Pic's Pics & Report - Beaches & Snorkeling vol. 1
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 1:49 pm
A year long wait was over and we were back on St. John. Some of you may know that we love snorkeling. I guess my reports will begin exactly with that - the underwater world, which I miss already...
The weather was moody. First we had a few bright clear days, and then some system came through, brought rain and currents (stirred up the water). That was followed by the arrival of haze - the sky was rather white and the sea looked grayish blue every day for a while. Towards the end of our stay, it went back to how it'd started, bright and clear again. I wanted to stay a few days longer then... it was refreshing to see more than just the occasional patch of bright "blue" in the sky.
Our most enjoyed snorkelings on this trip (weather-, water conditions- & sea life-wise) were Haulover North and Brown Bay. Those two could not have been more perfect. Okay, the hike back from Brown Bay after hours of snorkeling was, quite frankly, dreadful... We would do the hike/snorkeling again but it has to be the right day, weather-wise and our physical condition-wise, and we just hope that the water is not churned up when we get there.
Featured beaches/bays:
Maho
Haulover North
Francis
Pelican Rock
Haulover South
----- Maho -----
The first full day on St. John, we were still dragging our bodies from the travel day and couldn't decide what we wanted to do. In the early afternoon we finally made our move and went to the nearest beach, Maho. The water was very warm from all the morning & afternoon sun. We snorkeled the right side around the point towards Little Maho. We saw good stuff and were so glad that we decided to come out that day. Maho looked particularly beautiful that afternoon.
Flamingo Tongue & Foureye Butterflyfish
Spotted Trunkfish
Sergeant Majors
Sponge Brittle Star on Sea Fan; Rough Fileclam
We always see large Queen Angelfishes around the point. These guys were not fully-grown.
Caribbean Spiny Lobster
I stuck my head out of the water and looked around the bay. The water was very calm and felt so good. The previous day (the travel day) was very tiring. Even when the ferry docked at St. John, it never really hit me that I was back on the island. Honestly, I was more tired than excited. The next day at Maho, poking my head out of the water and looking around, it finally hit me that I was back on St. John, and I was happy. No place on earth is perfect. I've never actually paradise-ized St. John in my head. However, I know it is the place where I look forward to being and retreating. And I'm grateful my husband shares that feeing with me and he's never once said, "Maybe we should try some place else this year". We may visit some different islands one of these days, who knows... but I am longing for our return to St. John as I'm writing this.
----- Haulover North -----
It was a bright and clear day. The water at Haulover North was the calmest and the most beautiful we'd ever seen there. In fact, South was rougher than North. For a while, we were the only ones there. And then a few more folks showed up for their snorkeling fix. They picked absolutely the right day for that, I would say.
As I've mentioned, this turned out to be one of the best snorkelings we had on this trip - great visibility and sea life. As soon as we got in the water, we saw a school of baby Bar Jacks, which we saw last year also at the same spot. From there we followed the reef extending west (left).
Among the bright yellow Fire Corals, what was hiding was a Chain Moray. Like Goldentail Morays, Chain Morays are smaller eels and don't grow large like Green Morays and such. They are rather skittish. This eel was skittishly "trying to look" aggressive. How cute is that? To us, anyway!
Trumpetfish
Signature Fire Corals and a few Staghorn Corals
Saw several squids
Slender Filefish, about 2 inches long. Love these little guys. They are small and well camouflaged, so kind of hard to find them.
The water was very calm, clear and warm. We must have snorkeled over 3 hours but it didn't feel that long at all. It was such a perfect day and spot for snorkeling and time just flew by!
----- Francis -----
The day was not as bright as it was the previous day but still nice. We snorkeled the right side towards the point/Fungi Passage. There was an extensive and thick school of Silversides hanging out along the way. As adorable as they are, when they are dense, they cloud the view and I almost wish they weren't there (not my place to say things like that, I know). Anyway, if you slow down and let creatures present themselves to you, there is really a lot to see here - including octopuses. I love fish but I am truly an invertebrate kind of girl. For that reason, I love snorkeling Francis.
Yellowline Arrow Crab
a tiny Benny
Magnificent Feather Duster
Giant Anemone
Don't forget to look around and see the big picture, too. A large Tarpon was passing by.
Sponge Brittle Stars
Black Hamlet
I saw a Key Worm Eel for the first time but it swam from a hole to another hole on the coral so swiftly that I never had a chance to capture it with my camera. I was a little disappointed about not seeing any octopus that day... but it was only the third day of our trip and I was optimistic. Little did I know that I would not meet one until our very last day on St. John.
