Discovery Cove

After arriving in Orlando we decided to go to discovery cove although it was a bit expensive almost $200 per person. It was well worth the money . The basic fee is $129 and that includes your meals and access to all beaches and pools everywhere in the park as well as towels,mask and snorkel. For an extra $50 dollars we added the sea venture package consisting of an underwater experience with a special helmet that weighs 70 pounds and that allows you to walk in the bottom of the water among the fishes. I'm glad we did it was an amazing experience, the closest to scuba diving you can do without taking a course. One of the things to experience was something called the lazy river. It consists of an artificial river that has a slight current that lets you drift effortlessly while relaxing the water is warm and clear. As you meanders down the river with the trees on the sides after crossing a water fall you get to pass through an aviary full of tropical birds complete with a rosate spoonbill which is a bird that I've been trying to photograph quite a while. As I said you can drift on top of the river are you can snorkel at your way up on the River with your heads in the water and looking at all of the interesting sites like replicas of cannons or Mayan ruins.

Crystal clear water



The entrance to the lazy river

We were lucky and the weather was very nice the sun came out and we really enjoyed the day. Another interesting part of the park is a large saltwater pool that is filled with tropical fishes and there's a lot of manta rays in there and all kinds of other fishes. It is complete with artificial reefs and the water is crystal clear allowing for perfect photography I had brought with me my Canon D10 which is good for 30 feet underwater and since we were snorkeling it was good enough, you don't go below 5 feet so the pictures I took came out very nice. The stingrays swims around you they will even push you over if you're in the way, you might look under you when one is just passing by. You can actually touch them that is an incredible experience of being so close with nature.


The salt water bassin



What a sight!

At 1:30 we had our sea venture experience, it starts with the briefing in which to explain the dangers, some of them are similar to scuba such as not no flying for 24 hours and the need for pressure equalization to protect your ears and the importance of not coming up too fast to prevent an expansion accident. The communicating signs are explained and finally also like in scuba the make you sign a release. We were a small group doing that experience, actually we were six customers and there was three divers with us one that was acting as a guide and two of them for security purposes. The helmet weighs 70 pounds therefore it's easy to be in a perfect neutrally buoyant state and to walk on the bottom. However it's a bit like walking on the moon your gravity is affected even a small leap will carry you a long way and the smallest jump will make you go very high.

Hope not :)

Hey.. Look behind you !!

So the walk with the guide was quite interesting, a lot of interaction with the sealife is possible also photo ops are numerous and the time is given to look around and take pictures. The guide will even take some with your camera, they also give a camera to anybody that does not have one and you can take all the pictures you want. By the time you exit the water there are some monitors setup and you can view your pictures, if you like them you can purchase them all on a cd for 30$.

Here's the Rosate Spoonbill



The star of the show :)



So we spent the whole day there, arriving at eight in the morning and leaving at five in the afternoon. We had breakfast, we had lunch, with drinks and snacks we enjoyed ourselves in the lazy river and the saltwater reef. The sea venture experience was amazing, it was well worth the money and I would recommend it to everybody. On a final note you absolutely need a reservation and they only take a limited amount of guess each day, also included in the price yo get n Orlando Seaworld ticket o a Tampa Bush Garden ticket.

Once again a good deal.

The Keys (late post: Happened on the 18 and 19 January 2012)

I'm posting later after the fact but I was to busy living it and had little time writing about it, so after some deliberation I decided that it was better late then never so I decided to get up to date with my posts.



Cannon Beach, Key Largo

On the morning of the 18 we drove down to Key Largo's John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park with our snorkeling gear. We got there around 9h00 and went snorkeling at Canon Beach this beach is setup for snorkeling the beginning of the bottom part is shallow for about the first 15 or 20 feet and then it drops to about 25 feet deep like a clift wall, not a good spoot for toddler to go wadding :) The area is cordoned so a dive flag is not required and about 100 feet from the shore they made a replica of an 18th century spanish gallion wreck at about 6 to 8 feet deep, complete with cannons and anchor.

The Anchor

The water is a bit murky in the shallow part with a visibility of about 10 to 15 feet but in the deep part we can see the bottom. The sunlight is entering at an angle and with the matter in suspension in the water it give a nice effect. So we spent a good 2 hours in the water swimming around and then got out.



The Cannons

We went to enquire about a boat trip to go snorkeling on the reef outshore and reserved for the trip at 15h00 the next day, we have to register at 13h30. So with all that time in front of us we decided to drive to Key West, spend the night and come back for our boat trip the next day. On the way we had lunch at a local eatery called the Huricane Grill that I know of in Marathon, they have a most wonderfull fish sandwich.

Seven Miles Bridge

At the Boondocks on Ramrod Key

So we arrived in Key West and got a room at the Blue Marlin Motel near the Southernmost Point and went on to walk Duval street from one end to the other, It was Sebastien's first visit so he enjoyed it quite a bit. We ate seafood at the marina and of course had a Key Lime Pie taste test. The next morning we had breakfast on the beach and drove back to Key Largo.

Classic Tourist Shoot

The Breakfast Restaurant on the Beach

We got there at 13h30 in time for our registration, we then had time to visit the park before our boat we had an hour to kill. We got on the boat and it got us to the reef that was 5 miles off shore, the sea was calm enought so I did not dropped my lunch on deck. The Reef is shallow the top at about 3 feet deep and the sand is about at 25 feet deep, it's a long north south reef and we are dropped almost at the tip of the north end so we swam east from the boat about 50 feet to the reef and then for and hour and a half swam along the edge of it.

Comming In !

It is Sebastien's first ocean dive so I keep an eye on him, by now we have good buddy communication and practices we stay close and in visual contact at all time. The spot is full of Barracudas, big ones but we were warned before hand and we discussed it before entering the water so there is no stress about it by either one of us.



Barracudas

There are also some big rays lying in the sand at the bottom. I found an eel but it was chalenging to photograph, we also saw a nurse shark. So we got back on the boat and got to port at sunset. It was lots of fun, for sure an experience to repeat again next year.

Nurse Shark

We got back to West Palm Beach late that evening all relaxed and happy.

End of a perfect day