usvi-on-line
Pic's Pics and Report - Beaches & Snorkeling vol. 2
Pic's Pics and Report - Beaches & Snorkeling vol. 2
(Vol. 1: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=12715)
Featured beaches/bays:
Haulover North
Haulover South
Blue Cobblestone
Salt Pond
Great Lameshur
Little Lameshur
----- Haulover North -----
The water seemed calm enough, so we were off to snorkel. Got in the water in the middle of the bay and swam left.
You see many fire corals here. They can sting you like jellies, so avoid coming in contact with them. They sure look pretty though.
Plenty of Gorgonians are found here too, and we saw a school of baby Bar Jacks hanging out among them.
We spoke with a diver couple - I got the impression that they didn't seem so impressed with their dive here. They had a huuuge fancy underwater camera. I felt silly showing my toy-like little Canon to them.
----- Haulover South -----
After our snorkel at Haulover North, we got in the water at South. This beach is almost always not crowded, especially for a beach with such easy access. It's not the prettiest beach but nice. For snorkeling, we like the right side around the point. We'd seen octopuses and eels among the rocks - they are sneaky, so better search for them patiently. Well, we did that but didn't see any this year. Oh, well...
Gobies on Brain Corals. Made me chuckle because the brain looked more like a butt.
Honeycomb Cowfish
]
Found some squids in golden orange colors. It looked like mating might be happening.
Here is a video of the two squids - at least one of them is trying to mate (?). Not sure if it happened "successfully". I couldn't utilize an underwater setting with the video feature, so the picture appears blue-greenish. Sorry.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5klSnHh-Okg&hl ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5klSnHh-Okg&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
----- Blue Cobblestone -----
The hike to the beach (about 20 min from Salt Pond) was hotter than we remembered. We couldn't wait to get in the water. The water looked so inviting.
We snorkeled the right side towards Salt Pond. This is rather a deep snorkel since good stuff to see is away from the shore. If you are afraid of deep waters, this one is probably not for you.
Fire corals were quite evident here.
Wrasses
Juvenile Yellowtail Damselfish
The visibility of the water wasn't as good as last year when we snorkeled there. The farther we went, the worse it got. You may not be able to tell from this photo, but there were a LOT of fishes hanging out.
Suddenly, I heard my husband shouting in a way that I'd never heard. My heart bounced because I thought he was either drowning and desperate for help or had just seen a large shark and was freaking out. As I turned towards him, I saw a huge Spotted Eagle Ray swimming right by him. In this vast sea, it was within his reachable distance! That moment was absolutely the highlight of his snorkel this year. He was in awe, and kept saying how big and beautiful it was. Up close and personal with a Spotted Eagle Ray... I was envious but was very happy for him. He often says, "I'm always the one missing the good stuff." Well, not this time. I didn't take any photos of it. It was really a "moment" and I didn't want to miss it by dealing with the camera. We watched it gliding through the water, and then it disappeared into the deep.
I didn't see a Queen Triggerfish here but, evidently, my camera did (the shadow on the bottom right corner).
Time to hike back to Salt Pond. The hike didn't feel as hot or as long as it felt on the way there. Cooling off in the water must've done the trick.
----- Salt Pond -----
View of Salt Pond from Ram Head Trail.
We snorkeled the left side of the bay towards the point. Right away we found a Hawksbill Turtle.
Scrawled Cowfish
I had seen a juvenile Spotted Drum at Waterlemon Cay earlier on our trip, and I found a fully-grown one here under the large rock. That tiny juvie ribbon-like fish eventually turns into this, spotted and striped - cool. As I've mentioned, this is one of my favorite fishes to find. I don't see them often so I was elated.
Queen Triggerfish
We were pretty far out on the left side and wanted to swim over to the rock sticking out in the middle of the bay, but I got really cold in the water, so we didn't get to it. I may have taken too much time watching my favorite fish.
----- Great Lameshur -----
This is not as beautiful or picture-perfect as sandy Little Lameshur, but we really like it here. We enjoy the feeing of being alone on the long stretch of pebbles.
Pretty, when they are wet
Snorkeled the left side around the point. The visibility was good that day, and we enjoyed this snorkel a lot.
Sharpnose Puffer
Really tiny Blenny
Anemone and Barracuda
Barred Hamlet
The only eels we saw on this trip - Goldentail Morays.
