Sooo coool!

Today we headed out for some ocean exploring. Our destination was Sombrero Key reef, five miles off shore from Marathon. The reef along the outside of the Keys is amazing. It is the second largest reef in the world, next to the great barrier reef. Just as we were leaving the wind started to build so the calm waters we were hoping for were looking a bit choppy. By the time we were a few miles out we were bouncing quite a bit. The great thing about this area is that mooring balls are provided out at the reefs in good diving spots. This prevents people anchoring around the reefs and destroying them by anchoring in the wrong spots. We picked up one of the moorings and looked overboard. We were immediately amazed at the myriad of fish we could see right over the side. Christopher was very excited because we had just started reading a book about coral reefs - and poof - here we are! Next was the really interesting part getting in the water. The trick was trying to do this safely five miles out in the ocean while waves are rolling along, the boat was bouncing up and down and Christopher is basically a non-swimmer. The first moments in the water were followed by gasps and coughing as a wave instantly hit him in the face. After gripping me in a rather aggressive bear hug for a few minutes he settled down and decided to take a look below. That was worth it! Then again and again. I think he likes it! Shirley and I also took turns snorkeling and life guarding. The sights below were the best we've seen. All kinds of different shapes and sizes of fish along with an abundance of coral varieties. The fish seemed to like the boat and many of them clustered around. Looking underneath I noticed a 3 foot barracuda was happily lounging in the shade there. Some friends who were out as well came over and told us of a large turtle they saw. We didn't see it until we were almost done. We caught a couple of good pictures of it this time and believe it is a loggerhead. Cute.