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Pic's Pics & Report 2012 - vol.1
Pic's Pics & Report 2012 - vol.1
A year-long wait was over (again) and we were returning to St. John!
I was happily dusting off our snorkeling gear several days prior to our departure, and the following day I managed to hurt my knees. I was aware that I had been injury-free since I burned my arm in an oven on St. John last year. So... I banged my head against the wall for a few days feeling so timely stupid, which might have actually helped clearing my head or else made me dazed enough to be at peace, because by the time we left for St. John, I seemed to be ready for this vacation no matter what.
Long story short, my achy knees held okay. We are generally more snorkelers than beach-loungers. On this trip we did very little hiking and less extensive snorkeling, which left us lounging more on the beaches. Doesn't that sound just pitiful?
Surprisingly skeeters were scarce and rarely bothered us, making our beach lounging very pleasant. And I have to mention about the sunny weather we had for the whole two weeks of our stay. We usually visit St. John in May through early June and are rather used to quite a few rainy days (and Sahara Dust) though we've always had a great time on island. Every day on this trip, my husband and I were saying to each other "It's sunny again..." in sort of disbelief. We were very grateful for the sunny days at the beach, no question (meanwhile, we were extra careful of our use of precious island water).
Because of my knees, we mainly visited easily accessible beaches, ending up at Maho and Francis most often. I've always loved Francis, but I don't think I had ever appreciated Maho as much as I did on this trip.
Camera:
Despite our less extensive snorkeling, underwater will be the focus of my trip report (as usual). The Canon D10 is the camera I used for all my underwater shots. The photos on land were taken with either the D10 or the Canon SD850IS. I would love to try the Canon G12 with its underwater housing but they are over our budget for cameras. So, for now, I try my best with my old D10 and Photoshop as needed.
You all can imagine how happy we were to see the Cruz Bay waterfront when we got off the ferry. While waiting for our bags to be brought off the ferry, my husband said he was hearing live steel pans. He used to play drums/percussion so gets more pleasure out of steel pans than I do. Love City Pan Dragons were playing at the park across the dock. We dragged our luggage to the park and listened for a while before picking up a jeep at St. John Car Rental.
Our home for 11 nights was Reef Madness. This was our 4th stay 4 years in a row. No greeter was necessary and we checked in with no problems.
This tree in front of the porch is a year taller... unlike me, not a year taller but only older.
We were very comfortable at Reef Madness. The property was as beautiful as ever and just doesn't stop growing on us. As I've said in the past, the location is also perfect for us. Sitting up on the hill from the intersection that provides three routes - to the North shores, Southeast shores (Salt Pond, Lameshur, etc.) and the East End (Hansen/Vie's, Haulover, etc.). Just like in the previous 3 years, every morning we were asking ourselves "Which way are we going today?"
Featured bays and beaches:
Maho
Francis
Hansen/Vie
I was happily dusting off our snorkeling gear several days prior to our departure, and the following day I managed to hurt my knees. I was aware that I had been injury-free since I burned my arm in an oven on St. John last year. So... I banged my head against the wall for a few days feeling so timely stupid, which might have actually helped clearing my head or else made me dazed enough to be at peace, because by the time we left for St. John, I seemed to be ready for this vacation no matter what.
Long story short, my achy knees held okay. We are generally more snorkelers than beach-loungers. On this trip we did very little hiking and less extensive snorkeling, which left us lounging more on the beaches. Doesn't that sound just pitiful?
Surprisingly skeeters were scarce and rarely bothered us, making our beach lounging very pleasant. And I have to mention about the sunny weather we had for the whole two weeks of our stay. We usually visit St. John in May through early June and are rather used to quite a few rainy days (and Sahara Dust) though we've always had a great time on island. Every day on this trip, my husband and I were saying to each other "It's sunny again..." in sort of disbelief. We were very grateful for the sunny days at the beach, no question (meanwhile, we were extra careful of our use of precious island water).Because of my knees, we mainly visited easily accessible beaches, ending up at Maho and Francis most often. I've always loved Francis, but I don't think I had ever appreciated Maho as much as I did on this trip.
