usvi-on-line
Oh what a (fort)night! October 2011 Trip Report Part III
Oh what a (fort)night! October 2011 Trip Report Part III
Link to Part I: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21721
Link to Part II: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21727
Thursday, October 6 - We awoke once again to a glorious St. John morning! We had a visitor come and join us as we ate breakfast outside...
Bananquit - one of the few we saw this week.
After breakfast we loaded up and hit the beach - first stop - Cinnamon Bay!
Cinnamon Cay
It was still early (there were only a couple of Jeeps in the parking lot when we pulled in, and they may have belonged to campers staying there), and we were the first ones on the beach. We walked down to the right side, roughly adjacent to the cay, picked out a place for our stuff, got our gear on and hit the water!
We swam out over the reef that is a little beyond the cay - the water was warm, but a little murky (as compared to some that we woud see), until we got close to the cay. Once there, we saw a good deal of cool stuff!
Hanging out in the coral
Blue Tang
THIS is some clear water!
Pillar coral
Pufferfish
Banded Coral Shrimp
We really took our time going out to, and around the cay. Leslie was wearing her rashguard that has a little thermal protection as well, and it made a big difference in how long she could stay in before she started getting chilled. She also had it with her in March, but the water was considerably warmer this trip, and as a result, we had some of our longest lasting snorkeling sessions ever on this trip.
That being said, it was eventually time to get out. By now the sun had risen a little bit higher in the sky, and people were beginning to get out to enjoy the day and the beach!
We dried off a little, walked back to the parking lot (still mostly empty, but cars were slowly trickling in) and drove on to the next spot - Maho! We backed into our favorite spot just around the corner from the bend in the road, and rode out a brief rain shower in the Jeep while we had a snack and liistened to some music.
I must say that it was pretty relaxing sitting there in the Jeep, the rain mostly kept off of us by the canopy of vegetation overhead, listening to the raindrops, the music, and the gently lapping waves on the shore just a few feet away! It's a good thing that the sun came out or we might have just taken a nap right there! But once it was out, it was time to get back into the water, our first Maho swim of the trip. We walked down to the right side of the bay, and could see a lot of baitfish (fry) in the water, and some southern stingrays patrolling the shoreline.
Isn't this usually a white, sandy bottom here?
Oh - there's the bottom - under all of the fish!
The little buggers were thick!
We patrolled the right side of the bay, as close to the shore as the water depth would allow, starting in close to the beach and working our way out toward the point. We saw some of the usual suspects along the way...
Arrow Crab
Sand Diver
Even when we took our heads out of the water to talk, there were cool things to see!
Pelican, rock (Not Pelican Rock!)
Back under water...
Squid family
This one must be the bodyguard for the group!
Flamingo Tongue
We eventually rounded the point and cruised the rocks on the Little Maho side for a while. While we were floating just off of the point Leslie was making a noise to get my attention and I saw her looking at, what looked like from from where I was some 15 yards or so away, a leaf or some other debris in the water. But it was apparent by the rapt attention she was giving it, that it wasn't either of those. As I got closer to her, this is what I saw;
What the heck is that?
This "thing" had us mesmerized. It undulated, changed shape, and appeared to change color as well while we watched it.
After the "thing" (after several days of mis-identifying it, Leslie saw one in a copy of St. John magazine at the villa that solved the mystery for us - it's a leopard flatworm!) moved on we decided to make our way back to shore. Just as I turned I saw something big swimming by several feet below me. I figured it was probably a tarpon - they were everywhere here chasing all of those fry. But when I got a good look at it I could see that it was a nurse shark! i tried to swim after it, but it got out of camera range pretty quickly in the water that was, as you moved away from the shoreline, less and less clear. Fortunately, it stopped to rest at a place that was in my return path.
Nurse shark - about five feet long
We swam back to shore more towards the middle of the bay in hopes that we'd see a turtle munching in the grass beds or maybe an eagle ray, but it wasn't meant to be today.
