Snorkel Tips at Specific Beaches

Travel discussion for St. John
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ColumbiaSCTraveler
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Snorkel Tips at Specific Beaches

Post by ColumbiaSCTraveler »

I did a quick search before posting this, and found a smaller, similar thread from 2012, and tips here and there in trip reports, but was hoping we could compile all the scoop in one place. (And I do have the FFF book, but maybe some things / reef conditions have changed since the last publication.)

We love snorkeling, and I think I know the best spots at SOME beaches, but I want to make SURE I know the best spots for most - if not all - beaches. :wink:

Example:
Beach: Maho.
Direction: Facing Beach.
Middle of bay over seagrass = turtles, conchs, rays
Left side by rocks (start at entrance into water, work out) = sometimes turtles, smaller fish, same old barracuda year after year
Right side = no clue - have yet to snorkel there

Annnnnnnnd......go!

(And THANKS!)
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TraumaQueen
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Re: Snorkel Tips at Specific Beaches

Post by TraumaQueen »

This is a great idea!

Beach: Francis
Direction: Facing Beach
Right side: fish of all variety
Middle: sea turtles, rays
Left: will answer this next year after our trip :)
While we were there last year the larger fish would chase the tiny fish onto the shore to eat and the birds would follow along and eat what they could. This caused quite an uproar, but when I finally figured out what was happening I was able to get some cool shots of the feeding frenzy.
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Coconuts
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Re: Snorkel Tips at Specific Beaches

Post by Coconuts »

CSCT: That's a great suggestion, and the outcome probably deserves to be a sticky thread, as per the dining guide. The collective awareness of this forum absolutely surpasses any of our individual insights, and we would all enjoy better snorkeling if our expertise was pooled. Organizing it by beach seems sensible. I can start with one of my favorites.

I assume that the NPS still provides their snorkeling guide at the Visitor's Center, but I was unable to find it online, and so scanned a paper copy. VIOL doesn't allow PDF's as attachments, but I have saved this as a few JPG's, attached below.

One of my favorite snorkels is a stretch of both soft (Gorgonians) and hard coral on the point between Scott Bay and Turtle Bay, on the Caneel property. I have snorkeled there from both Hawksnest and Caneel Bay, but the latter is shorter. As you head out from the north side of Caneel Bay, note the reasonable coral along the side and around the point as you head out. Once you round the point, you have the option of either snorkeling north across Scott Bay, or coming ashore and walking along the beach. It is a fairly large bay. The excellent coral lies off the point between the north side of Scott Bay and Turtle Bay. Depending on the phase of the moon and the time of day, there can be significant currents here, but the shore is never very far away if conditions are challenging. One time, the current was with us, and it was like flying through a magical underwater garden. Any beach on St. John has open access from the water, but the Turtle Point Trail has a bit sketchier access rights. The trail starts at the north end of Turtle Bay Beach, if that helps. It is a short hike with amazing views that include Henley and Ramgoat Cays, but you will need to bring footwear; I walked it once barefoot, and won't do that again.

Here are the JPG's of the NPS snorkeling guide, at as high a resolution as VIOL allows:
Page 1
Page 1
Page 2
Page 2
Page 3
Page 3
Page 4
Page 4
All the best,

Kevin
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gobucs
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Re: Snorkel Tips at Specific Beaches

Post by gobucs »

BEACH: Cinnamon Bay
All the way to the right around the point at the rocks
We saw tons of fish, turtles, 2 eels and a lot of nooks and crannies and coral
DonnaM
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Re: Snorkel Tips at Specific Beaches

Post by DonnaM »

If I can make a suggestion, it seems easier to understand directions that would start facing the water not the beach. I don't know why you would start directions facing backwards from where you arrived. Please correct me if I am wrong.

That being said, we just tried the Leinster Bay snorkel at the mooring balls before you get to the bay where Waterlemon Cay is and found it unremarkable. The water was quite choppy around July 4th and the rocky entry was difficult. Other than a nurse shark, there was nothing there we couldn't see somewhere else.

Little Lameshur - we snorkeled up the left side facing the water. Lots of fish but coral not great. Huge stingray on the way back in.
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ColumbiaSCTraveler
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Re: Snorkel Tips at Specific Beaches

Post by ColumbiaSCTraveler »

Yay! This is good stuff. Keep 'em coming.
If I can make a suggestion, it seems easier to understand directions that would start facing the water not the beach. I don't know why you would start directions facing backwards from where you arrived. Please correct me if I am wrong.
DonnaM, that's what I meant (facing the water) when I said "Facing Beach" in my original post. I'm blonde and southern, and the water is "the beach" to me. :oops: But you're so right. "Facing the water" makes it much more clear. :wink:

Thanks, y'all, and I look forward to even more tips!
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EagleRayLover
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Re: Snorkel Tips at Specific Beaches

Post by EagleRayLover »

That being said, we just tried the Leinster Bay snorkel at the mooring balls before you get to the bay where Waterlemon Cay is and found it unremarkable. The water was quite choppy around July 4th and the rocky entry was difficult. Other than a nurse shark, there was nothing there we couldn't see somewhere else.

