Snorkel Cleanup with Miami Waterkeeper and Sea Experience

Overview

On Saturday, October 14th, The International SeaKeepers Society partnered with Miami Waterkeeper and Sea Experience to host our first-ever snorkel cleanup. We were joined by 26 participants, including six students engaged in the Junior SeaKeepers program, and a couple of Miami Waterkeeper’s Junior Ambassadors! We boarded Sea Experience’s glass bottom snorkel boat at Pier Sixty-Six in Fort Lauderdale, and after receiving safety briefings from Captain Bill and first mate Jason, we headed out to our first location, Angelfish Reef. With a depth between 10-15 ft, Angelfish Reef was a beautiful snorkel spot that brought our participants sightings of tons of fish like Triggerfish, Angelfish and Parrotfish, and even a Nurse Shark and a couple of Eagle Rays! We were happy to report that this spot was very clean, and only a small piece of plastic was recovered. After about 30 minutes we reboarded the boat and headed to Sea Experience’s signature snorkel spot, Twin Ledges. This snorkel spot is a little deeper, with the bottom about 15-20 ft underwater. At this spot, we saw tons of Bermuda Chubs and more Parrotfish and Filefish. This spot was also very clean, but one metal rod that looked like a boat siding was recovered from the bottom. We are grateful to Miami Waterkeeper and Sea Experience for partnering with us to make this snorkel cleanup possible and get some of our volunteers out on the water to look for fish and trash.