After a much longer downtime than we anticipated, we finally managed to wrangle our divers, construction crew, and the unpredictable weather to reinstall the underwater fish camera. Trust us, this downtime was stressing us all out – knowing the camera was ready but not having safe access to get it back in its watery home was pure torture! But here we are now, back in action and ready to dive into some fin-tastic footage! And let me tell you, this month did not disappoint!
Who knew a cowfish could get the zoomies?! This little guy was practically doing celebratory laps, just as excited as we were to see the camera back in business. But the party didn't stop there! Our resident sawfish made another appearance, and we even caught a murky glimpse of a lemon shark cruising by, along with several glimpses of nurse sharks.
The tarpon and snook are schooling up a storm, which is super exciting because this is when the snook really start to get animated! We're talking full-blown theatrics as they chase down bait fish – September is usually when they're all over the place, blowing up bait balls, and it's seriously fun to watch – but for now, it is just starting. We also had some familiar faces return, like the rainbow runner, eagle ray (2 in one shot!), a sharpnose puffer, and several different types of grunts. The barracudas were feeling extra feisty, striking at each other (and the bait fish, of course!) – quite the underwater drama! And the crevalle jacks were just as active, zipping around with boundless energy.
And then there's our beloved porcupinefish, who spent weeks just staring directly into the camera, practically giving us the side-eye. It even got a little "full of hot air," if you catch our drift! 😂
While we're thrilled with all the fish that did show up, we're still wondering about some of our missing regulars! Where in the world are the lookdowns, scrawled filefish, and smooth trunkfish? Perhaps it's the construction noise that's keeping them away? We're hoping they'll swim back into view soon!
This Month's Sightings Checklist: Bait balls Barracuda Bar Jacks Blennies Blueheaded Wrasse Blue Runners Burr Cero Mackerel Chubs Cowfish Crevalle Jack Doctor Eagle Ray Grunts (smallmouth, cottonwick, french) Lemon shark Mangrove Snapper Mojarra Mutton Snapper Nurse Shark Ocean Surgeon Porcupine Porgy Pork fish (and fry) Rainbow Runner Ray (southern, yellow) Sawfish Sergeant Major Sharpnose Puffer Snook Tarpon Tomtate Turtle Yellow Jack Yellowtail Parrotfish
