Night snorkel reports?

parafins · Post by **parafins** » Wed May 02, 2007 11:55 am

Does anyone have any recent night snorkel reports?I'll even take old ones.I'm going to be there in mid July and I am just frothing at the mouth for a juicy "night snorkel"report. I've got the fever bad!!!!Thanks Parafins...........

hardonyou · Post by **hardonyou** » Thu May 03, 2007 6:17 pm

Hey Parafins,
There are three of us traveling in mid July as well. Still kicking myself for not making time for the night snorkel last year. Would welcome suggestions on good spots to viist.

parafins · Post by **parafins** » Fri May 04, 2007 11:52 am

Last June I visited Hawksnest.Easy entry in the water with coral on both sides.This was my first night snorkel.I realy liked it!I have not done any others.I want to try Whistling Cay with a group from Maho Camps in July.They go on Thursdays I believe.I am going to do more than one night snorkel on this July trip.We will be there July 16th to the 25th.I hope to see you there..Parafins..

MrB · Post by **MrB** » Fri May 04, 2007 2:41 pm

I'm curious to try a night snorkel this year. Whad did you use for light? Any suggestions from the group would be welcome.

AquaGirl · Post by **AquaGirl** » Sun May 06, 2007 3:19 pm

Well, here is a year-old night snorkel report. Last May, we did a night snorkel at Trunk Bay. We had snorkeled there during the day and it was so full of life, especially out past the snorkel trail along the little island, we wanted to do our night snorkel there. You don't have to go too far out to see stuff there. Plus the ease of getting in the water on sand instead of rocks, close parking, etc. We waited until the sun was almost setting, then geared up. We wear dive skins to provide a little warmth and safety vests. That water is still cold for me, especially since we stay in for quite a while.

We use small underwater dive lights that we bought at a dive shop. They are very bright and great for the night snorkels. You can probably rent them from a STJ dive shop. We have done several night dives and snorkels over the years. I always keep looking around - the darkness makes me feel like there could be some big scary thing lurking behind me, although we've never had a problem.

As we were getting into the water, I saw a couple who had been strolling on the beach watching us. They had an expression of "what are these crazy people doing?". I waved to them and they smiled and waved back. We immediately saw an octopus hiding in the big brain coral that is close to shore. Watched him (her?) for quite a while. I love to see them - they are such fascinating creatures. We saw a big lobster who was quite busy moving around, and some fish, but not as much sea life as I was expecting. Some nice coral there too.

The last part of a night snorkel is the part I hate. It was cool and windy when we got out, so I got chilled (ok, I know its not THAT cold, but I get chilled very easily). The no-see-ums were biting like crazy, so we hurried to get everything together and get off the beach.

We just got back from STJ, but didn't do a night snorkel this year (although we did pack the dive lights). The water was quite a bit cooler at end of April than last year when we were there a month later. We also had frequent rain/wind squalls, and didn't want to experience it while snorkeling in the dark. Next year...

parafins · Post by **parafins** » Mon May 07, 2007 11:50 am

I bought my used dive light on Ebay.$35.00.I think that's a good deal for one. Thanks B&J for the night report.I can't wait for our trip in July.I have to say I had no problems with the water temp.last June.It was quite comfortable.

hardonyou · Post by **hardonyou** » Wed May 09, 2007 9:06 am

Thanks for the trip report B&J and thanks for the suggestion on where to go Parafins. We are staying above francis/maho so we are going to definitely try there, and I think the night snorkel that Maho camp ground offers sounds fun too. I just can't wait.

parafins · Post by **parafins** » Wed May 09, 2007 11:54 am

Hardonyou,Maho and Francis would be perfect for a night snorkel!If your entering Moho Beach i'll bet there's neat things to see on the right side of the beach below Moho camps.On Francis the rocks that seperate Francis from Little Maho would be interesting as well.Are you taking children on your trip?I did see that you are from Charlotte,NC.We will have a small layover there on the 16th of July.We are using US Air.I'm finding out that this airline is not a favorite on this forum.I hope to have good luck.Best wishes...Parafins

snorkles · Post by **snorkles** » Wed May 09, 2007 1:07 pm

We did the night snorkel trip to Whistling
Caye from Maho this past March. It was pretty interesting. I saw a large parrot fish sleeping on his side inside a large crater. His roomate was a huge lobster. The parrot fish never even woke up. It was a fun trip, but, we actually had more fun and saw more stuff going around the point from Little Maho to Big Maho on our own. We have a couple of underwater flashlights and they worked great.

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Wed May 09, 2007 1:10 pm

snorkles wrote:we actually had more fun and saw more stuff going around the point from Little Maho to Big Maho on our own. We have a couple of underwater flashlights and they worked great.

That's a great day or night snorkel! If you drive up and start from Big Maho you get to see interesting critters over the grass beds as well.

Cheers, RickG

parafins · Post by **parafins** » Wed May 09, 2007 2:12 pm

I must agree, the snorkel from Big Maho to the bend following to little Maho was very interesting!The wife and I saw 4 black {french?}Angelfish.It was the first time I snorkeled that area and I will try it again this year.

Coden · Post by **Coden** » Wed May 09, 2007 8:42 pm

Okay, call me a sissy, but I can't even imagine getting into the water at night. I don't even swim in pools at night. Isn't it awfully scary?

hardonyou · Post by **hardonyou** » Thu May 10, 2007 10:03 am

I did see that you are from Charlotte,NC.We will have a small layover there on the 16th of July.We are using US Air.I'm finding out that this airline is not a favorite on this forum.I hope to have good luck.Best wishes...Parafins[/quote]

Parafins, nope no children. I was surprised to hear all the bad comments about USAir Parafins. We usually get the direct flight out of CLT to STT and (knocking on wood) have never had a problem. I did read the horrendous report of the overnight stay in the STT airport by one of the forum members. After that USAir released a customer service initiative. I printed it off to take with me on my trip, I cant seem to find the link right now, but I'm sure you could Google "Us Airways Announces Customer Service Initiatives". I have found carrying such documents and announcements handy if you need to use their own initiatives against them. Also I have found when traveling any airline if the people at the airport are not being helpful, calling the customer service line at the hub of that airline can also help. This takes the small tourist airport employee out of your customer service needs equation(I am not speaking only of STT please do not flame me forum members).

liamsaunt · Post by **liamsaunt** » Thu May 10, 2007 10:37 am

Coden wrote:Okay, call me a sissy, but I can't even imagine getting into the water at night. I don't even swim in pools at night. Isn't it awfully scary?

It can be a little freaky at first, but after a bit you get used to it. You'll see all kinds of things that you can't see during the day. The fish are feeding, there are worms that come out of the sand, sometimes you will get a phosphorescent effect, etc. One of the best scuba dives I ever did was a night dive off the Florida Keys. There were tons of fish out, and moray eels all swimming around. To get back to the boat we had to go up through a huge school of barracuda. The dive leader said they would move out of the way because they don't like the scuba bubbles. I just decided to believe him. It worked and was really cool.

Coden · Post by **Coden** » Thu May 10, 2007 7:05 pm

Holy cow, Liamsaunt!! I would have wet my pants going through a school of barracuda!!

Seeing phosphorescent fish's and things like that would be totally cool though.

Thanks for the warm fuzzy though...I may have to try it out some day.

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