Snorkeling & Collecting Discussion Group

[Gareth elliott]

The smaller butterflies and Florida angelfish will show up here off Virgin Beach starting around August.

I always assumed they died off in the winter.
Don't know if they can survive out deeper in the winter. Surface water in the Chesapeake bay makes it down to high thirties in the winter.

Looking forward to seeing more of your adventures!

Have caught both butterflies and sea horses off the coast of nj with seine nets.

Collection is legal here as long as not already regulated as a game fish or is listed as a state or federal endangered species. We are not tropical so not many regulations are in place for non game fish. We dont have many people trying to home sea robbins lol.

 

[bobbyM]

A) If you come to visit Sanibel, let me know and we can meet for lunch, or a beer, or a beach walk, or something! I've been to most of the beaches and parks on Sanibel. We are less than 10 miles from the Sanibel Causeway. In fact on July 5th we will be volunteering our time to helping the Baliey Matthews National Shell Museum doing cleanup on the causeway after the Forth of July picnics, parties and fireworks! I'll post pics.
B) There isn't much camping there. A little, but it probably fills up fast. Sanibel is kind of 'high end' living... which is why I don't live there anymore!
C) One of the main thrusts of this entire thread is to help people with snorkel sites (all over the world), good collecting sites (mostly the US and for me, mostly Florida) and how to do sustainable and perfectly legal collecting!
D) I'm willing, and I hope others here will be as well, to share my best snorkel and collecting sites and even how I collect, keep and transport what I collect. I know a few really good spots where you can see really cool stuff by snorkeling right off the beach! But I also know a few islands off shore that are less popular, have less people and more wildlife.
E) You do lobstering? Do you snorkel or dive when you catch lobster? Do you have a boat? We see lots of lobsters when we snorkel, but they are typically too small and we tend to snorkel specifically when it's NOT lobster season as the Keys go crazy during lobster season. And Florida FWC is always out in full force during lobster season (as well as before and after)!

Thanks for getting involved in this thread. Let's keep this conversation going!

A) For sure! That sounds awesome!
B) C) D) That is also Awesome! We moved here in August. My Job in Arkansas was getting stale after 15 years and needed to start somewhere fresh. We don't know many people outside my coworkers and are just getting settled in. Looking for recreational places to go on days off.
E) First year. I think it was $6 more on my fishing license. Last time I snorkeled in the keys I saw them everywhere, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I don't have a boat. If I could find two it would be worth it. If not, just fun to look. Fishing isn't always catching.

 

[cgdcinc]

Grand Cayman is a favorite for snorkeling reefs. Lived there for a couple years and was amazed by the reefs.

 

[Captain Quint]

...............................
I understand your passion. I got very close to being certified to scuba, even did a couple of resort dives in Jamaica. But I like the colors and sunshine of being shallow. And for me, collecting is almost addictive. I should have taken a job with a commercial collector. LOL!

Don't get me wrong. I love a nice shallow reef dive. Quite beautiful indeed.

I actually was hit up by a well known online company to collect for them given my diving the loop with no bubbles and the ability to go ~500 BSL to collect some deep dwellers safely but declined the opportunity.

 

[happyhourhero]

Hello Ron,

Great thread! I live in Pensacola and love collecting too! I have collected blennies and gobies and filefish. I also collect olive nerites which actually do pretty well in the reef tank.

Can you go into more detail on the porcelain crab collecting please? This is what I have wanted to do but am not really sure where/how to do it.

 

[Ron Reefman]

A) For sure! That sounds awesome!
B) C) D) That is also Awesome! We moved here in August. My Job in Arkansas was getting stale after 15 years and needed to start somewhere fresh. We don't know many people outside my coworkers and are just getting settled in. Looking for recreational places to go on days off.
E) First year. I think it was $6 more on my fishing license. Last time I snorkeled in the keys I saw them everywhere, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I don't have a boat. If I could find two it would be worth it. If not, just fun to look. Fishing isn't always catching.

Besides beaches on Sanibel there is the Ding Darling drive thru nature preserve. You can kayak or canoe there as well (no motors). There is the Bailey Matthews National Shell Museum who I volunteer with, and Tarpon Bay also has kayaks and canoes. Oh, and lots of good food all over the island.

So you are a newbie, welcome to Florida! I moved here from Ohio in 1999. Well there should be a lot of stuff in Orlando! And then there is cool stuff like watching Falcon 9 rocket launches from home, or drive over to the Space Center (very cool facility). I saw your post in that thread, I'll post advace warning for the next one. The current schedule is July 22 between 1:50am and 5:50am (oh boy, middle of the night!), Aug 2 at 1:19am (but at least it's a fixed time) and a Delta rocket on Aug 4 between 4:17am and 5:02am (kind of early, but it may go up into the sunrise which would be very cool to see).

