Soft Corals

Sambos Reef is divided into three parts: Western Sambo, Middle Sambos, and Eastern Sambo. They are convenient to Key West scuba charters, especially those that go out of Stock Island marinas. They are south and a little bit east of Key West and can be combined with a dive trip to the Vandenberg, Joe’s Tug, or the Cayman.

Just four miles out from land, the Sambos are a nice spot for a quick scuba trip.  You can get down to about 40 feet at Middle Sambo, making it a nice dive for novices.  Take note of the abundance of soft corals here, as well as at the other Sambos.

Spotted Eagle Ray at Western Dry Rocks

Western Dry Rocks is about six miles southwest of Key West, and west of Sand Key Lighthouse.  There are large banks of coral and rocks here, sliced through with alleyways through which it’s lots of fun to swim and look for marine life.  You can catch rays cruising these alleys, as well as barracuda.  This Spotted Eagle Ray was cruising the coral alleys at Western Dry Rocks.  There are lots of different species of fish that live here, and at the outer western edges of the coral banks there are some lovely coral patches standing alone on the white sand.

Western Dry Rocks has white buoys you can tie up on, making it a great spot for some easy diving.  The depth ranges from 0 to 30 feet, with the rocks stick out of the water near the marker stick.  This Key West dive spot is also a good snorkeling spot, so there’s something for everyone.  It’s close to Sand Key, so you can do both in one day if you like.

In addition to rays, barracuda, grouper, snapper and lots of small colorful reef fish, you can also find parrot fish, eels, nurse sharks (they are not aggressive) and all sorts of coral species.

Cottrell Key is on the Gulf side of Key West, so it makes a good snorkeling spot for days when the reef is just too rough.  Scuba divers will find that this spot is too shallow since it’s about 10 to 20 feet deep.   There are mooring buoeys here, and you just follow the northwest passage out of Key West harbor, so it’s a convenient spot to aim for.

Cottrell Key is part of chain of uninhabited islands leading from Key West out to the Marquesas, and has lots of little coral patches as well as a wreck near it.  Just tie up at the second bouey you come to from Key West and look for debris on the bottom, evidence of some old wreck.  There are lots of hogfish at Cottrell Key, as well as lots of really healthy looking coral and schools of fish.  If you’re used to diving or snorkeling on the Atlantic side of Key West, you’ll notice a difference in the abundance of coral and, in season, schools of bait fish.  Look for the large jewfish under a rock at the first bouey.

Small Bait Fish at Cottrell Key

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Stargazer Reef is the most unusual Key West dive spot.  As much a work of art as it is anything else, this artificial reef sits in about 25 feet of water.  Consisting of a series of metal tubes welded into sawhorse-like structures and entirely silhouetted against white sand, Stargazer Reef is not exactly a fish haven but it is interesting to see.  There is a huge jewfish (Goliath Grouper) that hangs out underneath. and some Angel fish and Mangrove Snappers hang around, too.  But as you can see from the pictures, there just isn’t much surface area on Stargazer for coral to take a hold of.

Stargazer Reef is a nice stopoff spot on the way in from any number of Key West dive spots, and it has a convenient mooring bouey.

Star Gazer Reef from the Surface

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Nine foot stake is great for both scuba divers and snorkelers, but better for snorkelers because it’s so shallow.  It’s fifteen to thirty feet deep, depending which area of the spot you go to.  The actual nine foot stake is in the shallower water, so it will be easy for just about anyone to find the wreckage.  And what is the wreckage?  It’s really a bunch of debris, like pilings and bars, sitting on coral patches that are actually quite full of fish and other marine life.

<p>Find hogfish here, as well as barracuda and, in winter, mackerel.  Also look  for bar jacks, and large coral heads with urchins, eels, lobsters, grouper and other sea creatures underneath.  Also good for practicing your underwater photography, because of the shallowness and diversity of coral and fish here.

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Joe’s Tug has a great story behind its sinking, although much of the circumstances around the actual events remain a mystery to most, even to this day.  Joe’s Tug is an old shrimp boat sunk in not very deep water, just south of Key West.  Because it was made of steel, you can still see the shape of the hull, and it makes a good beginner’s dive since it’s not that deep.  For snorkelers and freedivers, if the vis is good and you can dive down a bit, say around 50 feet,  you will see Joe’s Tug.

