usvi-on-line
Night Snorkeling?
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northerngal
- Posts: 420
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 4:32 pm
- Location: Michigan
You definitely need an underwater light. We own them from our diving days, but you can probably rent them from a dive shop.
We did the night snorkel on Trunk Bay out to the little island. We wanted to do it somewhere that was very familiar and easy to know where you were and identifiable landmarks on land.
Saw lots of great stuff - octopus, Spanish lobster, sleeping fish. I find it a bit unnerving because its so dark outside of your circle of light that I was looking over my shoulder for scary things. We have done night snorkels (and night dives) a few times over the years and no problems.
When we were gearing up and getting into the water near the end of sunset, there was a couple walking on the beach. They were watching us with an incredulous look on their face. I waved and they waved back. I wondered what they were thinking. The worst part was getting out and being viciously attacked by no-seeums and being cold (it was in the 70s at night and a little breezy). We had to really rush to get our gear and wet stuff off and get back to the car.
There are some good threads about night snorkeling on this forum, but I don't know how to find them. You could try the search feature.
Maybe one of the dive shops has a guided night snorkel tour. Have fun!
We did the night snorkel on Trunk Bay out to the little island. We wanted to do it somewhere that was very familiar and easy to know where you were and identifiable landmarks on land.
Saw lots of great stuff - octopus, Spanish lobster, sleeping fish. I find it a bit unnerving because its so dark outside of your circle of light that I was looking over my shoulder for scary things. We have done night snorkels (and night dives) a few times over the years and no problems.
When we were gearing up and getting into the water near the end of sunset, there was a couple walking on the beach. They were watching us with an incredulous look on their face. I waved and they waved back. I wondered what they were thinking. The worst part was getting out and being viciously attacked by no-seeums and being cold (it was in the 70s at night and a little breezy). We had to really rush to get our gear and wet stuff off and get back to the car.
There are some good threads about night snorkeling on this forum, but I don't know how to find them. You could try the search feature.
Maybe one of the dive shops has a guided night snorkel tour. Have fun!
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northerngal
- Posts: 420
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 4:32 pm
- Location: Michigan
Night snorkel...
Use the name "Parafins" on the search button and scroll down and look for night snorkeling.This may be of some help to you.Night snorkeling is one of my favorite activities when visiting the rock.Parafins 
HELLO FROM MICHIGAN...
We tried it for the first time on our recent trip (it had been on our to-do list for a while!)
The verdict: fun, a bit thrilling, different, interesting, but not something we'll rush to do again. Could have had a lot to do with where we were and what we happened to see (or not see, as the case was). We were considering buying lights, but in the ended decided to rent in case we didn't fall in love with night snorkeling. We rented two dive lights from Low Key ($10/day per light -- they were really sturdy, bright lights.)
We tried Gibney because of the easy entry, but I don't know that we'd try it again -- didn't see all that much: some night fish, one lobster, and no octopi at all, which is what I had really wanted to see. Another beach might be better -- Maho, maybe, or Francis?
It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be, although at one point I swam too far to the left toward the rocks on my way in and felt panicky because at one point I was surrounded a little too closely for comfort by rocks, coral (and urchins!) on three sides. The thought of kicking or touching coral freaks me out (for the coral's sake), as does the thought of touching an urchin (for my own sake!) Once I remembered that I could calmly swim back out the way I came, I was fine. But do keep in mind that it's a bit trickier to navigate in the dark, so I recommend going slowly and giving yourself lots of room to maneuver, keeping track of where the rocks are, even behind you.
I also recommend trying to choose a night that's fairly moonlit if possible -- it helped us as we were getting our stuff on and getting in the water.
The verdict: fun, a bit thrilling, different, interesting, but not something we'll rush to do again. Could have had a lot to do with where we were and what we happened to see (or not see, as the case was). We were considering buying lights, but in the ended decided to rent in case we didn't fall in love with night snorkeling. We rented two dive lights from Low Key ($10/day per light -- they were really sturdy, bright lights.)
We tried Gibney because of the easy entry, but I don't know that we'd try it again -- didn't see all that much: some night fish, one lobster, and no octopi at all, which is what I had really wanted to see. Another beach might be better -- Maho, maybe, or Francis?
It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be, although at one point I swam too far to the left toward the rocks on my way in and felt panicky because at one point I was surrounded a little too closely for comfort by rocks, coral (and urchins!) on three sides. The thought of kicking or touching coral freaks me out (for the coral's sake), as does the thought of touching an urchin (for my own sake!) Once I remembered that I could calmly swim back out the way I came, I was fine. But do keep in mind that it's a bit trickier to navigate in the dark, so I recommend going slowly and giving yourself lots of room to maneuver, keeping track of where the rocks are, even behind you.
I also recommend trying to choose a night that's fairly moonlit if possible -- it helped us as we were getting our stuff on and getting in the water.