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Alert Diver is the dive industry’s leading publication. Featuring DAN’s core content of dive safety, research, education and medical information, each issue is a must-read reference, archived and shared by passionate scuba enthusiasts. In addition, Alert Diver showcases fascinating dive destinations and marine environmental topics through images from the world’s greatest underwater photographers and stories from the most experienced and eloquent dive journalists in the business.
Alert Diver is the dive industry’s leading publication. Featuring DAN’s core content of dive safety, research, education and medical information, each issue is a must-read reference, archived and shared by passionate scuba enthusiasts. In addition, Alert Diver showcases fascinating dive destinations and marine environmental topics through images from the world’s greatest underwater photographers and stories from the most experienced and eloquent dive journalists in the business.
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Clockwise from top left: Bottlenose dolphins swim in the translucent waters off Molasses Reef. A marbled grouper and queen angelfish cross paths<br />
at Fire Coral Caves. Spotted eagle rays patrol Permit Ledge. A golden coney hovers above the wreck of the Duane. A great barracuda swims among<br />
glass minnows at the appropriately named Minnow Caves. Opposite: An aerial review of Molasses Reef reveals the spur-and-groove coral formations.<br />
REEF DIVES<br />
More dives are probably done on Molasses Reef each<br />
year than on most islands in the Caribbean. Marked<br />
by a 45-foot-tall lighted steel tower and more than 30<br />
mooring buoys, Molasses is a massive reef complex with<br />
underwater attractions that vary widely between its north<br />
and south ends and its shallow and deeper sections. At<br />
the south end, areas such as Fire Coral Cave and Permit<br />
Ledge are susceptible to significant currents, but these<br />
attract horse-eye jacks, schooling barracuda, permit,<br />
goliath grouper and ever-present eagle rays. Large schools<br />
of grunt swarm there as well, but they are common<br />
on most Key Largo reefs, so we won’t count them as<br />
noteworthy here. To the south the currents are generally<br />
86 | FALL <strong>2017</strong>
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