Snorkeling & Collecting Discussion Group

[kzenoni]

Were finding Sargeant majores too as well as seeing a stingray about 2 foot round. We wanted to keep conch for the shell and were told we needed permits as fines start at $500 at the airport. If driving, you are clear
We are now aboard Carnival Conquest and can see fish and reef from the top of fish as water is so clear and this is a harbor !

We are doing a snorkeling trip at 2 today, looking forward to it with the water so clear. I was thinking about getting one of the large conch but afraid of what it might do in my tank lol

 

[vetteguy53081]

We are doing a snorkeling trip at 2 today, looking forward to it with the water so clear. I was thinking about getting one of the large conch but afraid of what it might do in my tank lol

Not sure if youre going on Fury line for you trip but we used sunset and they were awesome, fun, welcoming and have a fully stocked bar included in tour and their had great equipment.
We used Fury the past 3 years and realize they were OK- Not fantastic
Have fun either way and corals are not as bleached as many are stating

 

[kzenoni]

Not sure if youre going on Fury line for you trip but we used sunset and they were awesome, fun, welcoming and have a fully stocked bar included in tour and their had great equipment.
We used Fury the past 3 years and realize they were OK- Not fantastic
Have fun either way and corals are not as bleached as many are statin

Not sure if youre going on Fury line for you trip but we used sunset and they were awesome, fun, welcoming and have a fully stocked bar included in tour and their had great equipment.
We used Fury the past 3 years and realize they were OK- Not fantastic
Have fun either way and corals are not as bleached as many are stating

We hit a few reefs off largo , saw Christ of the abyss. Lots of beautiful fish and corals. Heart breaking to see all the bleached coral colonies. Water was super clear so we did get to see a lot of things.

 

[Eric R.]

Hi all! May be going to Fort Meyers sometime this winter to visit my girlfriend's grandparents for 4-5 days. Looking for recommendations on the best places to go snorkeling within an hour or two drive of Ft. Meyers. Thanks!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi all! May be going to Fort Meyers sometime this winter to visit my girlfriend's grandparents for 4-5 days. Looking for recommendations on the best places to go snorkeling within an hour or two drive of Ft. Meyers. Thanks!

To my knowledge, Myers is known for dolphins and sightseeing for dolphin.
Make contact with Deans Dive Center and Scuba Quest Pro Dive Centers who are reputable and can offer you info

 

[Ron Reefman]

Hi all! May be going to Fort Meyers sometime this winter to visit my girlfriend's grandparents for 4-5 days. Looking for recommendations on the best places to go snorkeling within an hour or two drive of Ft. Meyers. Thanks!

Unfortunately, there really aren't any really good snorkel sites within an hour or two from Ft Myers. There are a couple of rocky beaches that are OK, but they are very difficult to get access due to being surrounded by private property rather than public beaches.

The other issue is that Hurricane Ian has dumped a lot of cars and boats into the water along with other debris (like entire houses) making the waters near shore a bit iffy. I will only walk in the shallow water when the visibility is crystal clear so I can clearly see what's ahead of me.

Feel free to send me a private message or write me at ([email protected]) and we can talk. I live year round in Cape Coral, just across the river from Ft Myers. If the weather is right (after a rare cold front) there are a few beaches that can be great fun to walk. I often find some live animals on the beach that end up going home to one of my tanks!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Not sure how I found time as we were are still burnt out in the sleep division with time changes but vacation was a blast. Our highlight was obviously Hawaii but talk about expensive !! Nevertheless, it was well worth it, weather was awesome opposed to Florida weather which was excessive with heat. As promised , I am posting pics of Hawaii, and location was Kealakekua Bay at Captain Cook monument. We stayed the last two days at Aston Kona by the sea and highly recommended.
The boat tour to the underwater location was through Viator and was $116 per Person. Sunsets were about 7p daily. They had great coffee and we loved the coffee shack which offered a fantastic ocean view and delicious Coconut coffee. Honl's Beach was a nice setting. Breakfast sandwich with coffee was $20. We took a recommended Capt. Cook Kona dinner cruise. Great time and atmosphere but $158.PP and tips.
Enough of the expense part. BTW- We would/will do it again. Next year is a cruise again and Jamaica.
As promised- Pics. We took lots. Being that this camera was new and new to me, we were unsure how they would turn out. I am glad we bought our old one as we quickly used up the memory card thinking it would be plenty. we took personal pics which used up a bit of the memory. As you are about to see, it takes Fantastic and clear pics and these are unedited pics.
What did we see:
Purple tangs
White cheek tangs
spinner dolphin
Regal tangs
grunts
red squirrelfish
Cleaner wrasses
racoon butterflies
ornate butterflies
various parrots
Hundreds of yellow tangs - what shortage?? and they were between 5 and 11 inches round
Threadfin butterflies
Regal angels
Jumbo orange shoulder tangs
Many more . . . . .

