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We’re planning a spring planting of seagrass near Key West’s Lakes Passage where the Big Cat Express ran aground. Sanctuary staff worked with @CoastGuardSectorKeyWest Incident Management Division to obtain a drone overflight of the grounding site. Stay tuned for more progress.

We❤️our volunteers. In the last fiscal year, 50 volunteers contributed 2,552 hours to a wide range of projects. You can be in our next photo by contacting volunteer coordinator [email protected]

We love our Ocean Guardian Schools! Tomorrow, Poinciana Elementary School in Key West takes a significant step towards a greener, healthier future by designing and installing rainwater filtration gardens around campus storm drains. Go Pelicans!

Wind and waves have not kept our teams from their appointed tasks. 🌬🌊 Still keeping up with our colleagues in the sanctuary system. #NOAA

An anchor from the 1733 historic Coffins Patch wreck is now featured at our Eco-Discovery Center atrium in Key West. ⚓️ The anchor is part of a collection of artifacts illegally recovered in 1992 after the establishment of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Boys and girls of all ages, we want to see you tomorrow night in Key West when Coral Restoration Foundation takes over our Eco-Discovery Center for a night of interactive fun featuring Captain Coral. FREE, FREE, FREE. See you between 5-8 p.m. #NOAA #Corals

Staff and volunteers from the sanctuary partnered with @FloridaStateParks, @CoastLove, @FriendsofJohnPennekaand MyFWC for a shoreline cleanup that filled a dumpster to the brim with 4,025 pounds of marine debris. Well done!

More than 40 colleagues from a dozen organizations came to together for Mission: Iconic Reefs annual workshop to assess progress and plans for future coral outplanting. And, we baked a birthday cake! 🎂 On to the 2025 outplant season!

These students are on the ball, traveling from Ball State University to hear about careers in marine science and sanctuaries. Hope you had a ball learning from us! #highereducation #NOAA

Smoke on the water, that’s what our own Brenda Altmeier called it after she captured these drone images of the Key Largo brush fires and their drift over sanctuary waters.

Our education and interpretation team members Marlies Tumolo and Lindsey Crews led an Introduction to Interpretation training for the staff of REEF Reef Environmental Education Foundation, as they prepare to open their new Ocean Exploration Center in Key Largo in June.

Priceless!

Mariners are happy to see our buoy team at work on iconic sites of the Florida Keys, but especially if their vessel is taking on water. The RV Leatherback arrived to aid this listing vessel at Sand Key, calling in the Coast Guard and SeaTow, and making sure everything was safe.

Are you a young #coral looking to settle? Check out coral recruitment tiles—great places to start a colony that offer shade, protection, and data! Scientists use these tiles to measure if and how restoration efforts influence coral recruitment: missioniconicreefs.org/theres-no-plac…

That’s a purdy boat. Full speed ahead Mission: Iconic Reefs!

We’re hosting a Sanctuary Advisory Council meeting two weeks from today. Learn more about it by visiting this page: floridakeys.noaa.gov/sac/meetings.h…

The Mission: Iconic Reefs team had to retrieve the temperature data buoy from Looe Key to update a couple of sensors. We’ll have it back on site soon enough. Here’s the link to the real-time data page produced by our buoys up and down the Keys. aqualink.org/collections/811

We’re proud to partner with @MOTE as they kick off their annual Ocean Fest. See you tomorrow at the Eco-Discovery Center in Key West for a discussion about how you can get involved in ocean science.

Welcome to Key West @NOAAShipNancyFoster. We’re happy to host your port of call on the way to work in the Gulf.

Our Eco-Discovery Center is proud to organize this event. 🌎See ya Saturday on Atlantic Boulevard. #EarthDay2025 #EarthDay