best snorkeling on STJ- opinions from recent viistors

[sea-nile]

I know that this had been addressed before, but I can't really find the answer I want in a search.

I have heard that some of the reefs in the USVI have gone down hill, even in the last year. I would like to know what beach has the best reefs and marine life on STJ. I would like to know this from those who live on STJ or who have visited very recently.
Thanks!

[jayseadee]

Hi,

We didn't get in a lot of snorkeling this last trip, but what we saw was better than some visits in the past.

Trunk Bay - lots of fish on the trail side of the island and decent coral. However, on the other side of the island there were tons of fish; saw a huge school of blue tangs feeding off some coral; and one of the prettiest purple fan corals of the trip. If it is calm you can get in pretty close to the rocks and go all the way to the end. The better stuff was about half way down.

Hawksnest - again lots of variety of fish although not exciting coral. There was small family of squid in the area; very interesting. And signs (lots of open shells) of octopus, but I didn't see any.

We also did a day sail with Captain Phil on the Wayward Sailor. He took us to Two Brothers, which was absolutely wonderful. Some of the most healthy coral I've seen in awhile (and a good sized ray to boot). Our second stop was off of Congo Cay; also very good - another large school of blue tang with a couple of trumpet fish mixed in).

We met a couple on our daysail who had done Waterlemon Cay; they said it was very good, as well.

We tried a couple of times to get down to Gibney, but the parking was filled - maybe next time.

[Bob & Anita]

We haven’t snorkeled all places yet but of the places we snorkeled our favorites are:

Waterlemon
Salt Ponds
Haulover North
Left side of Trunk and around Trunk Cay
Salomon
Brown Bay

[Diane]

Waterlemon had the best coral and most fish including rays and octopus, but NO starfish!
We also loved the snorkeling at the Caves on Norman Island during a trip with Stormy Petrel.

[madness]

We did many snorkels this past October. We have been years before, and we were not disappointed. We had never been to Haulover North and absolutely loved it. We also did a nice snorkel off of the peace hill trail. That was easy to get to, a little dicey getting in and out of the water. We had to go back around the little cay, and the boat traffic was heavy. We did do Cinnamon (around the cay), Waterlemon Cay, Jumbie (I was disappointed here), Yawzi point - TONS of little jellyfish and the Tektite snorkel. We were going to continue on to the cobblestone beach after tektite but we (I) spent too much time at tektite. Hubby was pooped. I was adament about swimming to the point, which I would not do again. We could not find the entry point discussed in Off the Beaten Track so we got in the water early but it was cool - we saw a school of brightly colored cuddlefish or squid. We don't know, but they were cool. Someone said something about an Octopus at Hawksnest (one of our favorites as we were wed there) as I was sitting in the shallows enjoying a brew I saw a large sea grape leaf next to me and went to toss it out of the water when it sprayed ink all over the place and took off. Can not elaborate on the snorkeling because the frye(sp) fish were very dense. Pelicans and Tarpon everywhere. We saw turtles and starfish at Little Lameshur and Waterlemon. Actually, we saw many turtles. Have a great trip.