Lets get a discussion going about good places to snorkel in the Keys without a boat, or maybe with a rented kayak.

Grand Cayman is a favorite for snorkeling reefs. Lived there for a couple years and was amazed by the reefs.

I knew it was a good dive site, I wasn't sure if the snorkeling was good or not. Any chance you have a site, a beach or some photos? That would be cool.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Hello Ron,

Great thread! I live in Pensacola and love collecting too! I have collected blennies and gobies and filefish. I also collect olive nerites which actually do pretty well in the reef tank.

Can you go into more detail on the porcelain crab collecting please? This is what I have wanted to do but am not really sure where/how to do it.

It's great fun. First you need to find a beach where sponges wash up. Around here in SW Florida that mostly happens after winter cold fronts, but can happen after stormy days. The sponges around here that are the best are soft orange ones that range from very small to almost football (American football) size. They are soft, have lots of fingers or branches and lots of 1/4" to 1" holes. We find them as close to the water's edge as possible in hope that they are still wet, or at least damp.
P1180100 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

Start tearing it open and look carefully inside.
P1180160 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr
P1180233 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

Around here porcelain crabs from very tiny 1/4" to about 1 1/2" are very common and they survive collecting and transporting home very well. I use a 7g bucket with a screw top lid. I drilled a hole in the lid for an air hose and I attached some velcro to the lid and a battery operated air pump (bubbler). They are like $10 to $15 at bait shops and online.
P1180029 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

We find a lot less pistol shrimp than porcelain crabs, probably about a 10:1 or even 20:1 ratio. The pistol shrimp are at higher risk from being out of the water than the crabs and they don't do quite as well making it home. But the survival rate for me has been about 90%. Very rarely I'll find a peppermint shrimp. Here is a pic with a couple of porcelain crabs and a pistol shrimp (yellow) hanging on to a sea cucumber (collected illegally, but back then I didn't know it).
sea squirt and friends by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

We find tiny and small serpent and brittle stars in the sponges as well. They are even less likey to survive long in the sponge and I think because they are so compromised, their survival rate for me is about 40%. But I can't collect stars on Sanibel beaches as they are protected by local ordinances along with all mollusks, sea cucumbers, sand dollars and sea biscuits.

I've had days where hitting my collection limit (20 animals/day, state regulation applies to all of Florida) is easy. But I've also had days that I come home with an empty bucket! Oh, one more point. I fill my bucket with a couple gallons of saltwater from my tank at home. On rough and cold days (better collecting) it's hard to get even semi-clean water in the bucket from the surf. And by using tank water, I've started acclimating them to my water right from the start.

I've been doing this for about 5 or 6 years now. One of the fun things for me is; when I'm out collected on a cold or cool windy day, almost everybody else on the beach are vacationers from far away and they are looking for shells. So even though it's 50F, it's sunny after a cold front and they are out in shorts or bathing suits. To me, after 20 years in SW Florida, I consider 50F to be freezing cold! So I'm wearing the bottom half of a wet suit and blue jeans, a long sleeve t-shirt and a flannel shirt and sometimes even semi heavy coat!
P1180230 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

So these shell hunters are always coming over to me and ask what the heck am I doing! Dressed like it's about to snow, I stand out from pretty far away. And when they get closer, they see me tearing sponges apart and occasionally dropping something in a big bucket. I'm like 0.001% of the beach population on those days. And when I explain what I'm doing, and show them the crabs and shrimp (and maybe an anemone) they are shocked. They ask,"You're finding these in the water, right?" And I say,"Nope, here is a sponge that's washed up, let's look inside." When I find live animals inside they are almost alway blown away. They had no idea anything on the beach that belongs in the water would still be alive. I love it because I always wanted to be a teacher and be able to inspire my students. These vacationers are often hungry for more knowledge and shocked at what I can show them. Great FUN!

 

[tripdad]

This is not snorkeling but still very cool. My daughter went to school at Texas A&M Galveston. They sometimes get large tides full of sargassum weed come in at spots on the island. We would wade out into the surf and grab hand fulls of sargassum. You can find small shrimp, tiny crabs and very small fish. I once got surprised by having a small pipefish in my hand, very cool. The water is murky so not sure snorkeling would be any good.We did not collect anything but it is fun just to explore nature. The best part is it is free as long as you don't collect.

