If I Were Going...: Christmas in the Islands #3

Snorkeling at Waterlemon Cay; Photo: Caty Stevens

In my last post, I introduced you to our snorkeling adventures on the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), But there is so much more to talk about!

We knew that on-the-water snorkeling/diving was better than from-the-shore and Becca and Aaron had just recently been SCUBA certified, so we planned some outings in advance.

Hawksnest

We visited Hawksnest beach during our initial touring ...

Hawksnest Beach

... but we snorkeled there from a sailboat. All five of us went on a snorkeling trip on the Wayward Sailor, captained by 81-year-old Phil Chalker, who seemed just perfect for the job.

Caty returning to the boat

Capt. Phil with Aaron and Becca

Grizzled, fit and one-eyed, he seemed the epitome of the type of person who migrates to the Caribbean and never leaves (he was originally from Detroit, but had been in USVI for 50 years).

We were the only people on the boat with Capt. Phil and his first-mate Tarn (honestly, I don’t think the boat could hold any more), so it was a lovely private trip.

The morning of our sail was windy and threatened rain and we almost cancelled. But we didn’t.

Capt. Phil said it was so rough on Lavanga, the island off Cruz Bay where he lives, that he almost didn’t make it over to pick us up. But, he did. Normally, he takes snorkelers to Lavanga, but it was too rough, so he skirted the coast, taking us to the outer edge of Hawksnest. I assume you could reach the area where we snorkeled from land, but I wouldn’t try it. We stayed along the shore of an arm that reaches out into the bay. Capt. Phil warned us that the current could be bad too far on either end of the arm. It was fine right in the middle.

It was gorgeous! Lots and lots of coral and critters ...

Hawksnest coral

... including, Long-Spined Sea Urchins …

There were Urchins everywhere

Bluehead Wrasses …

These are juvenile Bluehead Wrasses

Stoplight Parrotfish, adults ...

The prettiest fish we saw

… and juveniles ...

And, the juveniles look so different from the adults

Blue Tangs …

Blue Tang

Redband Parrotfish …

Another gorgeous fish

Sergeant Majors …

The striped ones are the Sergeant majors, most of the others are Blue Tangs

Striped Parrotfish ...

A juvenile and an adult

Yellowtail Damselfish …

The sunshine brings out the iridescent spots

A wide variety of corals, including Lettuce, Brain ...

Left, Lettuce Coral; Right, Boulder Brain Coral

... Staghorn ...

Two types of Staghorn Coral

... and Fan …

Fan Coral, some a gorgeous purple

What a lovely morning! The only thing that would have improved it would have been sunshine.

Becca enjoyed the snorkeling

Little St. James and Stragglers Rock
Obviously, the Wayward Sailor was about sailing and snorkeling. The next planned outings were more about SCUBA. Becca and Aaron had booked a SCUBA dive with Low-Key Sports for just the two of them.

Suited up

Then Caty and Scott decided they wanted to take a SCUBA lesson. So, the four of them booked a second outing with the same company.

I decided not to. I am not opposed to learning to dive, I just don't want to do it on my vacation, so I was going to bird while they were diving.

Then, Caty developed a minor sinus problem before the trip, so we cancelled their lessons and instead the three of us booked a snorkel outing while Becca and Aaron SCUBAd (SCUBA-ed? SCUBA dove? Whatever!).

Becca and Aaron had enjoyed their first trip, so we were psyched about all going together. I am glad it worked out this way because, after Hawksnest, I really wanted a second boating snorkel trip.

Maybe next time, we should rent a boat! Although it is really nice to be taken exactly where the snorkeling is good (something we wouldn't know) – and tying up to moorings where it is legal (something else we might not know).

Becca and Aaron returning from their first SCUBA trip

The Low-Key boat conveniently left from Cruz Bay and didn’t have to travel far to our first stop.

The boat waiting to be boarded

The boat was nice and well-equipped with a cheerful, friendly crew.

Low-Key crew

The day started very sunny, so the ride out to our first stop was glorious.

Heading out

Since Low-Key concentrates on SCUBA, our outing wasn’t “led” by a guide. They just pointed us in the general direction. The first stop was along the edge of Little St. James Island.

Little St. James Island

You may have heard of it … it was the private island of Jeffery Epstein that played heavily in his under-age sex scandal.

You could actually see Little St. James from our condo; I took this the next evening

I don’t know who owns it now or what is happening there. But, it is a nice snorkel stop (and, according to Becca and Aaron, a nice dive stop). We went closer to shore and the divers went in the deeper water.

Nice view of the reef

There was a bit more of a current than we had experienced at Hawksnest, but not too bad. We wore lightweight life jackets, so I felt secure. Once again, we tried to stay clear of the rocks climbing up to the edge of the island because that’s where the current starts to cause issues. And, I really don't want surf to dash me into coral. Ouch!

