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Florida: The Keys – News About Diving and Turtle Watching. Florida offers endless family vacation possibilities outside of Orlando but it isn’t often The Keys appears on the radar screen with good stuff for families even though the islands offer plenty of ways to connect with nature and share truly green adventures with your children.
We have previously outlined the fun stuff for families but two new items worth adding to the action list include a live turtle cam in Big Pine and a retired U.S. Air Force missile-tracking ship intentionally sunk to create an artificial reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Checkout the turtle watching live cam. Environmental enthusiasts should be able to observe infant loggerhead sea turtles hatching and emerging from their nest, via a live streaming "turtle webcam" installed on a private beach on Big Pine Key in the Lower Florida Keys.
It is no secret theFamilyTravelFiles endorses the idea of turtle watching with kids anytime, anywhere but we also know the watching is not always exciting and sometimes can be frustrating. I just learned that the watching might be just a little easier. Now in the Keys viewers can access the webcam, which offers daytime viewing of the loggerhead nest in natural light and infrared nighttime viewing to avoid disturbing the turtles.The location is www.fla-keys.com/turtlecam.
The camera is portable and is focused on the nest location most likely to hatch. Once the event has occurred the camera is relocated to another nearby nest with eggs projected to hatch at night on varying dates through Sept. 9, 2009. Once a nest has hatched, recorded footage of the hatching will be available for viewing on the site. Placement of the webcam was approved by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission because any artificial light can disturb and disorient the turtles, interrupting the natural process. Laws prohibit people from touching or disturbing hatchlings, nests and nesting turtles.
From early spring through early fall each year, turtles crawl ashore at night to dig nests and lay about 100 ping-pong-ball-sized eggs per nest. After covering them with sand, the turtles return to the water. Approximately two months later, hatchlings emerge and seek the water. Loggerhead, green, leatherback, hawksbill and Kemp's ridley sea turtles nest on beaches in the Florida Keys or inhabit regional waters. All five species are considered threatened or endangered. 
The observation and care of sea turtles is a continuous effort throughout Florida. Television nature host Jack Hanna, and Hanna's wife Suzi, center, help Richie Moretti, director of The Turtle Hospital examine a loggerhead sea turtle prior to its release off the Seven Mile Bridge near Marathon, Fla. The turtle fully recovered from critical injuries sustained when it was allegedly hacked by a machete wielded by a Miami-Dade resident who is under investigation by law enforcement authorities.
Funded by the Florida Keys tourism council, the camera is part of a longstanding Keys effort to raise awareness of sea turtles and their needs. Since the mid-1980s, the Save-a-Turtle organization and Marathon's Turtle Hospital have worked to protect and care for the region's marine turtles and their habitat.
Dive the world's best wreck dive. The 523-foot-long Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg that once tracked U.S. space launches off Cape Canaveral, monitored U.S. defense missile test launches and eavesdropped on Russian missile launches during the Cold War, is situated about seven miles south of Key West. The bottom of the ship's hull rests on sand at depths between 140 and 150 feet. But the ship is so massive that the superstructure extends to about 45 feet below the surface.
"I've dove a lot of ships," said Tom Kanczuzewski of South Bend, Ind., after surfacing Saturday, May 30, the first day the ship was open for public diving. "This is the ship of all ships. I'd love to come back in a year and see all the fishes."
Project officials say it won't take long for the wreck to begin developing a marine ecosystem, but already it's fulfilling its purpose as a diving and angling attraction.
"We have calls coming in from as far as Germany and Norway from people planning to come just to dive this wreck," said Bob Holston, owner of Dive Key West and president of the Keys Association of Dive Operators. "We have more prebookings for the summer now than we've had in 38 years of being in business."
Keys Commissioner Mario Di Gennaro, who experienced 125-foot visibility on the wreck, agreed.
"It's going to protect our reef (by taking sport diving pressure off natural coral reefs) and put heads in beds and increase our tourism, which is our main industry down here," he said. "That's the goal of this whole project, to protect our environment and also to benefit our economy."
Dive instructor Megan Collins thinks the Vandenberg's mammoth size should be appealing to scuba divers of different skill sets.
"It's the possibilities for people of all levels without having to jeopardize their safety," she said. "There's so much to look at on the superstructure of the Vandenberg that no matter your temptation, you don't have to go inside."
Project initiator Joe Weatherby, who 13 years ago chose the Vandenberg from 400 ships rusting away in mothball fleets across the country, was ecstatic after his dive.
About the Florida Keys: Beginning just south of Miami, the Florida Keys are connected by the Overseas Highway's 43 bridges - one almost seven miles long - over the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. The area is divided into five regions including Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon, Big Pine and the Lower Keys, and Key West. Each region has its own special flavor, attractions including historic museums, flora, fauna, seafood restaurants, fishing, diving, water sports and unique, boutique-type shopping experiences. More information is available at www.fla-keys.com or by calling, toll-free in the U.S. and Canada, 1-800-FLA-KEYS.
Content provided by Keys Tourism. Image of green sea turtle hatchling provided by Save-A-Turtle; mature loggerhead sea turtle from Hospital in Marathon. Copyright 2009.
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