Back to the villa for a late snack/lunch then we waited for Barbara and Chet (aka Mr. and Mrs. Random), our villa mates for the next 10 days, to arrive. We got a text message once they were on island, and we prepared battle stations for happy hour!
After they got settled in we all enjoyed some of Leslie's lasagna that we had brought from home, along with salad and garlic bread (no food porn - all of the camera batteries were recharging!). I think the travel day for them, and our long snorkeling day must have taken its toll, because it ended up being an early night once again!
Link to Part II: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21727
Thursday, October 6 - We awoke once again to a glorious St. John morning! We had a visitor come and join us as we ate breakfast outside...
Bananquit - one of the few we saw this week.
After breakfast we loaded up and hit the beach - first stop - Cinnamon Bay!
Cinnamon Cay
It was still early (there were only a couple of Jeeps in the parking lot when we pulled in, and they may have belonged to campers staying there), and we were the first ones on the beach. We walked down to the right side, roughly adjacent to the cay, picked out a place for our stuff, got our gear on and hit the water!
We swam out over the reef that is a little beyond the cay - the water was warm, but a little murky (as compared to some that we woud see), until we got close to the cay. Once there, we saw a good deal of cool stuff!
Hanging out in the coral
Blue Tang
THIS is some clear water!
Pillar coral
Pufferfish
Banded Coral Shrimp
We really took our time going out to, and around the cay. Leslie was wearing her rashguard that has a little thermal protection as well, and it made a big difference in how long she could stay in before she started getting chilled. She also had it with her in March, but the water was considerably warmer this trip, and as a result, we had some of our longest lasting snorkeling sessions ever on this trip.
That being said, it was eventually time to get out. By now the sun had risen a little bit higher in the sky, and people were beginning to get out to enjoy the day and the beach!
We dried off a little, walked back to the parking lot (still mostly empty, but cars were slowly trickling in) and drove on to the next spot - Maho! We backed into our favorite spot just around the corner from the bend in the road, and rode out a brief rain shower in the Jeep while we had a snack and liistened to some music.
I must say that it was pretty relaxing sitting there in the Jeep, the rain mostly kept off of us by the canopy of vegetation overhead, listening to the raindrops, the music, and the gently lapping waves on the shore just a few feet away! It's a good thing that the sun came out or we might have just taken a nap right there! But once it was out, it was time to get back into the water, our first Maho swim of the trip. We walked down to the right side of the bay, and could see a lot of baitfish (fry) in the water, and some southern stingrays patrolling the shoreline.
Isn't this usually a white, sandy bottom here?
Oh - there's the bottom - under all of the fish!
The little buggers were thick!
We patrolled the right side of the bay, as close to the shore as the water depth would allow, starting in close to the beach and working our way out toward the point. We saw some of the usual suspects along the way...
Arrow Crab
Sand Diver
Even when we took our heads out of the water to talk, there were cool things to see!
Pelican, rock (Not Pelican Rock!)
Back under water...
Squid family
This one must be the bodyguard for the group!
Flamingo Tongue
We eventually rounded the point and cruised the rocks on the Little Maho side for a while. While we were floating just off of the point Leslie was making a noise to get my attention and I saw her looking at, what looked like from from where I was some 15 yards or so away, a leaf or some other debris in the water. But it was apparent by the rapt attention she was giving it, that it wasn't either of those. As I got closer to her, this is what I saw;
What the heck is that?
This "thing" had us mesmerized. It undulated, changed shape, and appeared to change color as well while we watched it.
After the "thing" (after several days of mis-identifying it, Leslie saw one in a copy of St. John magazine at the villa that solved the mystery for us - it's a leopard flatworm!) moved on we decided to make our way back to shore. Just as I turned I saw something big swimming by several feet below me. I figured it was probably a tarpon - they were everywhere here chasing all of those fry. But when I got a good look at it I could see that it was a nurse shark! i tried to swim after it, but it got out of camera range pretty quickly in the water that was, as you moved away from the shoreline, less and less clear. Fortunately, it stopped to rest at a place that was in my return path.
