I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it. ~ W C Fields
First of all, let me just say “everyone should eat at the Waffle House once in their lifetime” …….. and that is enough…… apparently waffles are not their forte. We will leave it at that and move onto diving.
I threw my 90 lb dog in the car and drove to the Keys. I was staying with a friend …. So imagine me… my dog….Becky, her 2 lb dust mop dog …I mean Maltese…. Her 2 boys and 2 of their best friends all at her house… it was rockin….. but these stories are for another time…….
Captain Slates Atlantis Dive Center is at the very north end of Key Largo and has a big white boat called the Coral Princess II, our chariot for this adventure……. And a captain with a penchant for watermelon…. Luckily I brought plenty. The shop sits on the dock behind the boat with covered tables, showers and rinse tubs for the divers use. I would recommend them and their friendly and helpful crew if you get the chance to come down.
Becky and I met up with the rest of our group and we were off to Dry Rocks Reef to see the Christ of the Abyss statue and coral spawning.
Hard coral is formed thousands of tiny identical individual polyps. Over time the polyps lay down a skeleton that is the foundation of a coral reef. While some heads of coral grow by asexual reproduction, many others spawn by “Broadcast Spawning.” The coral polyps send their eggs and sperm into the water in massive quantities by a mass simultaneous release. When egg and sperm unite, they form a larval-stage called “planula”. These drift in the current and those that are not eaten or otherwise destroyed look for just the right surface to attach to and grow, thus forming additional coral formations and reefs. These mass spawning releases have been carefully tracked and predictions of the occurrence are based on just the right timing when conditions of water temperatures and phases of the moon coincide. Tonite was the night,
Our first dive was to acclimate ourselves to where the coral heads were and which ones we wanted to watch. In the clear 87F water, our visibility was limited only by the beam of our lights. I was using a 10W canister and not missing a thing.
We descended to the top of the coral reef and made our way down along its walls looking all about. Since this is a marine sanctuary, there is no fishing or taking of marine life and since this is Florida, many divers have a look but don’t touch attitude, these fish hid quietly among varied corals and sponges with that “you can’t see
me” look in their eye. By the end of the evening….they were duly educated. If you shine your light in front of a Spanish lobster (they are black with teeny tiny white polka dots all over them and no pincer claws) they keep a sharp eye on the light and slowly move backwards to safety….or my hand….. they are really spiny and yes Captain Bill, I screamed like a girl when I grabbed them…. But then again… I am a girl….. so all is good. But alas I also had to then release them and move on.
Tucked in among the various corals and sponges all configuration of parrot fish lay quietly hiding. These fish are bright teals and greens with some sporting reds and yellow accents. Some had huge scales that you could see the texturing and fine shadings of black and brown. They are beautiful fish. Toad fish lay in amongst the coral fragments with varying colors, their texture blending almost perfectly with the rough coral rocks. Large heads of star and brain corals were interspersed and since this was the second release, we noted which of the nodes were filled with their soon to be released gametes and which were now empty from last weeks spawning.
Large brown angel fish swam close to the rocks for protection and blue on blue striped fish swam among them. There were Black angel fish with yellow tails and small red squirrel fish swimming about. In the sandy valleys between the sections of reef swam large trumpet fish, either unafraid or dazed by the brightness of my lights. I could get almost close enough to pet them. Peeking in the nooks and crannies I spied a long red tentacle…. Could this be an octopus? Alas no… but are really cool 4 armed starfish with long wiggly arms over a foot long. There were magenta crayfish looking things hiding in the holes and their eyes sparkled pink when you shone your light on them.
And then suddenly my light shone upon a man in flowing robes, with his arms spread out and raised, palms up, towards the surface and the skies. A surreal sight appearing from the dark and depths. The Christ of the Abyss Statue.
