USVI-On-Line

This was my 3rd trip to the STJ and our first time to Waterlemon Cay. Had I known how great it was I would have made it there long ago. We saw a 4 foot turtle,an eagle ray whose "wing span"..was 5 feet across and the star fish bed in which there were 50-100 12" starfish..absolutely amazing!! I had never even heard of a starfish bed. Swimming from 12 o'clock to 9 oclock around the cay tho was a little tough with the current that day..I think I would have been pretty scared if there had not been a a few others there as well. Glad we got there by dinghy..I was TIRED after and would not have been happy about having to hike out. GREAT spot!!MUCh better than Trunk!!

Wow!
That sounds really cool. I hope to see those creatures too.

Walterlemon is a must when visiting STJ!!

XOXO
Bug

I am really hoping to convince my mama to watch the short ones so hubby and I can hit waterlemon. How much of a time commitment is it? 1/2 day enough to do the hike and get in a good snorkel?

Flip Flop,
I would think 1/2 day would be enough time to walk around to the point where most people get in the water to snorkel the cay. We went last year and didn't think the walk was bad at all, although we did go in the morning before it got too hot.
We didn't see any starfish, but did see lots of colorful fish, an octopus and a ray. I've never heard an explaination as to why there are so many starfish at times and none at others. I'm sure we'll revisit Waterlemon in June (16 days!).
Hope you get there too.
Diane

Did you get any pics of the starfish, I've never seen that before?

Figures no pictures I took so many pictures of the sea turtle and huge eagle ray by the time I got around to that side of the cay I was out of film!! I was so mad at myself!! I had never seen anything like it. I had been happy to see one starfish the day before and here there were at least 100!! And they were each 12"!!I was told there are times they "leave"..To me it sounds almost like Disney's movie Fantasia..I can just imagine them all marching away. I'd like to add we rented a dinghy (with back rest and center console) from Calypso and made it to there in about 20-25 minutes. There is a rope to tie the dinghy to..It's a nice set up at the cay..

DELETED

I have been there several times and only saw the starfish once - that was this past August in the A.M. - we saw hundreds that day. Pretty amazing site -

My experience has been that if you swim directly out to the cay from the beach area (especially the closet end to the hiking path from Annaberg) you'll swim right over the starfish bed. We've seen them every time (8-10 snorkels?) that we've done it that way. Hiking to the point closest to the cay usually puts you in the water beyond the starfish bed.

Hmm Location..Standing on the "beach" part of the cay looking out to the rocky point they were to the left ..just where the cay starts to get more sandy rather than rocky..I noticed the Calypso Catamaran brochure mentions visiting the starfish bed at Waterlemon for their all day snorkeling trip. Not sure if it matters but we were there before lunch. I cannot even imagine all those starfish moving..lol.

If you were looking down at the cay from a aerial view (rocky point of cay at top)(lol) they were located at 8 o'clock..not too far off the cay itself ..

I have a bunch of pics of the starfish bed so I will post them later from home. It is a truly awesome site to see.

XOXO
Bug

bug,
Thanks in advance...I would love to see your pics.