Today was my first dive trip out of Islamorada, which is about 20 miles south of Key Largo. Doing more dives down there was one of my goals for this trip. It looks like I will be diving down there Thursday and Friday as well. Most of these sites are outside the marine sanctuary and don’t have as many divers visiting.
We visited two patch reefs this morning named Patch A and Grumpys. Patch A was a great environment for Nurse Sharks with many overhangs form them to hide under.



I also got this really good shot of a Gray Angelfish. For some reason, getting a good side profile of Anglefish has been difficult so I was really happy to get this one.


I was also lucky enough to have a close encounter with a large Southern Stingray.
The dive site named Grumpies had many nooks and crannies, which made it a great place to find lobster.

This also explains why Nurse Sharks also can be found in the area. I was photographing a Nurse Shark in its “den” when it swam away. The den area was littered with the remains of several lobsters, telling me that Nurse Sharks like lobster as much as we do.


I also got a shot of this Balloonfish from an interesting angle.