 

[Rispa]

I used to go to Florida regularly. There was a semi frequentef beach with a bed of seagrass. I caught a pufferfish that time. I've seen all kinds of stuff. There's a resort right off a horses oe crab spawning ground. There's one little beach where if you go at the right time you can collect shark teeth. The only time I got sunburned were on my back because I was face down in the water so long lol. I'm sure things are much more crowded thanks to population growth though. Oh there was a state park across from a kayak and paddle board place that you could paddle to, then snorkel in. I saw all kinds of stuff there. My favorite being a pipefish. Oh and the area with the manatees is good too go to as well .

 

[happyhourhero]

It's great fun. First you need to find a beach where sponges wash up. Around here in SW Florida that mostly happens after winter cold fronts, but can happen after stormy days. The sponges around here that are the best are soft orange ones that range from very small to almost football (American football) size. They are soft, have lots of fingers or branches and lots of 1/4" to 1" holes. We find them as close to the water's edge as possible in hope that they are still wet, or at least damp.
P1180100 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

Start tearing it open and look carefully inside.
P1180160 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr
P1180233 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

Around here porcelain crabs from very tiny 1/4" to about 1 1/2" are very common and they survive collecting and transporting home very well. I use a 7g bucket with a screw top lid. I drilled a hole in the lid for an air hose and I attached some velcro to the lid and a battery operated air pump (bubbler). They are like $10 to $15 at bait shops and online.
P1180029 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

We find a lot less pistol shrimp than porcelain crabs, probably about a 10:1 or even 20:1 ratio. The pistol shrimp are at higher risk from being out of the water than the crabs and they don't do quite as well making it home. But the survival rate for me has been about 90%. Very rarely I'll find a peppermint shrimp. Here is a pic with a couple of porcelain crabs and a pistol shrimp (yellow) hanging on to a sea cucumber (collected illegally, but back then I didn't know it).
sea squirt and friends by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

We find tiny and small serpent and brittle stars in the sponges as well. They are even less likey to survive long in the sponge and I think because they are so compromised, their survival rate for me is about 40%. But I can't collect stars on Sanibel beaches as they are protected by local ordinances along with all mollusks, sea cucumbers, sand dollars and sea biscuits.

I've had days where hitting my collection limit (20 animals/day, state regulation applies to all of Florida) is easy. But I've also had days that I come home with an empty bucket! Oh, one more point. I fill my bucket with a couple gallons of saltwater from my tank at home. On rough and cold days (better collecting) it's hard to get even semi-clean water in the bucket from the surf. And by using tank water, I've started acclimating them to my water right from the start.

I've been doing this for about 5 or 6 years now. One of the fun things for me is; when I'm out collected on a cold or cool windy day, almost everybody else on the beach are vacationers from far away and they are looking for shells. So even though it's 50F, it's sunny after a cold front and they are out in shorts or bathing suits. To me, after 20 years in SW Florida, I consider 50F to be freezing cold! So I'm wearing the bottom half of a wet suit and blue jeans, a long sleeve t-shirt and a flannel shirt and sometimes even semi heavy coat!
P1180230 by Ron Lindensmith, on Flickr

So these shell hunters are always coming over to me and ask what the heck am I doing! Dressed like it's about to snow, I stand out from pretty far away. And when they get closer, they see me tearing sponges apart and occasionally dropping something in a big bucket. I'm like 0.001% of the beach population on those days. And when I explain what I'm doing, and show them the crabs and shrimp (and maybe an anemone) they are shocked. They ask,"You're finding these in the water, right?" And I say,"Nope, here is a sponge that's washed up, let's look inside." When I find live animals inside they are almost alway blown away. They had no idea anything on the beach that belongs in the water would still be alive. I love it because I always wanted to be a teacher and be able to inspire my students. These vacationers are often hungry for more knowledge and shocked at what I can show them. Great FUN!

Thank you so much for writing that out! I love seeing stuff like that! I had never considered this method as I usually dip net or rock flip.

We probably don’t get near the volume of sponges you do up here but we do get some. I’ll probably try this after a storm.

 

[Rispa]

Oh also if you're there ss the tide is going out you can see clams burying themselves.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I used to go to Florida regularly. There was a semi frequentef beach with a bed of seagrass. I caught a pufferfish that time. I've seen all kinds of stuff. There's a resort right off a horses oe crab spawning ground. There's one little beach where if you go at the right time you can collect shark teeth. The only time I got sunburned were on my back because I was face down in the water so long lol. I'm sure things are much more crowded thanks to population growth though. Oh there was a state park across from a kayak and paddle board place that you could paddle to, then snorkel in. I saw all kinds of stuff there. My favorite being a pipefish. Oh and the area with the manatees is good too go to as well .

What area of Florida? Can you give us any ideas like what city, what park, what resort? I'd love to know.

