the wild blue yonder

I took this picture in Key Largo. We were out in the boat on the bay side fishing. The water, as far as the eye can see, is around 6' deep. It is technically the Everglades National Park. We even got stopped in the boat by a park ranger one time because John was sitting on the very front of the boat with his legs hanging down looking for shallow water.

Anyway, the light on the water was doing this amazing thing. I can't even describe the color, there isn't a word for it, this picture doesn't even come close. The reef is on the Atlantic side, the tranquil bay is on the other side. And since Mike and John are scuba certified now, we can pile all the stuff in the boat and dive and snorkel on the reef. The parks service has put out these buoys where you can tie up your boat all along the reef. There were places in the Atlantic ocean, about 4 miles out, where I could almost touch the coral. The water is that shallow in places. There were huge schools of these little fish that were yellow with black stripes, they looked like bumble bees. Yes, we did see sharks. But, they didn't want us. And the wildlife is accustomed to people being out there.

I'm under a spell.