----- Pelican Rock -----
We tried to visit Vie's but she was closed. It wasn't her day off (closed Sundays and Mondays) but I know she is not open as often off season. If you really want to make sure, you better call her (693-5033) before heading out there. We ended up at her other beach (no fee) and snorkeled from there to Pelican Rock. Pelican Rock is the one farthest to the right of the rocks sticking out in the distance in this photo.
We didn't see a lot on the way. It was rocky along the shoreline. As we approached Pelican Rock, the water got choppy and the visibility started to drop a little. The gorgonians were plentiful around the rock.
Gorgonian and Fire Corals
Wrasses – they were eager to clean the fish
Because of the choppy water, we didn't stick around the rock for long. On the way back to the beach, the visibility was better in the shallows, so we explored the seemingly not very exciting area more carefully. We still didn't see a lot but found some beautiful creatures.
Social Feather Dusters
Bearded Fireworm
Upside-Down Jelly - we always see these guys at Leinster Bay, too.
When we drove past Vie's, she was still closed. We were a little hungry then, so, "darn..." We ended up never making our way back to Vie's on this trip.
----- Haulover South -----
The snorkeling around Pelican Rock took only a couple of hours, and since Vie's was not open that day, we decided to stop at Haulover South for more snorkeling. We snorkeled the right/west side. The visibility was just okay and the water was pretty choppy, especially around the point. From a quick look, this snorkeling may not appear much to you, but if you are lucky, you see octopuses and eels. My very first octopus sighting was here - I remember a Balloon Fish was hanging out with the octopus... they were a curious pair. No octopus sighting this afternoon, though.
Baby Blue Tangs and Surgeonfishes scraping rocks in shallow water
Goby on Brain Coral
Mantis Shrimp (a cameo appearance by a Damselfish)
A small colony of Sea Urchin, Sponge, Fire Corals, Anemone, and Arrow Crab
Looking towards the other side/east of the bay, we could see Round House (left) and Pebble Cove (right).
Squid
The following day was a complete washout. In fact, a flash flood watch was issued over the Virgin Islands. We stayed at the villa all day looking down the wet valley as the rain fell hard most of the day. We were staying on Bordeaux Mt. then. The mountains and rain suit each other better than the sea and rain, in my humble opinion. When it rained on Bordeaux Mt. we saw the white steam rising slowly from the valley down bellow. The clouds were so near that we were essentially in the clouds at times. It was almost mystical. If there is a rainy day on St. John, this is probably the place where we'd like to spend the day.
The weather was moody. First we had a few bright clear days, and then some system came through, brought rain and currents (stirred up the water). That was followed by the arrival of haze - the sky was rather white and the sea looked grayish blue every day for a while. Towards the end of our stay, it went back to how it'd started, bright and clear again. I wanted to stay a few days longer then... it was refreshing to see more than just the occasional patch of bright "blue" in the sky.
Our most enjoyed snorkelings on this trip (weather-, water conditions- & sea life-wise) were Haulover North and Brown Bay. Those two could not have been more perfect. Okay, the hike back from Brown Bay after hours of snorkeling was, quite frankly, dreadful... We would do the hike/snorkeling again but it has to be the right day, weather-wise and our physical condition-wise, and we just hope that the water is not churned up when we get there.
Featured beaches/bays:
Maho
Haulover North
Francis
Pelican Rock
Haulover South
----- Maho -----
The first full day on St. John, we were still dragging our bodies from the travel day and couldn't decide what we wanted to do. In the early afternoon we finally made our move and went to the nearest beach, Maho. The water was very warm from all the morning & afternoon sun. We snorkeled the right side around the point towards Little Maho. We saw good stuff and were so glad that we decided to come out that day. Maho looked particularly beautiful that afternoon.
Flamingo Tongue & Foureye Butterflyfish
Spotted Trunkfish
Sergeant Majors
Sponge Brittle Star on Sea Fan; Rough Fileclam
We always see large Queen Angelfishes around the point. These guys were not fully-grown.
Caribbean Spiny Lobster
I stuck my head out of the water and looked around the bay. The water was very calm and felt so good. The previous day (the travel day) was very tiring. Even when the ferry docked at St. John, it never really hit me that I was back on the island. Honestly, I was more tired than excited. The next day at Maho, poking my head out of the water and looking around, it finally hit me that I was back on St. John, and I was happy. No place on earth is perfect. I've never actually paradise-ized St. John in my head. However, I know it is the place where I look forward to being and retreating. And I'm grateful my husband shares that feeing with me and he's never once said, "Maybe we should try some place else this year". We may visit some different islands one of these days, who knows... but I am longing for our return to St. John as I'm writing this.
