usvi-on-line
STJ Fall 2010 Trip Report - Day 5
STJ Fall 2010 Trip Report - Day 5
Link to Day 1 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=18383
Link to Day 2 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=18387
Link to Day 3 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=18398
Link to Day 4 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=18434
Monday morning arrived, and most of the clouds and rain from the previous morning were missing. The wind, however, remained, and seemed to have increased in intensity a bit. My observation jibed with weather.com's assessment of it being at about 15 MPH out of the east.
An email message from our friends at La Papaya indicated that they were going to possibly hit Hawksnest, then on to Leinster/Waterlemon. Since we hadn't been to the latter place yet (typically our very first snorkel of each trip) we let them know (ostensibly - providing the communication actually made it to them in time) that we'd head straight to Leinster and plan to make a day of it there. I rationalized that Leinster Point afforded *some* protection against winds out of the east, so why not?
Ours was the second jeep in the Annaberg parking lot, so we grabbed the snorkel bag and headed for the Leinster Bay trail. Every time prior to this one we had walked all of the way past the beach, to the rocks that are at the closest point of entry to the cay. This time we stopped much earlier along the way, adjacent to a set of three mooring balls, on a suggestion from Captain John Brandi. This is actually a very short walk from the parking lot. We geared up, got in, and in water just a few feet from the shore, began seeing a good deal of coral and other marine life!
The mooring balls we were using as our point of reference are placed just beyond the edge of a drop off from shallow to deeper water that creates a very interesting "wall". We could see that the site has a lot of potential, but on this day the visibility wasn't very good, and the water was a bit choppy, due to that steady wind that had been blowing for a few days now. After traversing the wall between the mooring balls a couple of times we headed back in, and headed further down the trail to our traditional point of entry into the bay.
We followed a couple down the trail, all of the way past the beach, around the corner, and on towards the rocks. They asked if we'd ever snorkeled there before, we told them that we had, and asked if they had. It was their first time, and they were looking forward to seeing for themselves all that they had heard about the place - I remember that feeling!
As we made our way across the grass flats and over towards the cay, we were kind of surprised to not see a single stingray or turtle. I don't believe we'd ever made this swim before without seeing multiple southern rays, and more often than not, a turtle or two. The further we got from shore, the more exposed to the wind we were, and the conditions in the water reflected that.
Nearing the back side of the cay to begin our counter-clockwise circumnavigation around it, the water was pretty rough. There was a good, steady two foot or greater wind chop, and you could see, as well as feel, a pronounced surge as you got close to the cay itself. No wonder that the ubiquitous fry that always seem to be amassed near the cay were also MIA today.
Once we made it to the far side of the cay, in the lee of the wind, it was much nicer. We saw a good number of fish taking advantage of the calmer conditions here as well.
I was concerned that the swim back to our perch on the rocks might be against a stiff current, but after a short rest stop along the sandy tip of the cay, we made it back across with surprising ease, and even hung out a little way offshore to see if any of the rays or turtles would show.
I kept an eye out for the newbies that we had spoken to on the trail. Our excursion around the cay was atypical from our experience. We're fairly strong swimmers/snorkelers, and while we never felt threatened this time out, it certainly crossed the threshold to uncomfortable. Not knowing their experience level or fitness, and knowing that they weren't all that familiar with the area had me concerned for their safety. After we had been back on shore for a few minutes I spotted them in the shallows not far from the rocks, and saw them back on the trail a few minutes later, so I was relieved to know that they were OK, but I didn't get a chance to talk to them.
Since we were making a day of it here, we decided to head over to the beach area, break out the neat sheet, and just hang out a little bit before getting back in the water. We had some snacks, did some people watching (I love to hear folks that have obviously not spent a great deal of time in the water, shouting excitedly at each other through their snorkels when they spot a fish!), and goofed around with the camera a little bit:
A young couple (we found out later that they are from Arkansas and that this was their first trip to the Caribbean) was snorkeling in front of where we were on the beach and were very excited to see a sea turtle. At first I heard her telling him not to let anyone else know about it, I guess so no one would come over and scare it away. Eventually, she just had to share the news with someone, so she told us. That seemed like a good cue for us to get back in the water! That turtle was long gone by that time, but before too long another one showed up.
