It’s January and the locals say it “feels like summer” as we get off the ship and board the bus that takes us to the resort. Anthony’s Key is where we went and despite not getting any information from the ship they were able to accommodate us all in a timely manner. You got to kind of expect these types of setbacks when diving from a Cruise ship. I only brought my camera so all my equipment was rented, which confirmed why I bought my own.
It’s hot! And we can’t wait to get in the water so after a refreshing buoyancy check we are off for a short boat ride to the first dive site. After a quick briefing we giant stride off the back of the boat and drop about 40 feet over the reef. We level off, check buoyancy, and swim over the reef to the wall where we drop to about 70 feet. Everyone seems to be a good diver, and that’s nice when the group is large.
There is a small amount of backscatter in the water but visibility is good and the soft corals are in really nice shape. Long slit pore sea rod arms stretched out and drifting in the water Colum with large barrel sponge and Sea fans at the edge of the drop off. There are lots of small reef fish, fewer large ones but they are still visible. I took many pictures but unfortunately I had to keep up with the group or I would have lingered and waited for the little things to come out. But I got some good shots and the reef is very colorful and healthy. I had an issue with my flash early on and missed the shots of the turtle. This was a great dive site and I wish I had more time to really photograph it extensively. I week would be good here if I get the chance to come back.