I have lost count of how many times I have been to John Pennekamp. I was here several times while in college, several times with Worldstrides and at least two with family (on vacations). I have hiked a few upland forests, walked the boardwalk trails through mangrove swamps and snorkeled in the coral reefs that are within the park boundaries and a few that are in the adjacent Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Today we would be doing a beach snorkel, not a real exciting "adventure" but a necessary one to introduce snorkeling to the students that have never done this. We had about two hours, first to get fitted with rented gear and then to "experiment" in the water. I knew that an afternoon swim would not be very "fun"...because of crowds and the mixing of the water with sand and algae that accompanies a large group of people all vying for space in a roped-in semi-tropical beach. In past years we have seen large schools of tarpon swimming near the surface in the deeper areas and if the waters were clear enough we could see small tropical reef fishes along the rocks as well as the the remnants of an old Spanish shipwreck that are within the ropes. Two years ago, this was also the site that my son Chris and I, experimented with our new digital underwater cameras. With the crowds and the turbid water I didn't expect to see much.
The best thing about this part of our trip was seeing the kids, don snorkeling gear and observing Daniel and Laura "get use" to the whole experience. With David and Susan's help their timidness was slowing replaced by trial and error and then getting a level of comfort with everything. Before departing for our hotel we did see a few tarpon, a few parrot fish and a few grunt and maybe a grouper.
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