We saw Blueheads Wrasses …

These guys are tiny and quick, thus hard to photograph

Puddingwife Wrasses …

I have no idea why they are called "Puddingwife"

Four-Eye Butterflyfish ...

Four-Eye Butterflyfish

French Grunts …

A pretty striped fish

Blue Tangs, blue …

The name comes from the color

… and dark brown …

But, not all Blue Tangs are fully blue

Redline Parrotfish …

Another colorful fish

Spotted Goatfish …

A view from above

Stoplight Parrotfish…

No matter how many times you see them, they are breath-taking

Baby Yellowtail Damselfish that are also called Jewelfish because of their bright colors (their spots fade and spread out as they age) …

One of the brightest fish we saw

Sand Diver Lizardfish that sit like lizards on the ocean floor ..

This is one of Becca's favorite fish

And, really cool-looking Smooth Trunkfish …

This is a very unique-looking fish

This is where we could really see the difference weather makes for snorkeling. It had been cloudy at Hawksnest and here we had a fair amount of full sun. When the sun comes out, everything lights up and photos are much better.

Crystal clear

After Little St. James, we got back on the boat and traveled just a few minutes away to Stragglers Rock, also great snorkeling, but with some heavy-duty current. Fortunately, the current was flowing TOWARD the boat, so swimming TO the rock was tough, but getting back was easy. I think it would be more intimidating to have difficulty returning to the boat!

Worth the struggle

There were times when I was swimming out that I was making no progress at all. Normally, being in deep water with current would terrify me, but when snorkeling, I am calm (and we had life jackets). Anyway, I felt comfortable and enjoyed the many formations …

Reef scenes

The wildlife we saw was less fish and more coral …

Left, Mustard Hill Coral; Right, Elkhorn Coral

Lots of Elkhorn Coral …

Elkhorn Coral

Queen Conchs …

Queen Conch

West Indian Sea Egg Urchins …

A very pretty Urchin

Lots and lots (and lots) of Long-Spined Sea Urchins …

Urchins were all over the rocks

... including one being eaten by a Parrotfish ...

Dinner

Plus, when I surfaced briefly, I saw a Brown Booby sitting on the rocks ...

Stragglers Rock

In all three locations (Hawksnest, Little St. James and Stragglers Rock), there were lots of particles in the water, perhaps bits of decomposing dead coral. If your flash was on (Caty’s got turned on by mistake), they ruined the shot.

You can see the debris in this photo of Caty

And, they did make photography in deep water tough. We tried to get some good shots of the distant SCUBA divers, but that didn’t pan out well.

Diver

Waterlemon Cay

The final snorkeling adventure was just Caty and me after Becca, Aaron and Scott had all gone home (I'll clarify that in my next post). And, it was marvelous!

Waterlemon Cay has the most beautiful turquoise water

We set out early in the morning and walked the one-mile Leinster Bay Trail from the Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins to Waterlemon Cay.

At first we thought is was "Watermelon" Cay, but it's "Waterlemon."

Gorgeous!

When we tried to research the name, we found out that the Cay "was named for the waterlemon."

But, so far, I can find no explanation of what a waterlemon is – a plant? a fish? a coral? Don't know.

By the way, "cay" is pronounced "key." Same thing, different spelling.

We initially decided to go to Waterlemon because of photos we saw of scores of Cushion Sea Stars in the shallow waters and because the area was touted for clearer water and better reefs than other walk-in snorkel sites.

It's not very crowded because it does require a little bit of a hike, most of which is on a rocky trail along the surf, and because the beach is rock, not sand. A bit of the trail ducks through some mangroves, but you are close to the water the whole time. It was fine even in hot, humid weather because of the breeze.

Hikers on the Leinster Bay Trail

We walked to the end of trail, where we precariously entered the water across some rocks (the dead tree pictured below is a good marker in case we ever go back again; this was definitely the easiest access point with the closest swim to the Cay). I am not a fan of walking on rocks, so this was a little scary. But, it turned out to be pretty easy to get in.

Where we entered the water

Then, we spent hours exploring the shallow clear turquoise waters that were full of fish, especially the jewel-like Beaugregory Damselfish …

These guys are about two inches long

Black Hamlets ...

One of the less colorful fish

Three-Spot Damselfish ...

Another little fish that like to hide in the coral

Sergeant Majors …

I believe I have seen this fish everywhere I have snorkeled

(This is a real name) Slippery Dicks ...

I will make no comment

Yellowfin Morjarras ...

A medium-sized fish

Blue Tangs ...

Another common reef fish that always lends some color to the scene

Sheepshead Porgies ...

