REDDOG DIVING – KEY
Doug Cook’s Website for Scuba Diving
Adventures
and Underwater
Photography
ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
Doug
graduated from the
Music
that defined Doug’s
(play but please do not copy)
Doug
was a free lance photo journalist and underwater photography instructor (PUBLICATIONS). His arsenal of photo equipment
included four Nikonos cameras, a RolleiMarine housing and RolleiFlex
camera,
and an ancient Bolex 16mm movie camera and housing.
Today life is simple and easy with just a Cannon SD-800 in a WD-PC5 housing:
Still
and video with automatic focus, exposure, and white balance!
The
‘Christ of the Abyss Statue’ at the Key Largo Dry Rocks is the renowned symbol
of
Beautiful
branching
In
his tenure in the Keys from 1969 to 1982, Doug witnessed very substantial
decline of these beautiful and fragile reefs.
Some of this is documented below:
Beautiful
coral caves of Pennekamp Park
Schools
of millions of silverside minnows inhabit the coral caves in the summer
months. They envelope you in a
shimmering cloud but your motion causes them to stand off in a wall about three
feet from you as if you have an invisible force field. Doug’s wife Elizabeth models with the camera.
Divers
and snorkelers on the City of
Exploring
the City of
Water
spouts are a common sight in the summer around the Keys. They can be powerful enough to toss boats
around and so should be respected. Doug
once surfaced from a dive knowing that a storm had moved in but was surprised
to see four water spouts in the area with one bearing down on the boat. He got all his divers in the boat and quickly
pulled anchor to veer away from the spout.
One of the things Doug misses most about the Keys are the
beautiful sunsets he used to take for granted.
Feeding sharks, barracuda, moray
eels, and most everything swimming around the coral reefs.
In
his tenure in the Keys from 1969 to 1982, Doug witnessed very substantial
decline of these beautiful and fragile reefs.
Some of this is documented below:
DON’T
TOUCH OR ACCIDENTALLY BUMP OR BREAK CORAL!
This
is the largest brain coral Doug has ever seen- over ten feet in diameter and
only a short distance from the Christ of the Abyss Statue. It took hundreds
of years to grow this large! In a
short time, poor health allowed invading algae and parrotfish (coral eaters) to
threaten its destruction. Please email Doug Cook if you can give a recent report on the condition of this
massive coral head.
Anchor
damage from careless boaters can invite fatal coral disease.
Star
Coral bleaching (losing its symbiotic zooxanthellae
that provide food and characteristic coral color)
This
once majestic stand of
White band coral disease (bleaching followed by invasion of
algae).
Contrast
this to the beautiful scenes of
Feeding sharks, barracuda, moray
eels, and most everything swimming around the coral reefs.