I’m a seagrass snorkeler. A mangrove snorkeler. A muck diver. Little treasures can be found in seemingly bland places. In the Florida Keys, the bay scallop tends to reside on the less glamorous side of the overseas highway. That’s where I found this gem.
As an intern for the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF.org), I satisfied the urge to submerge as often as possible. My PADI logbook went from 73 total dives to 140 in 5 months. It was AWESOME. That’s 67 dives! Not too shabby, for an intern, but now I wish I had done two more ๐. And most, if not all, of these dives were on the MORE glamorous side of the overseas highway. Molasses Reef, Conch Reef, French Reef, Key Largo Dry Rocks. I even made one dive inside the confines of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park ๐. My favorite dive was the Spiegel Grove, and I later went on to get my wife Morgan’s name emblazoned on her hull. But I digress.Snorkeling Florida Bay
I often snorkeled off the beach park, just a couple of blocks away from the intern trailer. I saw tarpon, a gag grouper, lookdowns, manatees, and these amazing bivalves with brilliant blue eyes.
https://www.edc.uri.edu/restoration/html/gallery/invert/bay.htm
Developments in Aquaculture and Fisheries Science Volume 40, 2016, Pages 469-533 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780444627100000110#!s:
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