It was a smaller one that was skittishly aggressive towards me. It never came after me, but from left to right it kept following my moves, and at times it tried to give me cute menacing looks.
Squirrelfishes
----- Little Lameshur -----
This is such a pretty sandy beach. Coming from deserted Great Lameshur, it felt a little crowded, though, relatively speaking. We were surprised to see a safari taxi truck parked in the lot.
Bar Jack coupled with juvenile French Angel
Social Feather Dusters
Orangespotted Filefish
How many squids have we seen? I lost count.
We didn't see a lot here compared to some other beaches we'd been; nonetheless, this is a beautiful sandy beach and definitely worth a visit!
Little Lameshur beach from the water
I miss the waters...
One more installment to come.
Featured beaches/bays:
Haulover North
Haulover South
Blue Cobblestone
Salt Pond
Great Lameshur
Little Lameshur
----- Haulover North -----
The water seemed calm enough, so we were off to snorkel. Got in the water in the middle of the bay and swam left.
You see many fire corals here. They can sting you like jellies, so avoid coming in contact with them. They sure look pretty though.
Plenty of Gorgonians are found here too, and we saw a school of baby Bar Jacks hanging out among them.
We spoke with a diver couple - I got the impression that they didn't seem so impressed with their dive here. They had a huuuge fancy underwater camera. I felt silly showing my toy-like little Canon to them.
----- Haulover South -----
After our snorkel at Haulover North, we got in the water at South. This beach is almost always not crowded, especially for a beach with such easy access. It's not the prettiest beach but nice. For snorkeling, we like the right side around the point. We'd seen octopuses and eels among the rocks - they are sneaky, so better search for them patiently. Well, we did that but didn't see any this year. Oh, well...
Gobies on Brain Corals. Made me chuckle because the brain looked more like a butt.
Honeycomb Cowfish
]Found some squids in golden orange colors. It looked like mating might be happening.
Here is a video of the two squids - at least one of them is trying to mate (?). Not sure if it happened "successfully". I couldn't utilize an underwater setting with the video feature, so the picture appears blue-greenish. Sorry.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5klSnHh-Okg&hl ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5klSnHh-Okg&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
----- Blue Cobblestone -----
The hike to the beach (about 20 min from Salt Pond) was hotter than we remembered. We couldn't wait to get in the water. The water looked so inviting.
We snorkeled the right side towards Salt Pond. This is rather a deep snorkel since good stuff to see is away from the shore. If you are afraid of deep waters, this one is probably not for you.
Fire corals were quite evident here.
Wrasses
Juvenile Yellowtail Damselfish
The visibility of the water wasn't as good as last year when we snorkeled there. The farther we went, the worse it got. You may not be able to tell from this photo, but there were a LOT of fishes hanging out.
Suddenly, I heard my husband shouting in a way that I'd never heard. My heart bounced because I thought he was either drowning and desperate for help or had just seen a large shark and was freaking out. As I turned towards him, I saw a huge Spotted Eagle Ray swimming right by him. In this vast sea, it was within his reachable distance! That moment was absolutely the highlight of his snorkel this year. He was in awe, and kept saying how big and beautiful it was. Up close and personal with a Spotted Eagle Ray... I was envious but was very happy for him. He often says, "I'm always the one missing the good stuff." Well, not this time. I didn't take any photos of it. It was really a "moment" and I didn't want to miss it by dealing with the camera. We watched it gliding through the water, and then it disappeared into the deep.
I didn't see a Queen Triggerfish here but, evidently, my camera did (the shadow on the bottom right corner).
Time to hike back to Salt Pond. The hike didn't feel as hot or as long as it felt on the way there. Cooling off in the water must've done the trick.
----- Salt Pond -----
View of Salt Pond from Ram Head Trail.
We snorkeled the left side of the bay towards the point. Right away we found a Hawksbill Turtle.
Scrawled Cowfish
I had seen a juvenile Spotted Drum at Waterlemon Cay earlier on our trip, and I found a fully-grown one here under the large rock. That tiny juvie ribbon-like fish eventually turns into this, spotted and striped - cool. As I've mentioned, this is one of my favorite fishes to find. I don't see them often so I was elated.
Queen Triggerfish
We were pretty far out on the left side and wanted to swim over to the rock sticking out in the middle of the bay, but I got really cold in the water, so we didn't get to it. I may have taken too much time watching my favorite fish.
