Atlantic Spadefish on the Key Largo Reefs

In my on-going desire to go diving once a month, I have managed to hit June. I got all the critical emails sent prior to 6:00 a.m. the other day and went out for what was a nice day with a good group of people. Hubby was finishing up three brand new divers and the other people on the boat were pleasant to talk to. The water temperature is great now through late September and maybe later, it was pretty flat, very little current and visibility was around 60 feet; maybe a little more.

Although we didn’t see anything “spectacular”, the sites we went to had plenty of marine life and several of my regular favorites. Hubby did find a large green moray eel and a cute little lemon ray. We started seeing Atlantic Spadefish a few years ago and they have been added to my list. I haven’t talked with the fish experts to know why they’ve become more common here. There were a lot of big snappers of various types and again, once they get beyond yellowtail, I tend to mix them up. I can’t recall which ones are mangrove versus lane, etc. There were also some nice size groupers even though the juvenile Goliath was not in the area he’s been hanging around in. We hope he hasn’t gone off to a new place because he really is impressive to see.

The only drawback to the day was not being able to stay around for a leisurely dock-side lunch, but it just wasn’t doable with our schedules. Maybe next time and I will keep my fingers crossed for a dive day in July.