The original "Il Christo Degli Abissi" statue was placed in the Mediterranean Sea off Genoa, Italy, in 1954. In 1961, a second statue "Christ of the Deep" was cast from the same mold and ultimately donated to the Florida State Park Service. At 4000 lbs and 9 ft tall, in 1965, the bronze statue was placed on a concrete base and placed in John Pennecamp Marine Sanctuary at Dry Rocks Reef. An unauthorized plaque was attached in the late 1980’s reading:
Hard coral is formed thousands of tiny identical individual polyps. Over time the polyps lay down a skeleton that is the foundation of a coral reef. While some heads of coral grow by asexual reproduction, many others spawn by “Broadcast Spawning.” The coral polyps send their eggs and sperm into the water in massive quantities by a mass simultaneous release. When egg and sperm unite, they form a larval-stage called “planula”. These drift in the current and those that are not eaten or otherwise destroyed look for just the right surface to attach to and grow, thus forming additional coral formations and reefs. These mass spawning releases have been carefully tracked and predictions of the occurrence are based on just the right timing when conditions of water temperatures and phases of the moon coincide. Tonite was the night,
Our first dive was to acclimate ourselves to where the coral heads were and which ones we wanted to watch. In the clear 87F water, our visibility was limited only by the beam of our lights. I was using a 10W canister and not missing a thing.
We descended to the top of the coral reef and made our way down along its walls looking all about. Since this is a marine sanctuary, there is no fishing or taking of marine life and since this is Florida, many divers have a look but don’t touch attitude, these fish hid quietly among varied corals and sponges with that “you can’t see
me” look in their eye. By the end of the evening….they were duly educated. If you shine your light in front of a Spanish lobster (they are black with teeny tiny white polka dots all over them and no pincer claws) they keep a sharp eye on the light and slowly move backwards to safety….or my hand….. they are really spiny and yes Captain Bill, I screamed like a girl when I grabbed them…. But then again… I am a girl….. so all is good. But alas I also had to then release them and move on.Tucked in among the various corals and sponges all configuration of parrot fish lay quietly hiding. These fish are bright teals and greens with some sporting reds and yellow accents. Some had huge scales that you could see the texturing and fine shadings of black and brown. They are beautiful fish. Toad fish lay in amongst the coral fragments with varying colors, their texture blending almost perfectly with the rough coral rocks. Large heads of star and brain corals were interspersed and since this was the second release, we noted which of the nodes were filled with their soon to be released gametes and which were now empty from last weeks spawning.
Large brown angel fish swam close to the rocks for protection and blue on blue striped fish swam among them. There were Black angel fish with yellow tails and small red squirrel fish swimming about. In the sandy valleys between the sections of reef swam large trumpet fish, either unafraid or dazed by the brightness of my lights. I could get almost close enough to pet them. Peeking in the nooks and crannies I spied a long red tentacle…. Could this be an octopus? Alas no… but are really cool 4 armed starfish with long wiggly arms over a foot long. There were magenta crayfish looking things hiding in the holes and their eyes sparkled pink when you shone your light on them.
And then suddenly my light shone upon a man in flowing robes, with his arms spread out and raised, palms up, towards the surface and the skies. A surreal sight appearing from the dark and depths. The Christ of the Abyss Statue.
The original "Il Christo Degli Abissi" statue was placed in the Mediterranean Sea off Genoa, Italy, in 1954. In 1961, a second statue "Christ of the Deep" was cast from the same mold and ultimately donated to the Florida State Park Service. At 4000 lbs and 9 ft tall, in 1965, the bronze statue was placed on a concrete base and placed in John Pennecamp Marine Sanctuary at Dry Rocks Reef. An unauthorized plaque was attached in the late 1980’s reading:
"If I take the wings of the morning
And swell in the uttermost
parts of the sea,
Even there your hand will lead me
and your right hand hold me fast.
1927 In memoriam 1988
Michael M. Kevorian"
The statue is magical at night. Invoking each diver as they came upon it to stop for a moment and reflect. As I read the plaque my eyes moved up the robes to the uplifted arms and my light could barely made out the shimmering surface of the water above. I remained still for a few moments and just watched.