----- Haulover North -----
It was a bright and clear day. The water at Haulover North was the calmest and the most beautiful we'd ever seen there. In fact, South was rougher than North. For a while, we were the only ones there. And then a few more folks showed up for their snorkeling fix. They picked absolutely the right day for that, I would say.
As I've mentioned, this turned out to be one of the best snorkelings we had on this trip - great visibility and sea life. As soon as we got in the water, we saw a school of baby Bar Jacks, which we saw last year also at the same spot. From there we followed the reef extending west (left).
Among the bright yellow Fire Corals, what was hiding was a Chain Moray. Like Goldentail Morays, Chain Morays are smaller eels and don't grow large like Green Morays and such. They are rather skittish. This eel was skittishly "trying to look" aggressive. How cute is that? To us, anyway!
Trumpetfish
Signature Fire Corals and a few Staghorn Corals
Saw several squids
Slender Filefish, about 2 inches long. Love these little guys. They are small and well camouflaged, so kind of hard to find them.
The water was very calm, clear and warm. We must have snorkeled over 3 hours but it didn't feel that long at all. It was such a perfect day and spot for snorkeling and time just flew by!
----- Francis -----
The day was not as bright as it was the previous day but still nice. We snorkeled the right side towards the point/Fungi Passage. There was an extensive and thick school of Silversides hanging out along the way. As adorable as they are, when they are dense, they cloud the view and I almost wish they weren't there (not my place to say things like that, I know). Anyway, if you slow down and let creatures present themselves to you, there is really a lot to see here - including octopuses. I love fish but I am truly an invertebrate kind of girl. For that reason, I love snorkeling Francis.
Yellowline Arrow Crab
a tiny Benny
Magnificent Feather Duster
Giant Anemone
Don't forget to look around and see the big picture, too. A large Tarpon was passing by.
Sponge Brittle Stars
Black Hamlet
I saw a Key Worm Eel for the first time but it swam from a hole to another hole on the coral so swiftly that I never had a chance to capture it with my camera. I was a little disappointed about not seeing any octopus that day... but it was only the third day of our trip and I was optimistic. Little did I know that I would not meet one until our very last day on St. John.
----- Pelican Rock -----
We tried to visit Vie's but she was closed. It wasn't her day off (closed Sundays and Mondays) but I know she is not open as often off season. If you really want to make sure, you better call her (693-5033) before heading out there. We ended up at her other beach (no fee) and snorkeled from there to Pelican Rock. Pelican Rock is the one farthest to the right of the rocks sticking out in the distance in this photo.
We didn't see a lot on the way. It was rocky along the shoreline. As we approached Pelican Rock, the water got choppy and the visibility started to drop a little. The gorgonians were plentiful around the rock.
Gorgonian and Fire Corals
Wrasses – they were eager to clean the fish
Because of the choppy water, we didn't stick around the rock for long. On the way back to the beach, the visibility was better in the shallows, so we explored the seemingly not very exciting area more carefully. We still didn't see a lot but found some beautiful creatures.
Social Feather Dusters
Bearded Fireworm
Upside-Down Jelly - we always see these guys at Leinster Bay, too.
When we drove past Vie's, she was still closed. We were a little hungry then, so, "darn..." We ended up never making our way back to Vie's on this trip.
----- Haulover South -----
The snorkeling around Pelican Rock took only a couple of hours, and since Vie's was not open that day, we decided to stop at Haulover South for more snorkeling. We snorkeled the right/west side. The visibility was just okay and the water was pretty choppy, especially around the point. From a quick look, this snorkeling may not appear much to you, but if you are lucky, you see octopuses and eels. My very first octopus sighting was here - I remember a Balloon Fish was hanging out with the octopus... they were a curious pair. No octopus sighting this afternoon, though.
Baby Blue Tangs and Surgeonfishes scraping rocks in shallow water
Goby on Brain Coral
Mantis Shrimp (a cameo appearance by a Damselfish)
A small colony of Sea Urchin, Sponge, Fire Corals, Anemone, and Arrow Crab
Looking towards the other side/east of the bay, we could see Round House (left) and Pebble Cove (right).
Squid
The following day was a complete washout. In fact, a flash flood watch was issued over the Virgin Islands. We stayed at the villa all day looking down the wet valley as the rain fell hard most of the day. We were staying on Bordeaux Mt. then. The mountains and rain suit each other better than the sea and rain, in my humble opinion. When it rained on Bordeaux Mt. we saw the white steam rising slowly from the valley down bellow. The clouds were so near that we were essentially in the clouds at times. It was almost mystical. If there is a rainy day on St. John, this is probably the place where we'd like to spend the day.
. Maybe next time.
