De Pan

These stunning pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago by Captain Abner Pires. Abner was on the vessel "Grateful" (44' Tiara) owned by Jim, and Sue Hanes, and nearby were Stephen, and Wendy Rhodes on "Phendi" (61' Viking). Both vessels had left Naples Florida together, and were in in route, through Florida Bay to Key West when these waterspouts were spotted in their path. At one point in time, Abner said you could clearly see three waterspouts at once, and he thought there was a fourth one buried in the rain. Abner also said it was hard to tell exactly how many different waterspouts they actually were seeing, because they kept reforming, but thought the total number was about six waterspouts. In the second picture you can see "Phendi" under the forming waterspout above. All of these pictures will blow up when clicked to full size. 

Abner Pires captains larger pleasure vessels, is Sarasota Florida based, and is an extraordinarily professional mariner. The pictures are his property, and he has graciously consented to let me use them. You can contact Abner at Abnerpires@comcast.net. These wonderful pictures, of ordered chaos, speak for themselves, and I will leave a waterspout related link below them. I don't think I have to remind anyone to keep your boat away from these forces of nature, do I?