Reef Madness: You Don’t Need a Boat to Discover South Florida’s Most Valuable Treasures

By Brett O’bourke, The Miami Herald

May 19–It took . . . I don’t know, five, maybe 10 minutes to swim out there. I wasn’t really thinking right; I’d gotten up too early, hadn’t drank enough coffee. The air was kind of cold and the water was kind of cold and the sky was gray and overcast. I had a lot on my mind as I stared through my mask at the monotonous rippled white sand below me.

Then, suddenly, the ocean floor exploded and I had nothing on my mind at all. Nothing but colors all over the place. Blues, yellows, greens. Copper and red-ringed coral heads jutted up from the shallow reef that had materialized out of nowhere. Overhead, the sun peeked out and lit up the ocean floor even more. A school of silver bait fish darted away from my shadow. A beautiful blue stripe grunt poked his nose in a hole. I swam down for a closer look.

***************

You don’t need expensive scuba equipment or even a boat to experience South Florida’s most valuable treasures.

Many shipwrecks and natural reefs up and down the coast are reachable by either a swim or a kayak paddle (kayak rentals are cheap and ubiquitous.)

In the calm summer months, with typical visibility of about 20-30 feet (depending on tide and weather), all you need is a mask, snorkel, fins, dive flag and a keen sense of adventure.

A small sampling: In Fort Lauderdale, a shallow reef and fake Spanish galleon wreck — complete with cannons and anchor — sit in about 15 feet of water, less than 150 yards from shore. In Palm Beach several popular artificial reefs are located right off the beach, including the site of a pier destroyed by a storm 100 years ago. About a mile out of Bear Cut, off Key Biscayne, the Half Moon — a 154-foot schooner-yacht that served as a floating saloon before sinking in the 1930s — lies in about 10 feet of water. All are teeming with tropical fish and sea life, waiting to be explored.

“In South Florida, we have three discontinuous reef bands that run parallel to shore,” says oceanographer Ray Mcallister. ‘If you ask 100 people what they think of our reefs, most of them will say, ‘What reefs?’ . . . but they’re there and they are beautiful.”

Mcallister is the original author of Beach Diving and Snorkeling Locations: Hollywood to Jupiter, a self-published guide book; the first edition was printed in 1973.

The current edition, now helmed by Mcallister protege Joe Kuntz, is about $16 in most area dive shops. It features detailed info on 28 locations, some of which start right off shore, others like what Kuntz calls the Sea Tech ledge in Dania, require a swim of about 500 yards.

That’s five football fields away from shore, but if you’re up for it, it’s worthwhile.

“It’s an incredible six-foot ledge, one of best spots, especially if you’re coming from the South,” says Kuntz. “You can see nurse sharks and sting rays, mangrove snapper, grunts and lots of tropicals like angel fish, cardinal, high hats and sergeant majors.”

For boat owners, Ralph Fiol, managing editor of DiveSpots.com, says Elliot Key in Biscayne National Park offers some of the best snorkeling in South Florida.

“You can get to Bache Shoal from Elliot Key by kayak or any small boat,” Fiol says. “It’s just on the east side of the key, in about 10 feet of water and it’s just beautiful. The kids love it. It’s one of the greatest natural reefs I’ve seen in Miami. . . . The Mandalay is another one that’s in about 10 feet of water and it’s just a beautiful little shipwreck.”

So, how to get started?

“Probably the easiest is the reef [and artificial wreck] at Lauderdale-By-The-Sea. It’s close enough to shore and having the pier right there is helpful from a psychological aspect,” Kuntz says.

What do you need?

A buddy, for starters. No one recommends that you ever swim alone. As far as gear goes “you need a good set of fins, snorkel and mask,” Fiol says. “And people overlook this, but having weights is also beneficial. You wear weights so you can get down to the [bottom] and see a few things. And I always take a digital or disposable underwater camera. You can get one at just about any CVS or wherever. The photo opportunities are tremendous.”

Unless you are a strong swimmer, a snorkeling vest is a good idea. Mcallister says he’s seen people float out in inner tubes and on old surfboards. And, of course, kayaks provide speedy access, a stable platform, and can be launched from most beaches.

Most importantly, always, always float a dive flag with you. Dive flags can be bought for about $25 to $30 or rented from a dive shop for about $10.

Deep Blue Divers, a block away from the Lauderdale-By-The-Sea reef, will rent you a dive flag for $7.50 and snorkel, mask and fins for $10.

If you’d prefer your early ventures to be supervised by professionals, some local dive shops run snorkel trips. Tarpoon Diving Center on Miami Beach will gear you up and take you out to Half Moon or the Jose Cuervo dive bar (a concrete bar and stools about 200 yards off Second Street in South Beach) for about $60.

“People think their experience ends at the beach. It doesn’t have to. It can go farther,” Kuntz says.

***

I’d been out twice last summer to look for the reef off Lauderdale-By-The-Sea and hadn’t seen it. Summer storms and sand in the water from dredging up in Jupiter brought visibility up to only a few feet.

But last week, with the calm, clear waters of early summer, I found it right where it was supposed to be.

I’d bought a cheap mask and snorkel, dug some old swim fins out of a closet, grabbed my beater surf board and paddled out alongside the north side of Anglin’s Pier. The reef begins about halfway out the length of the pier. After a little while, I paddled under the pier and over to the artificial wreck.

Yellow tropicals swam around the cannon stacks. A school of small barracuda cruised by. All kinds of fish darted around the coral heads. It was beautiful. And just that easy.

—–

Copyright (c) 2006, The Miami Herald

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.