Dead Fish!

From: Dinner Key Municipal Mooring Field, Coconut Grove, FL MM 1095.3

To: Tarpon Basin, Key Largo, FL MM 1140.0

L/L: 25 07.76N 08025.90W

Distance Traveled: 47.0 miles

Hours Underway: 7.7

Average Speed: 6.1 mph

Weather: Mixture of sun and clouds; still cool the high might have made it to the low 60s and it was 45 at wake up time. N wind @ 15 knots

Comment: SUNSHINE got underway today at 0800. Yes, it was still a bit on the cool side, and the predicted 65 never materialized, still, it made it to 70 in the bubble. When the bubble temp reached 60, we unrolled a bit of jib and motor sailed through the lower end of Biscayne Bay, and through Card and Barnes Sounds.

Sadly, we saw hundreds of dead fish. Fellow Sailor/Blogger Dick Mills (see Tarwathie’s link on the right) has reported seeing dead fish in Vero Beach. The speculation is that the unusually cold temperatures are the cause. Back in Lake Worth and the Fort Lauderdale area, we observed water temperatures in the mid 60s. Today, the highest water temperature we recorded was 52 degrees in Biscayne Bay! Now that’s cold (for this area).

Oddly, On July 23, 2009, the following headline and teaser appeared in the Miami Herald:

“Heat may have killed fish in Florida Bay - The chief of biological resources at Everglades National Park said the thousands of fish floating dead in Florida Bay this week may have died from the heat.”

Check this link to read the entire article.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1153597.html

Of course, the unusual cold weather in Florida is having an impact on the fruits and vegetables. I suspect those problems have already caused higher prices at the grocery stores.