[Heyworth]

A couple of months ago, I was on a cruise in the western Caribbean, and we snorkeled off Honduras, where the reef was just awe-inspiring, bright and vibrant and colorful, with fan corals and brain corals and lots of textures and colors. Eager for another experience like that, we went snorkeling again a week later, off Key West. The difference was night and day. There were still lots of fish around, but the reef itself was just so many gray humps.

[cogitator]

Right off of Key West, the reefs have been severely impacted. The Dry Tortugas reefs are in the best shape of the Florida Keys reefs; the reefs off the Lower Keys that are still largely uninhabited are also in fair shape, but I wouldn't call it good.