----- Great Lameshur -----
This is not as beautiful or picture-perfect as sandy Little Lameshur, but we really like it here. We enjoy the feeing of being alone on the long stretch of pebbles.
Pretty, when they are wet
Snorkeled the left side around the point. The visibility was good that day, and we enjoyed this snorkel a lot.
Sharpnose Puffer
Really tiny Blenny
Anemone and Barracuda
Barred Hamlet
The only eels we saw on this trip - Goldentail Morays.
It was a smaller one that was skittishly aggressive towards me. It never came after me, but from left to right it kept following my moves, and at times it tried to give me cute menacing looks.
Squirrelfishes
----- Little Lameshur -----
This is such a pretty sandy beach. Coming from deserted Great Lameshur, it felt a little crowded, though, relatively speaking. We were surprised to see a safari taxi truck parked in the lot.
Bar Jack coupled with juvenile French Angel
Social Feather Dusters
Orangespotted Filefish
How many squids have we seen? I lost count.
We didn't see a lot here compared to some other beaches we'd been; nonetheless, this is a beautiful sandy beach and definitely worth a visit!
Little Lameshur beach from the water
I miss the waters...
One more installment to come.
Last edited by Pickle on Tue Jun 23, 2009 9:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
mindehankins
- Posts: 3014
- Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:21 am
- Location: Western NY State
Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures and trip report. We enjoyed "re-living" the snorkels we have done and reading about the places we haven't done yet. We enjoyed the hike and snorkel at Blue Cobblestone a few years ago. It was deep, but like an aquarium with so many fish at multiple depths. Little Lameshur is one of our favorite beaches - its usually peaceful and not too crowded. This year I accidentally left the booties to my fins hanging in a tree near the picnic table. We made a dash to the car when it started pouring down rain and they were left behind. We didn't feel like driving all the way back (we were staying on Gifft Hill) until about 5 days later. I was happy to see them still there.
Love the smiling Moray Pic Great photos Pickle!
I love the spotted drum and the goldentail morays were so beautiful. Looks like you can be more than happy with your "litle" camera. Big is not always better and you need to capture the moments also, which is a skill you have.
Btw, the squirrelfish are actually blackbar soldierfish
I love the spotted drum and the goldentail morays were so beautiful. Looks like you can be more than happy with your "litle" camera. Big is not always better and you need to capture the moments also, which is a skill you have.
Btw, the squirrelfish are actually blackbar soldierfish
Appreciated your kind words, everyone.
Bert,
Ever since we started visiting St. John, I've been learning to identify the sea life around the island. 8 years is long enough to learn quite a bit if one works at it, BUT not knowing their names doesn't make them any less cool or beautiful.
Maggy,
Thanks for your help with the Blackbar Soldierfishes (I believe they are in the Squirrelfish family, aren't they?). I have a fish that I couldn't identify - it was a curious fish and will be in the next installment. Could you let me know if you know what it is? Appreciate it, Maggy!
PA Girl,
The camera is the Canon PowerShot D10. Remember some photos are photo-shopped. The camera has great potential but still needs cooperation from the sea and the weather. When the conditions underwater are right (great visibility, a lot of light, no currents, etc.), I thought the D10 worked exceptionally well.
Bert,
Ever since we started visiting St. John, I've been learning to identify the sea life around the island. 8 years is long enough to learn quite a bit if one works at it, BUT not knowing their names doesn't make them any less cool or beautiful.
Maggy,
Thanks for your help with the Blackbar Soldierfishes (I believe they are in the Squirrelfish family, aren't they?). I have a fish that I couldn't identify - it was a curious fish and will be in the next installment. Could you let me know if you know what it is? Appreciate it, Maggy!
PA Girl,
The camera is the Canon PowerShot D10. Remember some photos are photo-shopped. The camera has great potential but still needs cooperation from the sea and the weather. When the conditions underwater are right (great visibility, a lot of light, no currents, etc.), I thought the D10 worked exceptionally well.
Sure, no problem, I'll help if I can. Just bring the next installmentPickle wrote:Maggy,
Thanks for your help with the Blackbar Soldierfishes (I believe they are in the Squirrelfish family, aren't they?). I have a fish that I couldn't identify - it was a curious fish and will be in the next installment. Could you let me know if you know what it is? Appreciate it, Maggy!
And yes, the Blackbar Soldierfish is a member of the Squirrelfish family.