Keys Dive Site: Snapper Ledge

Good morning from the usually sunny Florida Keys! Florida finally decided to start participating in fall and it’s overcast and less than 70, the horror! I don’t mind the cooler temps though and the dogs are loving it. Needless to say, we won’t be diving today, it’s way too cold for that! Here’s a look back to last weekend when it was hot and sunny and we were out diving some of our favorite places.

Snapper Ledge is a popular dive site due to the density of fish found here. There are huge schools of fish everywhere you look and you can often see sharks & rays passing by just off the ledge. Underneath the ledge is a favorite spot for nurse sharks snoozing the day away and there are a few huge resident green moray eels that can be counted on (scroll down for a video of one free swimming!). There’s only one mooring ball on the site so it’s never crowded. It’s not a very big site and most groups stick to a down and back along the ledge which is a great dive but we like to take a channel away from the ledge and explore the sandy area that’s just beyond.

Two weeks ago I found a banded jawfish there for the first time since Irma! Irma swept all of the sand from the reef and all of the creatures with it. The sand has returned for the most part and the yellowhead jawfish have begun to rebound but their population is still a long way from pre-storm levels and no bandeds until 2 weeks ago when we found 3! The other two are on Pickles Reef, the site commonly paired with a trip to Snapper Ledge. Banded jawfish are much more secretive than the yellowhead and they’re hard to catch out of their burrow. Now that I know where it lives and was able to find it again we’ll start studying it. We ordered a tripod for our GoPro so the plan is to set it recording and swim away for a long time and hopefully catch some footage of it out. Stay tuned to see how it goes!

Don’t miss Snapper Ledge on your dive trip to Key Largo!

I see you!  Banded jawfish on Snapper Ledge

A scoprionfilsh yawns on Snapper Ledge

snuggle buddies 🙂

Want to see more pics? Follow us on Instagram! GoWhereItsWarmDives

Stay warm friends!