USVI-On-Line

Vol. 1 http://virgin-islands-on-line.com/forum ... hp?t=23336


Featured bays and beaches:

Gibney
(Back to) Francis
Pelican Rock
Great Lameshur
(Back to) Maho


----- Gibney -----

It was sunny and breezy again. It had been cooler than we were used to in mid/late May on island, at least that's how we felt. We were driving the North Shore Road in the early morning and decided to take advantage of the empty parking lot at Gibney.




Since we were the only ones on the beach, we sat around and soaked up the scene for an hour or so and then went snorkeling.

Black Point Sculling Crab - from the top and the side



Scrawled Filefish



Brain Coral; sea garden



Spotted Trunkfish



Hawksbill Turtle



In the late afternoon we went to Sam & Jack's to take some food back for the villa. We got a couple of sandwiches, Sammy Hammy and Wolf, and they were very good. We love Sam & Jack's. I buy all sorts of stuff there and it can add up quickly. I have to be careful because they are cash only.

Every night we went to bed between 9 and 10 p.m. (amazing - we almost never eat dinner as early as 10 p.m. at home). This night was no exception. I read that one of the nights on this trip there was an earthquake (or earthquakes?) on St. John. We have no idea when that happened.


----- (Back to) Francis -----

During the months prior to this trip, we'd read a lot about the Manta Rays at Francis, Maho, and other North Shore beaches. Although I had a feeling I wouldn't get to meet them on this trip, I was still hanging on to a thread of hope, so we went back to Francis.

We got there early in the morning and stayed until mid-afternoon. Well, my feeling was right and there was no sign of the Mantas. We had to settle for several (hidden) eels instead.

Unless we bump into eels poking out of holes, what we usually do to spot them is look carefully into the hollows/crevices among the reefs to find any parts of their bodies. Once we spot a body, we try to find its head. Sometimes the head is found and other times not. We were fortunate enough to locate three different species of heads that day on the right side of Francis Bay. We found more partial bodies but those heads were completely hidden.

Purplemouth Moray's body and its head



This body belongs to... this Chain Moray's head



Beautiful Spotted Moray - thank you so much for popping your head out!



Caribbean Spiny Lobster



Found a Checkered Puffer again. We'd seldom seen them so I was happy. Blowing up this photo for my own pleasure. Can you see the cool orange-green of their eyes?



We waded in the afternoon. It was the hottest day since we arrived on island. The familiar humidity was back, too, which made us feel more like ourselves. I guess we are truly off-season visitors.




----- Pelican Rock -----

Well, it was sunny... again (!). It felt like we were being spoiled. We had coffee on the porch. And then we were off to the East End.



We tried Haulover North again. It was pretty much in the same condition as a few days ago. We could

Your snorkel pics are AMAZING! Thanks for sharing your wonderful underwater adventures!

Great photos. Love the green turtle with sidekicks and the chain moray and thr squid and the scorpionfish and ....

I'm so glad you had such great weather. You have had your share of rain in previous trips and the water is so much clearer when there is no rain.

Your underwater pictures ARE amazing...thanks so much for sharing...is Reef Madness amazing?

I agree, your snorkeling pics are amazing!

Fantastic. Thanks for the eel spotting tips, what depth were they? Do you have to free dive to see them? Any other advice , like time of day or is it all a matter of luck to find such diversity. thank you for sharing.

More great pics, Pic! I'm so glad you had good weather this time!

Your pics are amazing!! I hope mine will come out half as good! I am putting together a slide video and my pictures aren't nearly as clear. What kind of camera did you use?

i like the feet pic! thanks for posting all of them!

enjoying your report...

helping me to get in the mood for our trip!!

Your pictures are wonderful! Have never been to Pelican Rock...nice view. The school of squid was a great shot, too. Thanks for sharing.

Maggy wrote:You have had your share of rain in previous trips and the water is so much clearer when there is no rain.

Agree Maggy. The visibility overall on this trip was really good. We were grateful for all the sunny days we had.

Backtotheislands - I used my old Canon D10 and Photoshop as needed. In my experience, it takes clearer shots if you get close to the subject and use the macro setting.

NJsurfsup - for those eels we found at the right side of Francis, you don't have to free-dive to see them. They were all in the reef where you can just float around and carefully look into for any evidence of them. We have seen eels at other beaches/bays as well (Honeymoon, Gibney, Haulover North and South, Hawksnest, Maho, etc.). They generally prefer hunting at night (at least that's what's in my head) so I would think it would be less common to run into active eels during the day. For us, it feels like we see more while snorkeling in the morning than in the afternoon, not just eels but in general. We like snorkeling in the morning.

Thank you all for your kind words.

Great pics and report!

Your trip report is AMAZING!
You take WONDERFUL pictures, and you come upon the most AWESOME creatures while snorkeling!!!

Great pictures Pickle Thanks for sharing! We went up the Yawzi Trail andmthenmentered n the Great Lameshuremside and snorkeled around the point to Little Lameshure side but it looks like we may need to try Great Lameshure as well!