Scuba Diving in Key Largo, Florida: Molasses Reef, French Reef, Benwood & Spiegle Grove dive sites
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- Опубліковано 20 січ 2018
- The most frequently visited dive site in the Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary, and likely the world, is known as Molasses Reef. During World War II, near midnight on April 9th, 1942, the Norwegian merchant freighter Benwood was on a routine path from Florida to Virginia, transporting a load of phosphate rock. It was running with no lights to avoid being spotted by German U-boats, which was common for ships throughout the war. The Spiegle Grove ship is enormous and much larger than any natural reef structure in the Keys. In fact, at the time of its sinking, the Spiegel Grove was the largest ship ever intentionally sunk to create a new reef for divers, and it remains one of the largest ships ever scuttled for that purpose.
You captured such an amazing moment with the turtle! Thanks for sharing! This convinced me to go dive Molasses :)
Thanks. Yup, Key Largo is a great place to dive. If you can drive there, it's even better, you would have more options: between the Keys, the Blue Heron Bridge, or Diving in the Springs. I hope you'll enjoy it.
Back in 1971 I dove the Molasses and French reefs and it was my very first series of clear warm water diving I had ever done. It was quite the experience! The next time I was there was in 2001 and was SHOCKED at how much of the coral reef structure had deteriorated. This video is about what I saw then, so at least I'm glad it wasn't gotten worse.
Same great Barrier reef in Australia.
My wife and I just got open water certified and looking forward to diving in Key Largo-great video and thank you!
Great shots and such an interesting video!! I was intrigued the entire time!!
SEA DWELLERS!!! What a great crew. Scott is one of the best captains we've ever had. Great video, too. Excellent job with the narration, Karim.
Love the video and the narration was great especially with the coral/fish ID. I've done all these except for the Grove.
Love your video here man... Born and raised in Miami, went to Key Largo every weekend.
I did Molasses Reef. It was awesome !!
Molassis Reef is a great place to dive. Wonderful dive community down there. Safe diving!!
Fantastic video!
Thank you! This is such a well made video!
Great video. Spiegel Grove is a great wreck.
Great Video
Excellent videography and narration of your dive. I can't wait for an opportunity to dive along the keys.
Great shots. Thanks for the video. Molasses Reef is one of my favorite shallow dive sites. I've gotten some of my best dive pics in that area.
Really enjoyed your video. Your narration and the calm, soothing way about it. Thanks! New sub
Thank you.I appreciate the feedack. I am glad you enjoyed it.
I love the music on your diving videos and your voice is nice 👍
Great video! Been looking to plan a trip here and this has provided incredible insight.
So beautiful and well narrated. Thank you for sharing. It helped us decide on what dive sites to visit.💜
We lived Oceanside Key Largo for 18 years, ten minutes from Molasses Reef.
shipwreck diving is still one on my list that i havent tried yet.
Fantastic video! I look forward to diving there! After watching ; I almost feel I've been there :-)
Thank you for this awesome video. I did those same locations (video as well, but no longer have it) years ago, been telling my 8 yo son about it all, and today got to show him where mom's been. :-) Loved it.
Very well done! I'll be down there next month! Very beautiful scenery
Great video! Planning a trip there in April 2020. Enjoyed the narration.
Awesome work dude, I really enjoyed your narration and camera work. Potential to become the next David Attenborough!
Nice video and narration!
Very nice dive
In one of the last dives I saw two turtles. It is so amazing to swim with them. Well done 👌
Nice video, great job.
Egads! It’s Baron Harkonnen!
But more seriously, beautifully filmed video.
My dad just taught me to dive in our pool , and I’m going to get my open water training soon. My dadas only done cold water dives but he’s going to take me on a dive in the keys!
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Nicely Done
Nice video brotha
What a great shot at 12:31 along with plenty other places. Just dove here a couple weeks ago and really enjoyed your video taking me right back
Yes and TOUCHING ANY OF IT IS A NO-NO
For someone who hasn't seen this reef in almost 20 years, this video really highlights the shear volume of stony coral loss, and the loss of diversity as well.
Stony coral loss is real. But you can help save the reefs. See how here: ua-cam.com/video/vz7dfki0hBI/v-deo.html
So beautiful and done with great sensitivity. I will never understand how anyone can go spearfishing and make these beautiful creatures suffer. A real flaw in the Keys rules. Should be abolished, an extremely cruel inhuman activity..
Dives to check on reef seen him kicking and holding on to coral
Those parrotfish have my heart :)
Glad to see no lionfish.
Really good video! It's very difficult to get that good of a quality when you're underwater.
Not with modern technology..
The video is nicely narrated and well done, however we were diving in Florida for the last 35 year or so. This reef looks like a lot of dead coral. Yes, there are a few fish and lobster but the coral look gray and dead. Years ago the colors were amazing.
