Florida Keys Coral

A trip to the Keys a little over a year ago was a wonderful experience - which I hope to be able to do again someday.  However the experience of this different environment is something that is more than amazing.  I became scuba certified about a year and a half prior to this trip in a fresh water lake.  I had very much been looking forward to my first trip to the ocean and my first salt water diving experience.  Unfortunately I got exceptionally sick (we think food poisoning) on the trip down to the keys and never actually got to dive, but there was a silver lining to that.  Since I had been sick and couldn't dive, I got to spend all my time with a couple people from the group who were getting certified and had never dove before.  Our guide and Divemaster was AMAZING, not only did he teach the Scuba skills he also had spent a lot of time in the Keys teaching (he is from and still lives in Texas most of the year) so he was a bit of a tour guide as well.  Since you learn a great deal about diving in a pool prior to getting in fresh or salt water our trips back and forth to the pool were a great adventure. 

The one thing that I thought a lot about while napping by the pool in the Keys the week after Christmas while classes were being held was the information Burt shared with us about the coral of the Keys. 

First the Coral reefs have receded by THREE MILES over the years.  I have done 5Ks.  Basically the distance of a 5K is gone.  The receding means that the reefs now end 3 miles closer to the islands than before - which means they have receded in width not just length.  The biggest reason for the receding of the coral was the harvesting of the natural product.  The biggest reason for the harvesting - decoration.  Strangely enough I didnt take any personal pictures of this and it wasnt the easiest thing to find pictures of it online (underwater and activities are far more plentiful than the outside of area buildings) , but here are a few examples:










Why is this a big deal? 

NOAA

The Reefs work in the Ocean similar to how Rainforests work on Land.  The changes in time to the reduction within the environment are drastic.  SO much so that during the instructions before a dive that divers are instructed and reminded several times to not touch the coral because simply touching it can cause it to die.  Coral is a living breathing life - not a rock.  This seems to be something that a lot of people dont think about or understand.  Maybe because coral is not everywhere.  However the Coral Reefs in the Keys are the 3rd largest in the world.  This is important and necessary to understand to understand why it is so important for preservation. 

In fact the Dive Center we used is involved  in restoration of the reefs.  Maybe this is why our Divemaster thought to give us so much history of it. 

The process is facinating, Check it out:

Florida Keys Dive Center Reef Restoration