USVI-On-Line

Thought I would share one photo for now. Was one of the most exciting snorkeling experiences during our visit!

Great photo - where did you take it?

AWESOME PHOTO! And I'm not jealous at all!

WOW! What a great picture........... I think I'll let you post your report and than wait awhile so the contrast in photos isn't so dramatic!

nothintolose wrote:Great photo - where did you take it?

You will never believe - Chocolate Hole Bay. My secret advice to forum members is to snorkel there before Pond Bay Club is completed. "Best Dives Snorkeling Adventures" rated it higher than Waterlemon Cay and Francis Bay. Local guides hardly mention it. But, we snorkeled there three times and always saw something incredible.

Thanks for the tip! We are staying there next week. Is there one area that is better than another? We are staying just right of the Pond Bay Club looking toward the bay.

P-600 wrote:Thanks for the tip! We are staying there next week. Is there one area that is better than another? We are staying just right of the Pond Bay Club looking toward the bay.

Which villa? We were to the right of Pond Bay in Villa St. John; closest villa to the development but we weren't bothered too much by noise and the trees are high/dense enough to block most of it.

Looking out to the sea from the beach, head out through the boats - lots of sea grass so just wander around but watch for boats. Then head to left side of the bay for a great fringing reef - in the middle, probably about 15 plus feet deep - saw large schools of blue tang and other fish out there; but very shallow closer to shore so watch those tummies and fins. We saw several baracuda too; some juveniles very close to shore where you can find some feeder fish. Look for lobster - saw some huge ones in some of the crevices. And, look for the empty shells to find octopus hiding places. Beware, we did see rock fish - one of the best reasons never to step on the rocks or coral!

Great picture. Thanks for the snorkel location tip.

We are staying at Ocean Garden ( Donald Schnell's Villa).

awesome pic!

CariBert wrote:Great snorkeling info, Sharon. Where did you enter the water? From a boat or from the shore? We are staying there later this year, July, and there doesn't look to be many places to enter into Chocolate Hole from the shore.....kind of rocky. I don't like Spiney Urchins, Rock Fish, or any other critter that could put an owie on you...

-Bert

Here is a photo of Villa St. John, where we stayed, from the right (north) side of the bay



We had steps down to the beach that put us behind the red and white boat you can see near shore. It was pretty smooth there. Sat on a rock to put on flippers, then backed into the water. It was pebbly but no large rocks for any of those nasty critters and it was too shallow for about 2 feet for rays. We did see sea urchins and rock fish deeper in the bay but not close to shore. I did almost run into a juvenile barracuda just feet from shore - they liked to hang out there with the feeder fish (are feeder fish really that dumb???)

FWIW, the bit of building you see on the far left of the photo is the model unit for Pond Bay Club

I saw one on Francis along the rocks but he was too far in to get a photo of it. He had a hold of a conch shell. I would love to have scene one in the open. Your very lucky. I must not have very good luck while snorkeling. I really have to look hard to find anything.

That is so cool! What a thrill it must have been to watch that guy.

Sun4mysoul may not be jealous by I AM!! Way cool. What camera did you use?

I was really excited to get underwater housing for my camera but I didn't think my pictures were that great--certainly nothing like the one you posted.

Gina