Oh what a (fort)night! October 2011 Trip Report Part III
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 12:54 pm
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!
