Shark and Turtle encounter at Pennekamp

Today was a fantastic day in the keys. Went to Key Largo John Pennekamp State Park for the day. I try to get everyone together atleast once a month. Its only a 1.5 hour car ride. Of course a stop off at the dunkin donuts is crucial to those non morning people.

This time we had 7 adults and 4 children. Serena and Chris, their 2 kids Corine and Christoph and their neice visiting from Germany, their friends Linda and Bryan and 7 yo daughter, Mike, Shari, and me!

I had made a special request since it was my birthday trip. Its not for another month but I wont be going till after. I had requested where the christ statue was... and they were able to accommodate.

It was Mike, Shari and I that teamed up to explore the deep blue. After 5 min of swimming we came across a hawksbill sea turtle. He was just chomping along at the reef. He didn't mind us being around. Then Mike started to go in and he swam around with the turtle and he still stuck around. Then I decided to go and swim with him for a bit. Then he got bored and we got bored and he swam off. He was of decent size. So graceful too.

We came across a large school of tangs and even nestled inside was a trumpet fish. I think he was hiding from the police. haha. Also spotted quite a few large, and I do mean LARGE parrot fish. Beautiful colors. After that we lost Mike for a bit. Me and Shari continued to explore. The waves were getting a bit choppy so I brought Shari in.



Before going in, I brought her to the christ statue which is always a neat thing to see. Being that had some congestion, swimming deep was a bit painful. So I stayed at around 8' feet or so.

Upon going in, I saw a 5' nurse shark. His head is the size of my forearm in width. Massive beautiful creature. Shari named him Fred. So Fred the shark was really into trying to get some fish from under the rocks. I swam near him of course. He didn't seem to mind. He just looked at me a few times whenever I swam to close to him. So I didn't go touching him like I normally do. Nurse sharks are very docile creatures so I'm not worried though he looked determined to get food so I played it safe. Didn't want to be the first retard to get bit by a nurse shark in Pennekamp. haha. It was so amazing to watch him contort his body and move so gracefully in the water. I was just in absolute awe. I really wanted to go and hug him. I love love love sharks.



I am actually in the process of learning to really free dive and stay down long. My goal right now is 3 minutes.

After about 15 minutes, we swam in and spotted Mike. I brought Shari to the boat and we went off to get into trouble. I was thinking to myself. What an amazing day. A shark and turtle the same day. What would really make it is if a sting ray came by. In no less than 2 minutes did a good size sting ray swim by. So of course I thought, wow, it would be so great if a reef shark swam by... NOTHING.... so the boat horn blew to tell us to get in. Of course we were the last ones on. :)

It was quite an adventure. We shared our stories and showed our photos of the encounters and enjoyed the boat ride back. The weather was really looking bad. Luckily I'm lucky in weather and it didnt rain till later. After showering we headed over to the usual spot of Sundowners to eat and drink.

Home by 7p. It was by far the best trip to Pennekamp. Then again it seems like every trip is the best. I am just so thankful I could share the experience with my friends. I am glad that Shari got to see a shark for the first time and she wasn't scared. Now onto bigger and better.

See all the photos