usvi-on-line
Pic's Pics and Report - Beaches & Snorkeling vol. 3
Pic's Pics and Report - Beaches & Snorkeling vol. 3
Vol. 1: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=12715
Vol. 2: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=12759
Featured beaches/bays:
Pelican Rock & Long Bay
Vie's/Hansen
Francis (cloudy)
Cinnamon
Francis (sunny)
----- Pelican Rock & Long Bay -----
We drove to the end of East End Road and visited Long Bay. This is not a pretty beach, but if you want to snorkel around Pelican Rock and don't want to swim all the way from Vie's, this is a much closer entry point to the rock. We parked the jeep by the fence on the grass and walked through a short path to the beach (there is a "No Parking Here" sign at the beginning of the path, so we parked away from it). There is a house near the path and we weren't sure if we were trespassing on someone's property. As we were walking on the beach we saw a man outside the house - we waved at each other, so I guess it was okay.
It was one of those half overcast and half clear days and I wished the sun had been out more for this snorkel.
First, we swam over to and around Pelican Rock.
A lot of gorgonians and corals around the rock
We saw a turtle swimming away from us. Its rear right flipper was chewed off and the shell around it was a little messed up. We thought it could've been either a shark bite or a motorboat accident.
We followed the turtle away from Pelican Rock and came to nice reefs in fairly deep waters. It was neat to see Blue Chromis here and there flickering in bright blue.
And there was a large school of Blue Tangs.
Overall, we really enjoyed this snorkel. We want to go back on a sunny day to see things more closely.
----- Vie's/Hansen -----
By the time we got to Vie's from Long Bay, the day had gotten much brighter. We snorkeled the left side over to the beach next to Vie's.
Gray Snapper among Gorgonians
Banded Butterflyfish and Bluehead, before turning bluish
We hadn't seen a lot up to this point. We were in the waters at the beach next to Vie's and, suddenly, a huge school of juvenile fish appeared from nowhere - and so did some Bar Jacks. Those juvies were bigger than what we normally call "fry" (school of tiny fish) - does anyone know what kind of fish they are? Are they simply "more grown-up versions" of the fry? The way they swim and quickly turn is a bit more dynamic than that of the fry. It was very fun to be surrounded by them.
Fry (shiny skinny ones) and below them, the bigger fish
Closer look
Bar Jacks were munching on them
Barracuda and Mutton Snapper, lurking
After snorkeling and hanging out at Vie's beach, we were hungry so we had a mid-afternoon snack, Vie's garlic chicken and conch flitters. It was just a perfect day for us.
----- Francis (cloudy) -----
It was a wet overcast day and skeeters were pretty bad there.
We walked all the way to the right side of the bay and got in the water immediately. No sun means I would get cold in the water quickly - and I did. So, we didn't swim out as far as we normally do. However, we finally found our first octopus on this trip. We can almost always count on Francis for these sneaky creatures.
At first, it looked like this. It seemed to be pretty alert to us.
We swam away for a few minutes to let the octopus relax. When we came back, it was a little more exposed but never completely came out of its den.
Octopus with crab shell
Yellowtail Snapper
Red Hind
Does anyone (Maggy?) know what kind of fish this is? It was about 4 inches long and was lying flat on the shallow bottom almost camouflaged. We watched it very closely and it never swam away.
We didn't snorkel for long - it just wasn't an ideal day for snorkeling for me. I got so cold in the water and didn
Vol. 2: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=12759
Featured beaches/bays:
Pelican Rock & Long Bay
Vie's/Hansen
Francis (cloudy)
Cinnamon
Francis (sunny)
----- Pelican Rock & Long Bay -----
We drove to the end of East End Road and visited Long Bay. This is not a pretty beach, but if you want to snorkel around Pelican Rock and don't want to swim all the way from Vie's, this is a much closer entry point to the rock. We parked the jeep by the fence on the grass and walked through a short path to the beach (there is a "No Parking Here" sign at the beginning of the path, so we parked away from it). There is a house near the path and we weren't sure if we were trespassing on someone's property. As we were walking on the beach we saw a man outside the house - we waved at each other, so I guess it was okay.
It was one of those half overcast and half clear days and I wished the sun had been out more for this snorkel.
First, we swam over to and around Pelican Rock.
A lot of gorgonians and corals around the rock
We saw a turtle swimming away from us. Its rear right flipper was chewed off and the shell around it was a little messed up. We thought it could've been either a shark bite or a motorboat accident.
We followed the turtle away from Pelican Rock and came to nice reefs in fairly deep waters. It was neat to see Blue Chromis here and there flickering in bright blue.
And there was a large school of Blue Tangs.
Overall, we really enjoyed this snorkel. We want to go back on a sunny day to see things more closely.
----- Vie's/Hansen -----
By the time we got to Vie's from Long Bay, the day had gotten much brighter. We snorkeled the left side over to the beach next to Vie's.
Gray Snapper among Gorgonians
Banded Butterflyfish and Bluehead, before turning bluish
We hadn't seen a lot up to this point. We were in the waters at the beach next to Vie's and, suddenly, a huge school of juvenile fish appeared from nowhere - and so did some Bar Jacks. Those juvies were bigger than what we normally call "fry" (school of tiny fish) - does anyone know what kind of fish they are? Are they simply "more grown-up versions" of the fry? The way they swim and quickly turn is a bit more dynamic than that of the fry. It was very fun to be surrounded by them.