We took one picture that had both the turtle and the young lady in the frame. We got her email address and she was very excited that we'd send the picture to her. We hope that they'll also send us a copy of a picture they said that they took on the island. this was the day before election day, and the ads, signs, etc. are just as annoying down there as they are at home. This couple said that they saw, and took a picture of, a goat eating a campaign sign!
Being back in the water, we headed over to the area just off of the beach, near the mangroves, in the shallows, where there are a good deal of grass beds. We've always enjoyed just floating along looking at all of the tiny critters here. We call it the Leinster nursery, because you can see so many miniature versions of the fish you're used to seeing out on the reefs. This was also the one area of the bay that day that was completely sheltered from the wind, so we really enjoyed being in the relaxing, calm water. In addition to all of the little babies, we saw some squid, a green moray, several more turtles, and a few southern stingrays - now we know where they were hiding!
Eventually we decided that our friends were unlikely to make it (we later found out that they had a change of plans, but since we had no way to touch base with them real time, we didn't know of it until much later) so we packed up and walked back down the trail to the parking lot. We had been there for six hours!
Back at the villa, the maintenance man for the management company showed up to check on some of the things we had called the office to let them know about. He fixed the front door so that it would close, took away two of the four dining room chairs we had discovered were about to break, replaced the battery in the A/C thermostat, took the four flashlights (none of which worked) that were in the place, and noted that we still could not receive a signal on the satellite dish.
After that, there wasn't much left to the day other than a meal of grilled pork tenderloin, grilled potatoes, mixed veggies, and french bread with dipping oil.
Oh yeah - and another Fish Bay sunset!
Link to Day 2 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=18387
Link to Day 3 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=18398
Link to Day 4 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=18434
Monday morning arrived, and most of the clouds and rain from the previous morning were missing. The wind, however, remained, and seemed to have increased in intensity a bit. My observation jibed with weather.com's assessment of it being at about 15 MPH out of the east.
An email message from our friends at La Papaya indicated that they were going to possibly hit Hawksnest, then on to Leinster/Waterlemon. Since we hadn't been to the latter place yet (typically our very first snorkel of each trip) we let them know (ostensibly - providing the communication actually made it to them in time) that we'd head straight to Leinster and plan to make a day of it there. I rationalized that Leinster Point afforded *some* protection against winds out of the east, so why not?
Ours was the second jeep in the Annaberg parking lot, so we grabbed the snorkel bag and headed for the Leinster Bay trail. Every time prior to this one we had walked all of the way past the beach, to the rocks that are at the closest point of entry to the cay. This time we stopped much earlier along the way, adjacent to a set of three mooring balls, on a suggestion from Captain John Brandi. This is actually a very short walk from the parking lot. We geared up, got in, and in water just a few feet from the shore, began seeing a good deal of coral and other marine life!
The mooring balls we were using as our point of reference are placed just beyond the edge of a drop off from shallow to deeper water that creates a very interesting "wall". We could see that the site has a lot of potential, but on this day the visibility wasn't very good, and the water was a bit choppy, due to that steady wind that had been blowing for a few days now. After traversing the wall between the mooring balls a couple of times we headed back in, and headed further down the trail to our traditional point of entry into the bay.
We followed a couple down the trail, all of the way past the beach, around the corner, and on towards the rocks. They asked if we'd ever snorkeled there before, we told them that we had, and asked if they had. It was their first time, and they were looking forward to seeing for themselves all that they had heard about the place - I remember that feeling!