Back  in the 80′s, when apparently nobody kept an eye on the harbor too much, Joe’s Tug was docked and ready to be towed to Miami to become an artificial reef.  She had been stripped of dangerous pollutants and readied for sinking.  Sometime in the night, some locals decided they’d like the new reef a little closer to home.  So they stole it and planned to sink it in their own secret spot.

They didn’t make it to their secret spot and the thing sank in 65 feet of water where it is now.  Her position has been slightly modified by past hurricanes and it sits upright in the water.  A lot of the local dive shops that run boats for scuba divers love to take their customers to Joe’s Tug.

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The Alexander Wreck is named after Chet Alexander who purchased the ship for scrap in 1962. The actual name of the vessel is the the USS Amesbury. It was meant to be sank in deeper water but ran aground and then broke apart in a storm.  The wreck lies in two pieces, one of which is so shallow it is a navigational hazard and is marked with a buoy.

The ship is in 20-30 of water and the visibility of the water in the area is highly variable. The wreck is good spot to dive when there are strong easterly or southern winds, making the the Atlantic side less friendly.  The ship is home to thousands of fish, and if you look inside you will see schools of lane snappers, jewfish , spade fish and others.

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Alexander Wreck is unique because it’s the only shipwreck that’s explorable by beginner snorkelers.   This shipwreck offers even those who stay in the boat a glimpse of a real live shipwreck and the colorful coral that grows everywhere on its surface.  For those interested in shipwrecks or underwater photography but who might still be beginners in either  hobby, this is a defiinte Key West dive site to put on your list.

Since it’s in the Gulf, where vis can be a little murky much of the time, it’s good to arrange your snorkeling or dive trip to include other spots as well.  Try Cottrell Key on the way to Alexandar’s Wreck.   Both Cottrell Key and Alexandar’s Wreck are also good destinations when the wind is blowing hard from the South.  The land mass of Key West will protect you a bit from the choppiness.

Barracuda on the Vandenberg Artificial Reef

The Vandenberg Artificial Reef is the newest spot to dive, although the longer you wait to dive this incredible sunken ship, the more marine life you’re apt to see.  Sunk May 2009, this 522 foot former Navy transport ship from World War II features large satellite dishes that come up to within 50 feet of the surface.  When the water is clear, even snorkelers can see them!

The beam is 72.5 feet and she has eight decks.  Now resting in about 150 feet of water, she makes an excellent choice for you next Key West diving vacation.  There are access openings cut into the sides of the ship, and all doors and hatches have been removed. In fact, there are lots of access openings:

Second deck – 46 access openings
• Upper deck – 50 access openings
• Superstructure deck 34 access openings
• Between bulk heads interior 60-80 access openings

Access openings are 79 inches in diamter.  In addition, all vertical passageways have been cleared of covers, which helped the sinking of the Vandenberg, but also contributes to safety for advanced divers who penetrate the wreck.

A Conch Republic Flag was raised on the Vandenberg once the ship was sunk, and within a few days giant barracuda were already lurking all around the ship.  Most Key West dive companies run trips out to the Vandenberg.  The dive can be combined with a stop at either Nine Foot Stake or Cayman Salvage Master wreck.

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The Cayman Salgave Master

The Cayman Wreck is very popular with the Key West dive boats that take visitors out on daily excursions for scuba.  It’s just beyond the main reef about six miles out from Oceanside Marina on Stock Island.  It’s only one mile from the Nine Foot Stake, another great dive spot.  It’s eighty five feet deep, so snorkelers won’t see a thing.  But it’s perfect for scuba, which is why it remains of the most popular Key West diving spots, year after year.

The Cayman Salvage Master itself is situated on white sand, and has a layer of sand over it, too.  You will see the remains of the steel hull sitting on the bottom, its ship shape still very much intact.  It was once a Coast Guard bouy tender, built in the 1930s and used in the Muriel Boatlift in the 1970s, carrying Cubans.  It was intended to be an artificial reef but sank on its way out where it is today.    Lucky for divers, it never made it to its intended 300 foot depth, where it would never have been accessible for scuba divers.  There are actually a number of intentionally sunk ships out in very deep water, for fishing.