Alibio

Some of our friends recently took a trip to Belize in order to view the archeological ruins, but when they got back home we were surprised that all they could talk about was their experience in shallow diving off the coast. It was an enchanted kingdom they described to us - fish they had never seen before and rock formation and underwater vegetation of surprising beauty and variety. It was a fantasy world they were telling us about, and their enthusiasm was bubbling over - it was contagious! We couldn’t wait to change our vacation plans from rock climbing in the Rockies to snorkeling somewhere. That took some research. We discovered that there was a marine sanctuary that surrounded the archipelago of Florida Key West. And that snorkeling was a popular activity in that area.. The only live coral reef in the American continent ran parallel to the islands that formed the Key West archipelago, some 150 miles of it.

It was a real break that we both loved to swim and were game to learn the basics of shallow diving. The excitement we found underwater was riveting. Boats of all descriptions had foundered in these waters and the ocean floor was littered with wreckages old and new. Since snorkeling was our goal, we decided to use a rental boat for the adventure. We settled on a 20-foot guest boat that we could use for a several day trip around the reef.
What we didn’t know was that swimming with dolphins was part of the package for most snorkelers. This partnership of human/dolphin/coral reef was intriguing. The dolphins seemed anxious to play with us in the water, sort of like our Schnauzer, Mike, at home who thought all life was intended to be a game. The openness of the dolphins was new to us. We had heard of dolphins swimming with humans from some New Age type friends, but we hadn’t recognized the extent to which this partnership was working. Swimming with dolphins by your side was something we hadn’t ever dreamed of, but we found it was great fun.

Another thing that surprised us about the coral reefs was that they were the graveyard of a lot of ships, some dating from before the Civil War and some very recent ones. Of course a lot of these had been explored many times, but it was still interesting to see the artifacts and the construction of these ancient vessels and some modern ones, too. We also saw the famous bronze statue of the Christ, apparently made for the purpose of being submerged among the ruins of sunken ships, blessing this graveyard of those who went down with them.

FL Keys boat rental was a great idea and it was great that we spent our vacation time this year miles from where we originally intended, snorkeling among sunken ships, eating our own fresh catch seafood which we cooked on our own boat, sightseeing on land as well as water, and just relaxing on the beaches under tropical palms.