Camera:
Despite our less extensive snorkeling, underwater will be the focus of my trip report (as usual). The Canon D10 is the camera I used for all my underwater shots. The photos on land were taken with either the D10 or the Canon SD850IS. I would love to try the Canon G12 with its underwater housing but they are over our budget for cameras. So, for now, I try my best with my old D10 and Photoshop as needed.
You all can imagine how happy we were to see the Cruz Bay waterfront when we got off the ferry. While waiting for our bags to be brought off the ferry, my husband said he was hearing live steel pans. He used to play drums/percussion so gets more pleasure out of steel pans than I do. Love City Pan Dragons were playing at the park across the dock. We dragged our luggage to the park and listened for a while before picking up a jeep at St. John Car Rental.
Our home for 11 nights was Reef Madness. This was our 4th stay 4 years in a row. No greeter was necessary and we checked in with no problems.
This tree in front of the porch is a year taller... unlike me, not a year taller but only older.
We were very comfortable at Reef Madness. The property was as beautiful as ever and just doesn't stop growing on us. As I've said in the past, the location is also perfect for us. Sitting up on the hill from the intersection that provides three routes - to the North shores, Southeast shores (Salt Pond, Lameshur, etc.) and the East End (Hansen/Vie's, Haulover, etc.). Just like in the previous 3 years, every morning we were asking ourselves "Which way are we going today?"
Featured bays and beaches:
Maho
Francis
Hansen/Vie
Last edited by Pickle on Sat Jun 09, 2012 6:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Capn Dan and Ruby
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Florida Girl
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The videos are super!! Thanks Pickle!-
msgcolleen
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Awesomness!Lovin' your underwater shots! Above water too! 
I've got 2 tickets to paradise~Pack your bags we'll leave tonight!
[url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/]
[url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/]
Holy camoli! You are one of the luckiest snorkelers. I look and look and look for octopi every time I'm out there and they always elude me and you see multiple of them. Lucky Duck!
I think you are more brave than me. If I had looked up and was face to face with an 8 foot shark I am almost certain I would have booked it in the other direction. I hope to see a shark sometime, but I want to come upon it and observe it from a distance.
Thanks for the great trip report with fantastic photos and videos.
I think you are more brave than me. If I had looked up and was face to face with an 8 foot shark I am almost certain I would have booked it in the other direction. I hope to see a shark sometime, but I want to come upon it and observe it from a distance.
Thanks for the great trip report with fantastic photos and videos.
Gretchen3 - I would've been concerned if the Nurse Shark had been acting rather restless but she was pretty casual and sluggish the whole time we watched her. That said, it is intimidating to meet an animal that is bigger than you. She wasn't necessarily bulky (except her head!), but from the tip of her head to the tip of her long tail was easily longer than my husband with the long fins he wears.
Bulky head with long tail:
Bulky head with long tail:
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Randy in MD
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susan & herb
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Fantastic report and pictures. The videos are also great. I have never seen an octopus, much less one feeding. I try to look when I dive and snorkel, but obviously not good enough. Good find also with the checkered puffer, scorpionfish and mantis shrimp.
Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the next report.
Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the next report.
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Backtotheislands
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Awesome trip report and pictures! What is really impressive is that you can name all the creatures in your photos. I have never been much of a photographer,but I LOVE taking underwater pics while snorkeling with my D10. They don't always come out the way I want, but I'm getting better. Your trip report really makes me so anxious to get there!
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Jan&MikeVa
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And the video of the Nurse Shark.....I would have been trying to walk on water 
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ColumbiaSCTraveler
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What a GREAT start to your trip report! Thank you for taking the time to post this for us!
What AMAZING finds underwater!
I really don't know what I'd do if I came upon a shark of ANY size...much less THAT size!
Where you on the right or left of Francis during that snorkel?
Thanks again for posting! Can't wait to read the rest!
What AMAZING finds underwater!
I really don't know what I'd do if I came upon a shark of ANY size...much less THAT size!
Where you on the right or left of Francis during that snorkel?
Thanks again for posting! Can't wait to read the rest!