unfortunately I don’t have an underwater camera, so you just have to trust me on this.
We got our SCUBA gear ready and plopped into the water. We started out swimming toward the lighthouse, but it got too shallow, so we just tootled around the reef near the boat. I think the deepest we were was 25’. Kenny’s dive computer went kaput, and he was a little bit light on weight so was having a challenge and not really having a good time. After about 30 minutes we went to the surface to see where the boat was, went back down and made our way to it. That is the best thing about diving in this shallow water. You can go to the surface any time without a safety stop. We saw lots of different kinds and sizes of fish, from big grouper to tiny little coral fish. There was lots of beautiful coral. We saw several yellow numbered tags that said to take a picture of the tag and the coral around it, and upload to a website. It is a way of monitoring coral health, which is pretty cool!
We had a total of 37 minutes bottom time. We were hoping for an hour, but since we haven’t been diving for over a year, the first time out is always a little challenging. And then when I came up the ladder onto our swim step, I was fixin’ to take off my gear when I noticed that my left shoulder strap was already undone. Hmm. That’s weird. It wasn’t until later when we were rinsing the gear off that I notice that it is completely broken. Dang. I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t want to do another dive!
We thought we might make lunch and stay awhile, but it was so rocky rolly that we dropped our line and headed back. Good-bye Sombrero Reef – until next time!
This is a shot as we went under the famous 7-mile bridge – on the left, and an old railroad bridge on the right.
Back at the resort, it was time for some R&R. The resort was getting really busy with a lot of families. When I checked with the concierge about checking out in the morning, she said that all of their condos were full for the coming week with families for Spring Break. These units go for over $5000 a week! WOWZA! There was a lot of noise at the pool with children playing, so we headed back to the boat. Lezlie & Mark invited us to come over and go out to dinner with them tonight.
We headed over to Blackfin and had boattails on Antonia with Mark & Lezlie, the crew from Zoey’s Adventure who we originally met in Canada last summer, and a couple we’d never met from Southern Comfort. They had just been to Key West and he was getting over being sick. She was German and so funny! They told a story about going to the French Bakery/Restaurant, and seeing a man naked as can be and completely painted green. She said she decided not to buy a cannoli. Oh my goodness we laughed so much! Then six of us went to dinner at Herbie’s. Mark & Lezlie had a little rental car – a Hyundai Kona – which is a mini SUV. Mark made two trips to get us all there. We got there at about 8:00, and they were out of almost everything on the menu. But we each found something to eat and had a fun evening.
Afterwards, us girls decided that we could all six pile into this little 🚗, so I curled up in the little back hatch part, and three people crammed into the back seat. I told them it’s a good thing I like yoga and can be flexible! It was so funny, and we felt like crazy teenagers. When we got to the resort to drop Kenny & I off, they let me out, and then Mark did a couple of circles around the round-about as they left. What a hoot! Love those guys!
We had a good last day in Marathon. Tomorrow’s weather is looking good for our trip down to Key West. It’s just under 60 miles to get there, by going back out under the 7-mile bridge and taking Hawk Channel all the way down. Should be a very nice day.