Great footage! What kind of cameras do you use for selfies and other pictures?
For this trip, I took photos using an Olympus TG5. For the Videos and for Selfies, I used a GoPro 7 Black. Thanks for the good words.
i see everyone with a wetsuit...is this normal for this area? i usually dive in cozumel and have never had to use a wetsuit. guessing it is for safety..?
Hi, in December, water temperature varies sometimes between mid 70s and low 80s. A 3 mil or a short suit should be helpful if you do 4 dives in the 70s water temp. It can also protect you around the wrecks. But I have seen people going in for two dives without a wetsuit when the water temp is around 76 - 78.
@@KarimLounesDiving thanks for the great video and for sharing. im going to islamarada in two weeks... im excited now.
great video- what app are you using for the narration?
Thanks for the feedback. The narration is a voice recording of a real person. It is not an app.
What dive company did you use in Key Largo?
Sea Dwellers. They are a great team with a nice boat. We like diving with them cause they are not that crowded and friendly. Some of the other operations have more than 18 divers on the boat and it takes away the entire fun from the experience. You are rushed to get ready with less space, rushed to get in the water, a long line to climb back on the boat, ughhhh. Anyways, I usually look for a smaller operation with more care and attention. Hope I am not offending anyone with this :)
David attenborough would be proud!!
I hope that wasn't sarcastic! :) He is a great messenger... His voice is priceless.
No I really enjoyed it heading down with our RV in a few weeks and if the weather is decent will head out
The coral looks pretty decimated sadly.
Is a nice video. Is my diving spot and where I got trained. Just a comment and recommendation. Please don’t touch the reef and avoid equipment to touch the reef.
The most versatile diving destination in the world.....have you been to Australia, Indonesia, PNG, to name a few.
Hi. No I haven’t been to Australia, or Indonesia, but I am sure they are great diving destinations. The thing with Florida is you have so many options within a few hours or driving. Fresh, deep, reef, wreck, springs, cave, shore and more. As a small geographic region, it is versatile. Thought when it comes to marine diversity, I was told that Micronesia is the place to go.
When it comes to the reef barriers, Australia is #1. However, in Key Largo you will find more dive shops and dive operations than in any other place due to the options available. Hope this helps.
Thanks for your reply and information.
@@colindavidson4357 As someone in South Florida, I honestly just like the fact that there are also so many beach dive options for those who can't always afford to go far but want to experience a nice dive. Last time we went out the biodiversity was amazing, despite patches of dead corals. I always wonder what it would look like in a place with the corals aren't suffering as much.
Seriously? Why were you touching the reef at 5:05. If your going to be underwater you should at least respect the reefs. Rock or Coral it doesn't matter, you never know what might be living on it.
That aside this is good footage.
Bria Nakonecznyj true. That was a mistake. But that was a rock. Thanks for watching and being that positive.
I only wish you would have given more info about depths at the Speigel
Date Sunk: June 10, 2002 (Hurricane Dennis turned ship upright in July 2005)
Location: 25° 04.00′ N; 80° 18.65′ W (6 Miles off Key Largo)
Maximum Depth: 130 feet
Minimum Depth: 45 feet (approximately)
Ship Length: 510 feet
Ship Height: 84 feet
Tonnage: 6,880
Ship Type: U.S. Navy Landing Ship Dock
Date Commissioned: 1956
Date Decommissioned: 1989
Named For: Ohio estate of US President Rutherford B. Hayes
The speigel is one of my favorite dive spots in the keys. Sooooo worth the drive from Pennsylvania I’ll tell ya that much.
Did you use just a regular selfie stick or no?
Haley Forsberg yes, it’s a regular waterproof GoPro selfie stick.
yeah lucky!! One day i will skip christmas...
Thicc vid guy
The turtle looks thicc and juicy
Nice
My GoPro died right before the Benwood dive.
Sorry to hear that. My GoPro died on me in so many dives. So frustrating.
You need to work on your buoyancy before handling that much gear. If you need to touch the reef for balance, thats an instant red flag that you need more practice. Respect these precious resources. Otherwise we really enjoyed the video, thanks.
Thanks for the advice.
Video has too many divers harassing sealife. Divers shouldn't be harassing turtles. nor shoving cameras in rays faces. This give great example of how not to get too close to the reef. which rips sea-fans. and damages corals. This is why so may reefs are damaged. Stay off the reef. Go to the man made weeks.
Thanks for the feedback. The GoPro has a wide angle. The camera is far from the subjects. Zooming in the shots in the post-production makes the subjects look closer so people can see the marine life better on screen. Thanks for caring about the animals and the reef.
Oh the irony
The coral is all dead... there's nothing left to preserve.... I dove there in '73 when the antler coral was alive and everywhere there were fish... the dive boat captains would dive with us and cut up a few sea urchins to attract schools of fish... all gone now..