The currents at the outer ridge were relatively strong from the south, witnessed by the DeepWorker's inability to follow a course to the south. During some of the dives, a cloud of plankton occupied the water around the sub. There are differences in the northern and southern portions of Pulley Ridge. In the southern portions, the ridge is less of a rocky outcrop and has more low-relief mounds, with the somewhat more tropical characteristics of the lettuce coral and the leafy green alga. In the north, the ridge looked more like layers of rectangular and square rocks.
Rocks appear to be in layers with a lot of void space.
The north and south portions of the ridge both have red algae, sponges, hydrocorals, octocorals, crinoids and ascidians on the ridge formations. Straits of Florida Observations Figure 6. A delicate hydrocorals found during the exploration off of Charlotte Harbor. We made three dives on the margin of the Straits of Florida, two south of Riley's Hump and one south of Marquesas Key. These were in 370 to 500 ft. of water.