Little Lameshur - we snorkeled up the left side facing the water. Lots of fish but coral not great. Huge stingray on the way back in.[/quote]

You may have just been o
At Leinster the wrong day. I go to the three mooring buoys often and it usually is flat. There are definitely better points of entry than others. I have seen the largest school of parrotfish I have ever seen there. Also saw eight eagle rays there during one snorkel.

Little Lameshur has great fans if you continue around point to great Lameshur. ( we will often do Yawzi Point trail , then enter for snorkel on Great Lameshur side and work around point to Little. Geography is beautiful!
Leslie, Kids Night In Babysitting
DonnaM
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Re: Snorkel Tips at Specific Beaches

Post by DonnaM »

ColumbiaSCT, I did think we were probably facing the same way!

Eagleraylover, we did enter at the "beach" there and saw some giant parrotfish. No eagle rays though. :( The choppy water had a lot to do with us not liking the entry. Trying to put on snorkel gear while balancing in a rocky area was difficult. We will have to give it another try!
dreamshark
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Re: Snorkel Tips at Specific Beaches

Post by dreamshark »

Wow, great thread! We JUST got back from our 10 day trip, so I can do this for all the beaches we snorkeled while it's fresh in my memory.

Here's the north shore beaches we hit this trip.
_____________________________
Beach: Honeymoon
Direction: Right hand reef (facing the water)

A surprisingly lovely little reef with some deep rocks and canyons, beautiful coral formations, and lots of fish. This year was my first time on this beach. I saw some very large parrot fish, a peacock flounder, a big stingray, and a variety of damsel fish and and angel fish.

Direction: Left hand reef
The water was very rough when we were there, so we didn't try the left side. It leads around to Saloman.

_____________________________
Beach: Hawksnest
Direction: straight out from parking lot

Unusual snorkeling experience - big "islands" of shallow reef with stunning coral gardens featuring large stands of yellow elkhorn coral. Be very careful if you swim over it to keep your fins at the surface of the water. Alternatively you can swim out to the left and around the big areas of shallow coral, which offers a nice view of coral walls dropping down to 8 or 10 feet deep. Great variety of reef fish.
_____________________________
Beach: Maho
Direction: facing water, straight out from path to parking area
Here's where you find the turtle feeding grounds, over the large areas of dark turtle grass. Easiest way to find the turtle herd - look for groups of circling snorkelers. Watch for remoras swimming near the turtles. They are very strangely shaped silvery fish with what looks like a large boot print on top of their heads. It's actually a sucker that allows them to hitchhike rides on sharks, turtles, etc. My daughter thinks she saw a small blacktip shark in this area too.

Direction: facing water, right side.
The coral is pretty sparse along the right side until you get near the point, where it gets much prettier. Some large parrots and dramatic angel fish around the deeper rocks on the point. Between the point and the turtle pasture there is usually a large school of glittering silver fry or "silversides" that are really breathtaking to swim through, esp. in the morning sun. You often see schools of bar jacks, large spooky tarpons and other predator fish patrolling the edges of the silver fry. We also saw nurse sharks up to 4' long and a couple of rays in this area. Continuing around the point takes you to Little Maho Bay.

Direction: facing water, left side
Again, the coral doesn't really get good until you get close to the far point. There are some very deep rocks and canyons way out there with very large parrot fish. But be careful - it's further than it looks and there can be a hellacious outbound current.
_______________________________
Beach: Francis
Direction: Facing water, little reef on left side

Just got a new underwater camera and you want to try it out? This is your spot! That little reef right at the side of the beach is just busting with lively, colorful little fish and interesting coral. It's very shallow, making for lots of light. And just steps from the beach in case you need to go back to shore to adjust your camera. I always see octopus gardens here, although I've never actually spotted an octopus. Lots of rambunctious sergeant majors defending their territories and creating drama. Groupers, hinds, and squirrel fish squatting in the shadows. One year I saw a red-lip blenny and a stunning juvenile angel fish. This year we spotted a HUGE spotted eel hiding in the rocks. There are always a few young barracudas hovering just under the surface of the water, and sometimes larger ones lower down.

If you continue on around the point you get to Little Maho. Not much to see in the middle (except one good-sized barracuda hanging just in front of the beach) but it's a short swim to the other side where there is another excellent reef to explore before turning the corner into Maho.
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dreamshark
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Re: Snorkel Tips at Specific Beaches

Post by dreamshark »

Southeast beaches
_____________________________________
Beach: Little Lameshur
Direction: Facing water, reef on left

Nice snorkeling all along this side, culminating in some very dramatic big rocks and canyons at the point (Yawzi Point?). Water is well-protected from wind along this shore until you get out past the point; then it can get very rough quickly. Good variety of fish all along the reef. Most dramatic thing we saw this year was a mature Great Barracuda, lounging on the bottom and grinding his fearsome teeth. I've seen a lot of little barracuda, but that's the first time I've seen a really big one. Oh, and we saw 3 or 4 good-sized squid, and lots of trunkfish scooting along in the sandy areas.

