Perfect day in paradise :)

 

Me and Suzie Q on Biddi and the Beast...taking a cruise to Burdine's for lunch :)

We introduced them to the deep fried key lime pie...Oh. My. Goodness.

Cap'n Danny took us on a cruise through Boot Key Harbor.  I couldn't believe how many boats have left already.

We went out past beautiful Sombrero Beach, on our way to the reef.  It was nearly flat calm today.

It was sunny and gorgeous today, too.  Even Biddi stepped out in the sun for a minute!

Eight of us went diving off of Danny's boat.  It was quite the ordeal getting every body and all of their gear on and off the boat.  In the end, it worked out really, really well, and everybody had a blast.  I lost Donnie, Mike and Susan the minute we descended.  They were not weighted enough and had to go back up.  I was fine, and had my camera, so I went exploring.

Little wrasses

I love to eat grunts- at The Stuffed Pig you can get grunts n' grits for breakfast!

A mutton snapper was hiding from me, but I found him.

I swam with this gorgeous school of blue tangs...it was like I was in an aquarium!

You'll always see Sergeant Majors on the reef.

French angelfish...his French was not so very good. I couldn't understand what he said to me.

A blue parrot fish, for my little buddy Ty.  He was electric blue.

I had this guy on the run, I don't know what he is.  Any guesses?

two banded butterflyfish

A scrawled filefish...I was so proud of this shot, I got that close!  Look at his colors :)

a foureye butterflyfish

Do you see him?

a rainbow parrotfish...the colors here don't do him justice.  They are beautiful.

Donnie, Susan (on the tag line) and Mike were coming up...

I think these guys were going down...they were fishing on the reef which is a protected sanctuary.  Danny said they were on their second pen and pad of tickets...almost two hours later!  Yikes.  They just had a costly fishing trip.

We all clipped our BC's along the stern of Danny's boat.

I snapped a picture of Edie snapping a pic of me :)

All the divers rode on the bow on the way back, trading stories of what we all saw on the reef.

Thud and Justin went skin diving...wish I had air like them.

I think it's safe to say Mike had a good time, too.

Biddi, ever the gracious hostess, came out in the sun for the SECOND time today to offer us drinks :)

passing under the Seven Mile Bridge...

back into the Gulf of Mexico.

Look how Cap'n Danny drives Biddi and the Beast, lol.

Then we spotted a loggerhead turtle...

We called it in, but it was too late. She was already dead :(

It was a beautiful ride back to Banana Bay.

By the time we got back to the marina, sorted everyone's gear in the dark, rinsed it all off and stowed it away, it was after 9:00pm.  We all decided to go to the hot tub to rinse the salt off of us.  Thankfully, I had dinner going in the crockpot all day.  We didn't eat until after 10pm, and by 11:00 I was bushed and it was time to call it a night. Whew!  G'nite, y'all!