I went scuba diving today out at Sombrero Reef, which is a nearby marine sanctuary coral reef. I went on a dive boat, of which there are many around here, because a fellow Hatteras Owner's Forum member, Pat Murphy, recommended it. There has been poor underwater visibility for the last week and today it was only 15 to 20 ft, but I went to see the reef anyway and was glad I did. It's a very nice reef with loads of tropical fish. In the videos, it may look "grainy" or cloudy, but that's exactly what I saw.


It was very nice to see a Queen Angelfish, which is one of my favorites and not very common.



There were lots of colorful fish swimming near the corals and then lots of barracuda swimming more out in the open water. When the barracudas would come near the smaller fish, they darted into the corals.


This foot long spiny puffer fish was not afraid of me or the barracudas, owing to his spines and the fact that he can puff up like a spiny basketball. Very hard to swallow.


There was a long thin trumpet fish, which usually hangs out vertically near the vertical branches of gorgonians or soft corals, looking like just another branch, until a small fish swims by and becomes dinner. At the end of this little clip there is a large midnight parrot fish too.

This evening, Kathy and I went with about a dozen other local dock mates to the Marathon High school benefit dinner, cooked and served by the high school culinary class. It was just OK, but a nice outing anyway.