Thank you so much for writing that out! I love seeing stuff like that! I had never considered this method as I usually dip net or rock flip.

We probably don’t get near the volume of sponges you do up here but we do get some. I’ll probably try this after a storm.

We don't get sponges on a regular basis either, only after a fairly strong cold front (like 15mph wind for 24 hours) and occasionally after a strong westerly wind. And when the front passes on a Tuesday, I'd need be on the beach Wednesday. Sometimes even 2 days later is OK, but the day after is way better. But if you work a schedule and can't get the time off, it becomes nearly impossible because there are so few really good days. Being retired has been a huge help! LOL!

 

[dbraun15]

Here are the more common shells we find along the gulf coast. Top right is an olive snail, top left is a conch(not sure what kind), middle is a moon snail, bottom right and largest shell I need help with ID. Ron, are these different than what you normally find?

 

[Rispa]

What area of Florida? Can you give us any ideas like what city, what park, what resort? I'd love to know.



We don't get sponges on a regular basis either, only after a fairly strong cold front (like 15mph wind for 24 hours) and occasionally after a strong westerly wind. And when the front passes on a Tuesday, I'd need be on the beach Wednesday. Sometimes even 2 days later is OK, but the day after is way better. But if you work a schedule and can't get the time off, it becomes nearly impossible because there are so few really good days. Being retired has been a huge help! LOL!

I lived in the Tampa Bay area I'll see if I can get some beach names for you

 

[EW_Fish]

The smaller butterflies and Florida angelfish will show up here off Virgin Beach starting around August.

I always assumed they died off in the winter.
Don't know if they can survive out deeper in the winter. Surface water in the Chesapeake bay makes it down to high thirties in the winter.

Looking forward to seeing more of your adventures!

I did not know this. Pretty cool

 

[Ron Reefman]

Here are the more common shells we find along the gulf coast. Top right is an olive snail, top left is a conch(not sure what kind), middle is a moon snail, bottom right and largest shell I need help with ID. Ron, are these different than what you normally find?

The conch is a Fighting Conch, the Moon Snail is also called a Shark's Eye Snail, The big one is a Lightning Welk. It's the only mollusk that the winds to the left. Hold up any other marine snail and the shell winds to the right and the opening is on the left side. About 99% of all Lightning Welks have their opening on the left. The bottom right is what is left of a Murex of some kind, I think the 'holes' are just worn away material. The live animal wouldn't have all those open spaces.

So yes, you have found shells that we have in common. This website might help you ID almost any shells you find in the Gulf of Mexico.
https://www.shellmuseum.org/southwest-florida-shells

 

[Ron Reefman]

I lived in the Tampa Bay area I'll see if I can get some beach names for you

That would be much appreciated. Thank you very much!

 

[dbraun15]

The conch is a Fighting Conch, the Moon Snail is also called a Shark's Eye Snail, The big one is a Lightning Welk. It's the only mollusk that the winds to the left. Hold up any other marine snail and the shell winds to the right and the opening is on the left side. About 99% of all Lightning Welks have their opening on the left. The bottom right is what is left of a Murex of some kind, I think the 'holes' are just worn away material. The live animal wouldn't have all those open spaces.

So yes, you have found shells that we have in common. This website might help you ID almost any shells you find in the Gulf of Mexico.
https://www.shellmuseum.org/southwest-florida-shells

Thanks. We find all sizes of all of these, but finding ones completely intact can be a challenge. The lightning welk pictured there is about 6" and the fighting conch is about 4"(about max size we find). Going to Orange Beach next weekend and I'll see if I can find anything more of interest.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Thanks. We find all sizes of all of these, but finding ones completely intact can be a challenge. The lightning welk pictured there is about 6" and the fighting conch is about 4"(about max size we find). Going to Orange Beach next weekend and I'll see if I can find anything more of interest.

Your fighting conch is about the normal adult size. The welk is a pretty good size as well, but I have seen them get to be as much as a foot or even a bit more.

This time of year, warmer, it's fun to wade out into the shallow water. You might find a nice shell that hasn't washed up on the beach yet and collected by somebody else. It also gives you the opportunity to find something alive. We used to do a lot of beach walks at Lovers Key (just south of Ft Myers Beach) and we always marveled at how the stuff we would find changed from one visit to the next. One time the beach would be litters with lots of fighting conch, the next time hardly any, but lots of sand dollars, and the next time it would be olives and sometimes it was just sand!

 

[Rispa]

Dunedin Causeway and Caladesi Island. It's been hard, so things may have changed. If the tourist numbers increased or a hurricane caused problems there may be less, but they were great a decade+ ago.