Waters around Miami Beach provide sport and recreation for thousands of sailors, swimmers and fishermen, but to really get to know them one must visit the mystic realm beneath the surface.
This can be done merely by taking a sightseeing trip on a glass- bottom boat. And many of the odd creatures beneath the sea can be viewed through glass tanks of an aquarium without the visitor ever leaving shore. But with a mask and snorkel the visitor can become intimate with this hidden world, and with self contained underwater breathing gear he can learn to be at home in the new environment.
Skin diving probably is more popular here than in any other section of the United States. The reason is the water is warm enough the year around for comfortable swimming and the life within tropical seas is much more picturesque than in northern waters.
Skin divers don’t frequent the popular beaches around Miami Beach. Rather, they seek isolated areas and shallow reefs where a rocky bottom provides homes for such colorful creatures as angel and butterfly fish, or grassy areas where the seashore and the box fishes make their residence.
Visitors need only a mask and snorkel and if not good swimmers, still can find much of interest in water only four or five feet deep. They will discover they can float effortlessly and almost indefinitely while breathing, face down, through the snorkel. Of course, to dive from the surface in deeper water requires excellent swimming ability and this should not be attempted by the neophyte.
Scuba gear enabling swimmers to stay below from 30 minutes to an hour and to descend 50 or more feet can be rented from sports shops specializing in such equipment.