Nurse shark - about five feet long
We swam back to shore more towards the middle of the bay in hopes that we'd see a turtle munching in the grass beds or maybe an eagle ray, but it wasn't meant to be today.
Back to the villa for a late snack/lunch then we waited for Barbara and Chet (aka Mr. and Mrs. Random), our villa mates for the next 10 days, to arrive. We got a text message once they were on island, and we prepared battle stations for happy hour!
After they got settled in we all enjoyed some of Leslie's lasagna that we had brought from home, along with salad and garlic bread (no food porn - all of the camera batteries were recharging!). I think the travel day for them, and our long snorkeling day must have taken its toll, because it ended up being an early night once again!
Come see us!
What a remarkable snorkel. These are not sights we see every day, often not every trip, sometimes never. How big was the Flaming Tongue? I can't get perspective from the photo and it looks really big. A leopard flatworm!!! Never heard of it, would love to see it. I just googled it and there are a wide variety of colors. Yours is one of the most spectacular. The school and then a shark! Sorry you didn't see a turtle. After seeing such rare creatures it seems you certainly would have, and it's kind amusing that you didn't. Cosmic humor.
LOVE IT!
Wow! Wow! Wow!!!! The Leopard flatworm was cool!Thanks for the report.I was waiting for the third installment.It's just like Christmas morning,coming down the stairs to see what's under the tree.
HELLO FROM MICHIGAN...
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needmesomesun
- Posts: 236
- Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:51 pm
- Location: Unfortunately, not on St. John
We saw the flatworm at the same spot at Maho, too, but only once and about 10 years ago. It was our very first trip to St. John and we weren't sure what to expect underwater. Didn't realize it was an uncommon encounter until later - because we haven't seen it again ever since. How it softly and delicately danced around while floating was amazing. Didn't exactly know what it was until today... thank you, augie and Leslie! The photos are fantastic!
And this is only your second full day?! Envious!!
And this is only your second full day?! Envious!!
OOOHHHHH it was so worth the wait. Wow your pictures are amazing and I will have to to go back and take notes of where to snorkel.
Great descriptions! and thanks for taking the time to post. What camera did you use. It looks like a cannon d10 in one of the shots. What did you use for photo shop? Your colors are so vibrant. I feel like I was right along on the snorkel with you two.
Great descriptions! and thanks for taking the time to post. What camera did you use. It looks like a cannon d10 in one of the shots. What did you use for photo shop? Your colors are so vibrant. I feel like I was right along on the snorkel with you two.
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greyhoundmom
- Posts: 978
- Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:06 pm
- Location: Columbia South Carolina
Thanks for the reports and pics. That flatworm is sooo cool. I've never seen one and now I'm going to be looking for one. The pictures of the fry and rays at MAho were interesting. Saw the same thing in another recent trip report. We;ve seen the thick "rivers" of fry a number of times, but haven't seen rays patroling the beach. Another cool sight. We are snorkel-aholics so we are loving your pictures.
Thank you - you are all so nice and so funny!
The two cameras we used were a Canon D10 and an Olympus Stylus Tough 8010. If you ask her, Leslie would say that I'm better at taking the u/w pix than she is, but the only real advantage I had is that I was better at diving down under water to get closer, and with each passing day on our trip she got better and better at that. Since we were snorkeling together we obviously took a lot of pictures of the same subjects, and sometimes I would have the better picture, and sometime she would!
Thanks for the compliments, but I don't think liamsaunt or Steve Simonsen should feel threatened!
The two cameras we used were a Canon D10 and an Olympus Stylus Tough 8010. If you ask her, Leslie would say that I'm better at taking the u/w pix than she is, but the only real advantage I had is that I was better at diving down under water to get closer, and with each passing day on our trip she got better and better at that. Since we were snorkeling together we obviously took a lot of pictures of the same subjects, and sometimes I would have the better picture, and sometime she would!
Thanks for the compliments, but I don't think liamsaunt or Steve Simonsen should feel threatened!
Come see us!