Snorkeling in nostalgic Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida

Lauderdale-by-the-Sea reminded me of old Florida with no high rises; I stayed in a small, 2 story hotel a couple of blocks from the beach and it was much cheaper than places in Ft. Lauderdale

I encountered a school of large (5-6 ft long) greater amberjacks; I'd never seen a school of such huge fish before!

I saw a larger turtle the day before but he bolted when he saw me; one day there were large waves and I lost one of my fins while trying to get it on; I watched a couple of hours and eventually saw it floating in the waves and recaptured it!

Lauderdale-by-the-Sea is a cute, old-fashioned beach town wedged between the high rises of Ft. Lauderdale to the south and Pompano Beach to the north

Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, population 6000, is located on a long, narrow barrier island separated from the mainland by the Intracoastal Waterway; many of its older hotels and buildings reflect mid-century modern architecture design

Large porcupinefish; the drawbridge to get from Lauderdale-by-the-Sea to Ft. Lauderdale opens every 30 min and causes a huge traffic backlog

Queen Angelfish; 88% of the town in non-Hispanic white although I heard lots of different languages spoken among tourists (Spanish, French, German, Russian, etc)

Lizardfish; the SS Copenhagen sank just offshore in 1900 on a voyage between Pennsylvania and Cuba; it is now a popular dive in 16-31 ft of water 3/4 of a mile offshore

Traffic is horrendous in South Florida and some young people drive as if they're auditioning for Nascar; the income inequality is very noticeable too

The visibility fluctuated a great deal with decent visibility one day while the next day was windy and I couldn't see anything; supposedly there are nurse sharks, rays and eels here but I didn't see them

Parrotfish; I chose to stay in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea since I read they had excellent snorkeling; Jacques Cousteau's son started an artificial reef here decades ago

Lauderdale-by-the-Sea says it's the shore diving capital of Florida; I'm not sure they have much competition but there were divers at the Datura Street Portal

Trunkfish; the beach was very clean with fine sand but still had plenty of plastic trash; you had to watch for pleasure boats while snorkeling with dive flags recommended

Porcupinefish; there wasn't much in the way of coral but there was an occasional sea fan, barrel sponge or brain coral