After an hour in the water it was time to head up and grab some coffee…. The captain put a fresh pot onboard so I would drink coffee while he ate watermelon…. Hmmmmm. I like it.
11:20 seemed to be the appointed witching hour and we geared back up and dropped one by one into the water. As we made our way along we checked each coral head to see what was transpiring. On the large star coral heads the polyps were slowly opening and tiny tiny elongated white gametes were wiggling their way out and into the water. As you shone your light on your hand it filled with hundreds of these tiny creatures as they caught in the current of the water and started their life’s adventures, settling they knew not where.
Dark green coral heads with smaller polyps were beginning to burst open and rounded white balls began to appear. Looking kind of like hundreds of whiteheads dotting the coral. These would soon also release into the waters to be carried along.
We all know I couldn’t sit still and watch forever and I soon began to look around again. Several times among the rocks I spied and unusual burst of color in the beam of my light. Octopus! Sweet! They flowed more than moved…… and oozed and ebbed among the corals hiding just out of reach. Most preferred a bluish teal hue, changing color occasionally with the new surrounding corals but soon returning to their preferred color of the evening.
But there was one…there always is in the group. I call him Skeeter. He was a little bit country…. And a little bit rock and roll. His body slightly bigger than my fist, his tentacles just slightly longer than my forearm, he was much braver and more curious than his friends. He was sitting quietly in a small well in the coral, the tell all teal color, leaning at times slightly to the greenish tint. I placed my hand at the edge of the makeshift cave and waited…. He advanced slightly giving me the octo eye and waiting. So I wiggle my fingers and he moved a bit more. Then he was out! Just oozing about and giving me the once over, his tentacles tickling my fingers and moving up my hand.
And then it happened. A small crab mesmerized by the light swam into my beam not watching what else was going on and Skeeter was on him in a heartbeat. This little crab was swimming for his life trying to use me to hide as if I was a part of the safety of the reef. Skeeter was mid water and drooling over the thought of crab Rangoon just ahead and the two of them swam and bounced off of me in a whirlwind of drama worthy of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. As they began to approach my mask, I kept swatting the little crab back out into the open but he was quick and he was determined. One final swat and he was off and Skeeter, unhappy at losing his snack, dropped back down to the reef and settled in among the various colored corals and sponges to wait for more.
I moved on to see what else was waiting in the dark recesses for me to light up. Sitting in between tow waving blue gray corals sat a hogfish. A large hogfish which could have made dinner for a small family had this not been a no kill zone. And this guy was holding his ground. Took a poke to send him on his way and that was only but a few feet. These things are funny looking with their wavy little finger thingies on their backs and googly eyes staring out at you. I like em.
More colorful fish and lobsters about and in one hole the largest stone crab I have ever seen. Tucked in the mouth of this small cave in the reef face, he looked like something out of Jurassic Park. A small black and white striped angel fish with long flowing fins top and bottom at least 3 times his length flitted in and out. Tube worms looking like brown makeup brushes with white handles were tucked among the corals. As they pushed out of their white tubes the flowing heads rippled in the current. a herd of red squid aobut 8 inches long swam back and forth between the divers making a race track kind of circuit amongst us. And finally, just below the boat, there sat a large coral head and it began to puff thousands of tiny future corals into the water. They flowed off o
f this coral like puffs of smoke in the water. Thousands of tiny gametes sweeping past the glow of each divers light. Absolutely amazing. How they predict these releases. How each coral gets the memo and they release simultaneously across the ocean floor. There were two releases this year because there were two full moons close together and all the corals knew…. They all knew and they all waited. Humans cant coordinate 6 people on a dive boat with lunch but millions of coral polyps ranging in size from tiny pinheads to small nail heads can orchestrate mass sex and birthing across the ocean floor. Amazing. Absolutely amazing.Not sure what is next….but we will see.