Fry (shiny skinny ones) and below them, the bigger fish
Closer look
Bar Jacks were munching on them
Barracuda and Mutton Snapper, lurking
After snorkeling and hanging out at Vie's beach, we were hungry so we had a mid-afternoon snack, Vie's garlic chicken and conch flitters. It was just a perfect day for us.
----- Francis (cloudy) -----
It was a wet overcast day and skeeters were pretty bad there.
We walked all the way to the right side of the bay and got in the water immediately. No sun means I would get cold in the water quickly - and I did. So, we didn't swim out as far as we normally do. However, we finally found our first octopus on this trip. We can almost always count on Francis for these sneaky creatures.
At first, it looked like this. It seemed to be pretty alert to us.
We swam away for a few minutes to let the octopus relax. When we came back, it was a little more exposed but never completely came out of its den.
Octopus with crab shell
Yellowtail Snapper
Red Hind
Does anyone (Maggy?) know what kind of fish this is? It was about 4 inches long and was lying flat on the shallow bottom almost camouflaged. We watched it very closely and it never swam away.
We didn't snorkel for long - it just wasn't an ideal day for snorkeling for me. I got so cold in the water and didn
Thanks for taking the time to post the TR and photos Pickle....very nice.
Cheers....
Cheers....
STJ Villa Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie ... 2&t=h&z=14
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie ... 2&t=h&z=14
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msgcolleen
- Posts: 1497
- Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:33 am
- Location: Allen, Texas
Thanks for your underwater adventures! I feel like Nemo~
I've got 2 tickets to paradise~Pack your bags we'll leave tonight!
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Pickle, thanks for the wonderful, long and detailed reports on the villas, beaches and fishes...all very much enjoyed. Thanks too for sharing good info on the new Canon camera...your photos are terrific as always. Reading your comments was like hearing a friend review a personal vacation...
... no longer a stranger to paradise
Awesome pictures! thanks for sharing them all. I am saving these for after my trip, so I would then the names of the fish I saw!
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing.
Paul
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Randy in MD
- Posts: 395
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:04 am
- Location: Shady Side, MD
Great stuff Pickle. I am impressed by the work you did with the D10. I was anxiously awaiting to see stuff taken with that camera. Looks like a more worthy alternative to the similar Olympus and Pentax.
Some questions if you dont mind.
Can you share a bit of your techniques - both in the water and editing, such as: do you try to get real close or use the zoom?
How was the visablity of the LCD on the D10 in terms of helping you frame the shots? I have a heck of a time seeing anything in the tiny LCD of my old A80 when its in the case underwater.
I imagine the 12.1 mp allows for pretty aggresive cropping of the image without loss of quality. True?
Did you use the underwater setting? If so, what other settings can you use in the underwater mode? i.e. can you manually choose/adjust ISO or the colors settings for example?
Inquiring minds need to know!
Thanks.
Some questions if you dont mind.
Can you share a bit of your techniques - both in the water and editing, such as: do you try to get real close or use the zoom?
How was the visablity of the LCD on the D10 in terms of helping you frame the shots? I have a heck of a time seeing anything in the tiny LCD of my old A80 when its in the case underwater.
I imagine the 12.1 mp allows for pretty aggresive cropping of the image without loss of quality. True?
Did you use the underwater setting? If so, what other settings can you use in the underwater mode? i.e. can you manually choose/adjust ISO or the colors settings for example?
Inquiring minds need to know!
Thanks.
When we come to place where the sea and the sky collide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
Thank you everyone for your kind words.
jmq,
I used the underwater setting for all the underwater shots. Yes, you can change the ISO speed and the color setting manually with the underwater setting with the D10. The conditions underwater change rather frequently (sun's out, sun's gone, shallows, deep, etc.) - it would've been more than I wanted to deal with so I simply depended on the automatic setting (really, the only setting I used manually was the macro setting). Besides, I have PhotoShop. I focus on taking crisp, well-focused underwater shots. Even with PhotoShop, I can't do much about photos that are not focused right.
With the D10, you get more options with the underwater setting than with other Canons. I now know that I could've used the underwater setting with the video feature - I just didn't know. I bought the D10 the day before our trip to St. John - not enough time to learn it all.
I try to get close to objects whenever and as much as I can, and then often use the macro setting. Even when I didn
jmq,
I used the underwater setting for all the underwater shots. Yes, you can change the ISO speed and the color setting manually with the underwater setting with the D10. The conditions underwater change rather frequently (sun's out, sun's gone, shallows, deep, etc.) - it would've been more than I wanted to deal with so I simply depended on the automatic setting (really, the only setting I used manually was the macro setting). Besides, I have PhotoShop. I focus on taking crisp, well-focused underwater shots. Even with PhotoShop, I can't do much about photos that are not focused right.
With the D10, you get more options with the underwater setting than with other Canons. I now know that I could've used the underwater setting with the video feature - I just didn't know. I bought the D10 the day before our trip to St. John - not enough time to learn it all.
I try to get close to objects whenever and as much as I can, and then often use the macro setting. Even when I didn
I seen three nurse sharks this trip. I will gladly trade you one for an octopus sighting as I have yet to see one on St John.