As sung by the band America, “the ocean is a desert with its life under ground,” and the Gulf of Mexico is no different. An arm of the Atlantic, the Gulf is even likened to a parking lot: the sea floor here can be desolate, and any kind of structure quickly becomes habitat for a myriad of marine life.
Along Florida’s Gulf shore, the continental shelf extends out as far as 300 miles before reaching depths greater than 100 feet. About 25 miles offshore Marco Island is an unusual feature called a “blue hole.” Several of these deep caverns created by sinkholes exist in Gulf waters. They may have once seeped fresh water, but most are inactive today.
With its rim in about 60 feet of water, the Naples Blue Hole is a rocky outcropping and dropoff habitat that holds tons of amberjack and other species, especially during cooler winter months. Amberjacks are, obviously, in the jack family along with crevalles, almacos and pompanos, to name a few. Amberjacks provide a great fight, reaching reach lengths up to 60 inches. They have rigid forked tails for speed and swim in large schools, often following pods of migrating baitfish. For information about amberjack check out FWC's webpage.
Over the weekend, amberjack at the blue hole were hitting all kinds of baits and lures, including cut bait, pinfish, soft bait jigs and even a spoon. Also noticeably abundant over the blue hole this weekend were loggerhead sea turtles.
Sea turtles frequent the airspace in this area because they graze on the garden of edible marine life flourishing around the rim, from algae to sponges to crabs. Countless species of colorful reef fish and reef predators like barracuda are also abundant, and grouper can even be spotted lurking in the shadows below.
The hole's opening is about 90 feet across and 200+ feet deep at the deepest, and poses a modest challenge to SCUBA divers. This unique subterranean habitat is a great place to explore. Click here to read an article from Florida Sportsman about a similar hole near Sarasota, reported to be nearly 500 feet deep.
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