I don't think I've ever snorkeled on the right side. It seems like such a long swim from the picnic tables.
_____________________________________
Beach: Kiddel

This is just a beautiful little bay, wonderful snorkel if you can get past the difficult rocky entry. The special thing about this bay is that it is all rocks and reef, no sand. So you start seeing a multitude of fish within yards of the shore, including good-sized parrot fish. I think there is more diversity of marine life in this bay than any other bay I've snorkeled in (except maybe Maho). I've seen parrot fish, scrawled file fish, ordinary file fish, cowfish, trumpetfish, barracudas, squid, a turtle, and a 3-4 foot black tip shark. This year I saw a baby angel fish grooming a bar jack. It's a small bay so it's easy to snorkel both sides.

Right side: Good snorkeling all along the edge, with dramatic drop offs and canyons as you get to the point. This is my favorite place for practicing free diving. If you're a powerful swimmer you can continue on around to Grootpan, but it's always been too rough for me to do that.

Left side: I think the coral is better over here. Lots of fish too. Last year I found an old lobster trap with a bright yellow trumpet fish standing on its head inside the cage. Didn't see it this year but it's probably still there, in among the big rocks near the shore. The lobster trap I mean. The trumpet fish has probably moved on.
_____________________________________
Beach: Grootpan
We didn't go there this year, so I'm trying to remember from last year. As I recall, the thing to remember about this bay is that the best snorkeling is close to the shore. There's a wide band of smallish tumbled rock just off shore that is teeming with tiny baby fish of all sorts. And there seemed to be more fish on the shoreward side of the reef than further out.

Right side: Follow the increasing larger rocks around on the right side and you'll find some very dramatic coral structures fairly close to shore, including an isolated tower of brain coral that just shoots up out of the sand in 20 feet of water. When I was there, there was a depression in the top of the brain full of little stripey baby fish. All very surreal!

Left Side: There is also a fairly decent reef all along the left side, but nothing that sticks in my mind. Deep rocks and canyons again as you approach the point that goes around to Kiddel. The water can get pretty rough out there, so I've never gone around the point.

_____________________________________
Beach: Salt Pond
I'm not a big fan of Salt Pond, so I'll leave this one to somebody who has had more luck with it than I have.
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ColumbiaSCTraveler
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Re: Snorkel Tips at Specific Beaches

Post by ColumbiaSCTraveler »

Dreamshark..... WOW!!!! :shock: :shock: :D :D :D Thank you!

(And thanks to everyone else, too! Again....keep 'em coming!)
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Wolfhound
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Re: Snorkel Tips at Specific Beaches

Post by Wolfhound »

The link below has a drop down menu for snokeling the various beaches.
http://www.seestjohn.com/snorkeling.html
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awardb
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Re: Snorkel Tips at Specific Beaches

Post by awardb »

Little Lameshure - facing water.

Snorkel out to the right, well past the rocks that stick up on the right side. Go most of the way toward the point. There, you'll find deep canyons with tons of fish and coral all the way near and around the point into Europa Bay.

A long swim, but worth it. Can sometimes get a little choppy depending upon weather. But lots of fish and coral at the point and around the corner into Europa.
AwardB
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop. - Lewis Carroll
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toes in the sand
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Re: Snorkel Tips at Specific Beaches

Post by toes in the sand »

Thank you all for these great snorkel directions.
Coconuts/Kevin, where did you find those snorkel suggestions? I think they're great but I am updating my notes for our upcoming trip and would like to find those in a text version that I can cut/paste/credit.
Dream Shark, great notes.
I will have to add my suggestions when I return.
"got a drink in my hand and my toes in the sand"
Coconuts
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Re: Snorkel Tips at Specific Beaches

Post by Coconuts »

Toes: The snorkel guide that I posted used to be available as a free pamphlet at the Visitor's Center. I don't recall if it is still available there, but I couldn't find any electronic version on their website. I ended up scanning an old paper copy that I had, and used OCR software to pull the scan into Word. This required a LOT of clean-up to restore formatting and correct the spelling when the OCR wasn't accurate. I now have a reasonable quality editable Word document, though, that I turned into a PDF, and laminate in the Welcome book for our guests. Since VIOL for some reason doesn't support attaching a PDF, I then made and posted .JPG images of each page (whew!). If you PM me with an email address, I would be happy to send you the Word document.

After my post, Wolfhound reminded us that the http://www.seestjohn.com/snorkeling.html site has very detailed snorkeling tips for many beaches, and that is probably the best single resource that I am aware of. Between that and the NPS guide, the impetus to try and capture basic snorkeling info via this thread loses a bit of steam, but it still deserves to be sticky-ed, as you never know what tidbit from a forum member's visit might reveal regarding a better place to put in and head to.

All the best,

Kevin
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