Diving Trip yesterday!

[johnmaloney]

Last night it was warm and the full moon was out. Time for night diving! We went out and saw all sorts of activity on the intracoastal reef. But the most amazing thing was the manatees. Swam right up to them, (don't pet the wild ones, they don't like it and will let you know with a tail slap- OUCH!), and stayed with the pack for over a half hour. Very big, 3 over 1000 pounds at least, you should see what that looks like underwater!

After awhile they seemed like they wanted their space as the biggest one swam at us a couple of times until we retreated. Oh well, best night of diving I ever had, thought I would share it.

 

[An t-iasg]

That sounds great! I didn't know manatees were approachable like that, although like you said, don't pet them. About how far out from shore were you?

 

[Zagz]

That does sound awesome! I can't even imagine being able to do something like that!

 

[johnmaloney]

We were out about 15 feet from the shore, in 8 feet of water. We were real close to them most of the time, they are gentle and will let you swim with the pack, but no touching outside of Seaworld. There is just the most amazing diving here in Jupiter Florida, all real close to land. No need for a boat, a $15 snorkel pack from WalMart and you are ready to for "brochure quality diving", as much as you want, even in winter. No wet suits, nothing....And if you have an aquarium, it is like walking into the largest petstore you have ever seen, with everything for free! Wow, that is fun.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

....And if you have an aquarium, it is like walking into the largest petstore you have ever seen, with everything for free! Wow, that is fun.

Really? I kinda thought there were some pretty strict regulations for what you could take "for free".

 

[johnmaloney]

not too strict

Florida has a great recreational license. You can't take habitats, (rocks, sand, trees), but you can catch macro, octocorals (in season), urchins, snails, all kinds of tropical fish, crabs, etc.... There are bag limits per day, and catch technique restrictions, (no chemical catches, net sizes, etc...), but Florida's tropical life is rich enough to allow sport catches for an individual's own aquarium. It is where the majority of fish in the United States originated from. Either through aquaculture or catch. Commercial on the other hand is different... you can't sell or trade catches with a recreational license.