As we made our way across the grass flats and over towards the cay, we were kind of surprised to not see a single stingray or turtle. I don't believe we'd ever made this swim before without seeing multiple southern rays, and more often than not, a turtle or two. The further we got from shore, the more exposed to the wind we were, and the conditions in the water reflected that.
Nearing the back side of the cay to begin our counter-clockwise circumnavigation around it, the water was pretty rough. There was a good, steady two foot or greater wind chop, and you could see, as well as feel, a pronounced surge as you got close to the cay itself. No wonder that the ubiquitous fry that always seem to be amassed near the cay were also MIA today.
Once we made it to the far side of the cay, in the lee of the wind, it was much nicer. We saw a good number of fish taking advantage of the calmer conditions here as well.
I was concerned that the swim back to our perch on the rocks might be against a stiff current, but after a short rest stop along the sandy tip of the cay, we made it back across with surprising ease, and even hung out a little way offshore to see if any of the rays or turtles would show.
I kept an eye out for the newbies that we had spoken to on the trail. Our excursion around the cay was atypical from our experience. We're fairly strong swimmers/snorkelers, and while we never felt threatened this time out, it certainly crossed the threshold to uncomfortable. Not knowing their experience level or fitness, and knowing that they weren't all that familiar with the area had me concerned for their safety. After we had been back on shore for a few minutes I spotted them in the shallows not far from the rocks, and saw them back on the trail a few minutes later, so I was relieved to know that they were OK, but I didn't get a chance to talk to them.
Since we were making a day of it here, we decided to head over to the beach area, break out the neat sheet, and just hang out a little bit before getting back in the water. We had some snacks, did some people watching (I love to hear folks that have obviously not spent a great deal of time in the water, shouting excitedly at each other through their snorkels when they spot a fish!), and goofed around with the camera a little bit:
A young couple (we found out later that they are from Arkansas and that this was their first trip to the Caribbean) was snorkeling in front of where we were on the beach and were very excited to see a sea turtle. At first I heard her telling him not to let anyone else know about it, I guess so no one would come over and scare it away. Eventually, she just had to share the news with someone, so she told us. That seemed like a good cue for us to get back in the water! That turtle was long gone by that time, but before too long another one showed up.
We took one picture that had both the turtle and the young lady in the frame. We got her email address and she was very excited that we'd send the picture to her. We hope that they'll also send us a copy of a picture they said that they took on the island. this was the day before election day, and the ads, signs, etc. are just as annoying down there as they are at home. This couple said that they saw, and took a picture of, a goat eating a campaign sign!
Being back in the water, we headed over to the area just off of the beach, near the mangroves, in the shallows, where there are a good deal of grass beds. We've always enjoyed just floating along looking at all of the tiny critters here. We call it the Leinster nursery, because you can see so many miniature versions of the fish you're used to seeing out on the reefs. This was also the one area of the bay that day that was completely sheltered from the wind, so we really enjoyed being in the relaxing, calm water. In addition to all of the little babies, we saw some squid, a green moray, several more turtles, and a few southern stingrays - now we know where they were hiding!
Eventually we decided that our friends were unlikely to make it (we later found out that they had a change of plans, but since we had no way to touch base with them real time, we didn't know of it until much later) so we packed up and walked back down the trail to the parking lot. We had been there for six hours!
Back at the villa, the maintenance man for the management company showed up to check on some of the things we had called the office to let them know about. He fixed the front door so that it would close, took away two of the four dining room chairs we had discovered were about to break, replaced the battery in the A/C thermostat, took the four flashlights (none of which worked) that were in the place, and noted that we still could not receive a signal on the satellite dish.
After that, there wasn't much left to the day other than a meal of grilled pork tenderloin, grilled potatoes, mixed veggies, and french bread with dipping oil.
Oh yeah - and another Fish Bay sunset!
Come see us!
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cool breeze
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Tracy in WI
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Great report and pics. Augie!!
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SOonthebeach
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