Some pics blurry as we again had to try various settings. A couple land pics were in Oahu







Notice the algae all over his shell



Here comes the tang gang to eat that algae:



Florida pics to follow. Need to find my MicroSD adapter.

 

[kzenoni]

Not sure how I found time as we were are still burnt out in the sleep division with time changes but vacation was a blast. Our highlight was obviously Hawaii but talk about expensive !! Nevertheless, it was well worth it, weather was awesome opposed to Florida weather which was excessive with heat. As promised , I am posting pics of Hawaii, and location was Kealakekua Bay at Captain Cook monument. We stayed the last two days at Aston Kona by the sea and highly recommended.
The boat tour to the underwater location was through Viator and was $116 per Person. Sunsets were about 7p daily. They had great coffee and we loved the coffee shack which offered a fantastic ocean view and delicious Coconut coffee. Honl's Beach was a nice setting. Breakfast sandwich with coffee was $20. We took a recommended Capt. Cook Kona dinner cruise. Great time and atmosphere but $158.PP and tips.
Enough of the expense part. BTW- We would/will do it again. Next year is a cruise again and Jamaica.
As promised- Pics. We took lots. Being that this camera was new and new to me, we were unsure how they would turn out. I am glad we bought our old one as we quickly used up the memory card thinking it would be plenty. we took personal pics which used up a bit of the memory. As you are about to see, it takes Fantastic and clear pics and these are unedited pics.
What did we see:
Purple tangs
White cheek tangs
spinner dolphin
Regal tangs
grunts
red squirrelfish
Cleaner wrasses
racoon butterflies
ornate butterflies
various parrots
Hundreds of yellow tangs - what shortage?? and they were between 5 and 11 inches round
Threadfin butterflies
Regal angels
Jumbo orange shoulder tangs
Many more . . . . .

Some pics blurry as we again had to try various settings. A couple land pics were in Oahu







Notice the algae all over his shell



Here comes the tang gang to eat that algae:



Florida pics to follow. Need to find my MicroSD adapter.

Love the pictures. Glad you had a good time.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Love the pictures. Glad you had a good time.

Turned out Better than i hoped for. I did not post the bad ones. . lol.... first ones were horrible as i dd not realize how much the zoom would bring objects so close

 

[vetteguy53081]

Here are a few more. As stated, I had to take these off the SD card but starting to figure this all out. The issue i have is I have a new computer and why on earth it does NOT have an SD slot is beyond me so I had to get a USB adapter for SD card- How lame. These are the fuzzy ones I first mentioned as I found out i have to keep my hands off the buttons

 

[Ron Reefman]

The first set of photos were GREAT! I was in Hawaii in 1994 and I'd love to go back. My current wife (this is #3) loves to snorkel as much or more than I do. I only got to snorkel a few times back then, no digital camera and wife #2 didn't like the water!

 

[jimk60]

Turned out Better than i hoped for. I did not post the bad ones. . lol.... first ones were horrible as i dd not realize how much the zoom would bring objects so close

Great pics! Can't imagine they could be much better when you get it all figured out.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Great pics! Can't imagine they could be much better when you get it all figured out.

I was thinking the same. This time I will read the operating manual . . . LOL

 

[littlefoxx]

Not sure how I found time as we were are still burnt out in the sleep division with time changes but vacation was a blast. Our highlight was obviously Hawaii but talk about expensive !! Nevertheless, it was well worth it, weather was awesome opposed to Florida weather which was excessive with heat. As promised , I am posting pics of Hawaii, and location was Kealakekua Bay at Captain Cook monument. We stayed the last two days at Aston Kona by the sea and highly recommended.
The boat tour to the underwater location was through Viator and was $116 per Person. Sunsets were about 7p daily. They had great coffee and we loved the coffee shack which offered a fantastic ocean view and delicious Coconut coffee. Honl's Beach was a nice setting. Breakfast sandwich with coffee was $20. We took a recommended Capt. Cook Kona dinner cruise. Great time and atmosphere but $158.PP and tips.
Enough of the expense part. BTW- We would/will do it again. Next year is a cruise again and Jamaica.
As promised- Pics. We took lots. Being that this camera was new and new to me, we were unsure how they would turn out. I am glad we bought our old one as we quickly used up the memory card thinking it would be plenty. we took personal pics which used up a bit of the memory. As you are about to see, it takes Fantastic and clear pics and these are unedited pics.
What did we see:
Purple tangs
White cheek tangs
spinner dolphin
Regal tangs
grunts
red squirrelfish
Cleaner wrasses
racoon butterflies
ornate butterflies
various parrots
Hundreds of yellow tangs - what shortage?? and they were between 5 and 11 inches round
Threadfin butterflies
Regal angels
Jumbo orange shoulder tangs
Many more . . . . .

