These young brown pelicans were sitting on the docks at Robbie's on Isla Morada hoping for a handout. For those of you not familiar with Robbie's, you can go feed tarpon (large carp-like saltwater fish) there. You have to pay to go to even see them, but for a little more, you get a bucket of slimy little baitfish to feed to the tarpons. These pelicans dive right in there to try to get the fish before the tarpons do. It's quite a scene!
Here's a picture of me feeding the tarpons. They will jump up out of the water to try to get the fish. The dock was about 4 feet from the water's surface when we were there. When you dropped a fish in the water, the tarpon and other ocean fishes would all converge on that spot. THe water would fly. It was an explosion of fish.
Oh what fun! I will always love the pelicans and all their comical expressions. Paul hasn't seen the Keys yet. I'll add this to the trip list. Thanks!! We're divers so we're long overdue to head that way. LOL Last time (years ago) I was on a boat in the Keys we docked on The Rock, Stock Island, and Tarpon were rolling all around the boat. Of course the fisherman were agog! They didn't see much of the Keys that trip either!!
Stacey:
If you go to the Keys, you HAVE to dive at Sombrero Reef off of Marathon. It's protected there and you can see every kind of sea creature there is there. The first time we went, we saw a small nurse shark (they won't hurt you), a sea turtle, barracuda, blue tangs, yellow snappers, young groupers, butterfly fishes, chromis, a green eel, a stone crab. You name it and we pretty much saw it. The locals can all tell you how to find it. It's on the maps, too. THere is a lighthouse on one of the reefs as it gets quite shallow in there. Most of the water is only 10-15 feet deep. I've heard also that Looe (sp?) Key is quite spectacular, though it takes over an hour to get to it. The water is supposed to be shallow there, too. You can go out on the boat from Bahia Honda State park. I think it was $25/adult if you had your own gear. Maybe $30 if you rented it from them. If you decide to go to the keys, let me know. I can tell you good places to eat and there's a nice B&B on the ocean.
Thanks! I have spent lots of time in the Keys but almost exclusively in Key West so I'll be taking you up on offers of places of interest in the other islands. Sombrero Key...is that a shore dive or boat dive? We have all of our own gear so that's a help. My sister and I used to dive the Keys but it's been years ago. I understand that lots of Looe Key is having problems with that terrible coral blight, Pennekamp as well. I wish I had an underwater camera case but it's about $800...good grief! I can get another camera and case for less than that!
Sobrero is a boat dive. You can see the bridge, but its probably several miles away. Things always look closer than they are out there on the water.