Some pics blurry as we again had to try various settings. A couple land pics were in Oahu







Notice the algae all over his shell



Here comes the tang gang to eat that algae:



Florida pics to follow. Need to find my MicroSD adapter.

What is that beautiful white with stripes fish just before the first turtle picture?? That fish is so beautiful!

 

[vetteguy53081]

What is that beautiful white with stripes fish just before the first turtle picture?? That fish is so beautiful!

Ornate butterfly- they were at least 5-6”

 

[littlefoxx]

Ornate butterfly- they were at least 5-6”

Those are so beautiful!!

 

[Eric R.]

Unfortunately, there really aren't any really good snorkel sites within an hour or two from Ft Myers. There are a couple of rocky beaches that are OK, but they are very difficult to get access due to being surrounded by private property rather than public beaches.

The other issue is that Hurricane Ian has dumped a lot of cars and boats into the water along with other debris (like entire houses) making the waters near shore a bit iffy. I will only walk in the shallow water when the visibility is crystal clear so I can clearly see what's ahead of me.

Feel free to send me a private message or write me at ([email protected]) and we can talk. I live year round in Cape Coral, just across the river from Ft Myers. If the weather is right (after a rare cold front) there are a few beaches that can be great fun to walk. I often find some live animals on the beach that end up going home to one of my tanks!

Thanks Ron! Will do if I confirm travel plans.

 

[vetteguy53081]

So now taking this vacation to Florida we saw many neat things and the water part was no comparison to Hawaii, however we extended our trip to another week allowing us to spend more time to Key West, take a Carnival Cruise and visit Miami Zoo and visit some nice restaurants. I used up my memory on new camera in Hawaii but brought the old camera and glad I did.
I do not miss the 5 hour time difference we started out with and then 9 hour flight from airport but Southwest was adament on being on time always and we were always early with departure and arrivals.






Right at the beach was a very large stingray



Jet boat/car - How cool


This is how hot Miami was- My brand new sandals !! Bottoms melted off from Hot sand

KEY WEST :




More to come - Im out of time.

 

[affan]

Not sure how I found time as we were are still burnt out in the sleep division with time changes but vacation was a blast. Our highlight was obviously Hawaii but talk about expensive !! Nevertheless, it was well worth it, weather was awesome opposed to Florida weather which was excessive with heat. As promised , I am posting pics of Hawaii, and location was Kealakekua Bay at Captain Cook monument. We stayed the last two days at Aston Kona by the sea and highly recommended.
The boat tour to the underwater location was through Viator and was $116 per Person. Sunsets were about 7p daily. They had great coffee and we loved the coffee shack which offered a fantastic ocean view and delicious Coconut coffee. Honl's Beach was a nice setting. Breakfast sandwich with coffee was $20. We took a recommended Capt. Cook Kona dinner cruise. Great time and atmosphere but $158.PP and tips.
Enough of the expense part. BTW- We would/will do it again. Next year is a cruise again and Jamaica.
As promised- Pics. We took lots. Being that this camera was new and new to me, we were unsure how they would turn out. I am glad we bought our old one as we quickly used up the memory card thinking it would be plenty. we took personal pics which used up a bit of the memory. As you are about to see, it takes Fantastic and clear pics and these are unedited pics.
What did we see:
Purple tangs
White cheek tangs
spinner dolphin
Regal tangs
grunts
red squirrelfish
Cleaner wrasses
racoon butterflies
ornate butterflies
various parrots
Hundreds of yellow tangs - what shortage?? and they were between 5 and 11 inches round
Threadfin butterflies
Regal angels
Jumbo orange shoulder tangs
Many more . . . . .

Some pics blurry as we again had to try various settings. A couple land pics were in Oahu







Notice the algae all over his shell



Here comes the tang gang to eat that algae:



Florida pics to follow. Need to find my MicroSD adapter.

Hawaii must have been a dream, despite the costs. The photos are really amazing.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hawaii must have been a dream, despite the costs. The photos are really amazing.

Pleased with the camera. I have more to download- The issue is time