Sheepshead Porgy

Four-Eye Butterflyfish ...

I was more successful photographing these fish at Waterlemon than elsewhere

French Grunts ...

I saw pretty large numbers of these

Smooth Trunkfish (which I also captured on video) ...

I love these fish

A small Great Barracuda ...

Not really intimidating because it was less than two feet long

Sand Diver Lizardfish ...

Just lounging around

A Gray Angelfish ...

This was the only Angelfish I saw

Ocean Surgeonfish ...

Ocean Surgeonfish

And, lots of Bar Jacks…

These were in large schools and following Stingrays around

Yeah, I know a lot of these fish are repeats from earlier photos, but I like the ones I got in Waterlemon Cay because the water was so much clearer (here is an example).

There was a little ledge at the end of the Cay ...

Hiding under the ledge

... that had a nice collection of fish and coral ...

Corals

I spent a lot of time there taking pictures, shooting video and just enjoying the beauty of the place.

But, the two big thrills were another Southern Stingray, this one easy to see in clear water …

Southern Stingray with attendant Bar Jacks

... even when it buried itself in the sand ...

This is what they do

I shot photos and video of the Ray. It was really fun to watch and, even though they have venomous spines, they aren't scary of you are floating above them. You just don't want to step on one.

But the coolest thing was Caty’s big find, a Common Octopus …

Photographing the Octopus lair

When we had been snorkeling with Capt. Phil, we did not see any Octopus (I think Phil normally shows snorkelers Octopus, but we weren’t at his normal stomping grounds), but he told us how to find one.

He said to look for a ring of empty shells near a rock ledge or coral formation.

That’s because Octopus catch crustaceans and mollusks and take them back to their lairs to eat, tossing out the empty shells when finished. Caty and I were looking at what she thought might be an Eel (it wasn’t) ...

We were looking at these fish when Caty found the Octopus Lair

... and she noticed a ring of shells ...

Octopus lair

We looked and looked and she could make out an Octopus in a coral cove. It took me a long time, but I finally saw it moving its tentacles.

Hoping to get some video

Then, boom, it zipped out of its lair and shot across the ocean floor. We followed it as it shot from rock to sand to coral, every time stopping and altering its color and skin texture for camouflage.

Moving along the ocean floor

Fascinating.

The water was a bit murky and the little guy (maybe 10 inches long) was pretty far down, so the photos and video are lacking, but what a treat!

Hiding (and changing texture) in some coral

Here is a video.

And, here is an enhanced clip showing the moment a fish poked the Octopus and it reacted with an instantaneous and brief color and texture change. Zap!

Bluehead Wrasse gives perspective; this was a very small Octopus, 10 inches max

Speaking of video and photos, my huge challenge is that my snorkel mask has vision correction for distance, which means that seeing the viewscreen on the camera is virtually impossible for me. So, I just aim and shoot. Apparently, I need to work on my aim as the Octopus video attests.

We loved Waterlemon Cay. It has so much going for it, although I understand it used to be even more glorious.

The ocean floor boasts lots of dead, bleached coral punctuated by living creatures

Although the deeper water was murky, as you can see in this photo of a Lion’s Mane Jelly …

The only jelly I saw on this trip

… the shallow water was crystal clear ...

View from above

You could just stand in the water and look for sea creatures, but it was better if you got down in the water ...

I took this in water about eight inches deep (that's a Beaugregory Damselfish)

Yes, some of the coral has been bleached, but it was still more colorful than other places we went. Plus, both the Cay and nearby Leinster Bay were breathtakingly beautiful.

But, we never saw any Sea Stars.

Too, too pretty

We spent all our snorkeling time on the north shore, where the beaches are accessible and sandy. There are some lovely beaches on the other side of the island, but access is often via dirt roads or hikes and I heard the beaches were rockier.

Cinnamon Bay

As I mentioned earlier, we visited Cinnamon Bay, but we never snorkeled or swam there. Mainly, I just photographed birds and donkeys there. I'll share more on that in my next post.

Left, Wild Donkey; Right, American Kestrel

Honeymoon Beach

One afternoon, Caty, Becca, Aaron and I went to Honeymoon Beach, one of beaches that is not wholly in the National Park.

The beach is reached via a $10 (RT) golf cart ride. It is a lovely, calm beach with lots of services available.

Becca and Aaron at Honeymoon

The golf cart service was instituted after the hurricanes because the road was severely damaged and is unstable for cars. There is, however, very ample parking in a field off the road.

Services include chair and umbrella rental, kayak rental, snorkel gear rental, restrooms, showers and food and beverages (including adult beverages, many of which we saw being carried down the beach).

It seems like a nice place for a family outing. It was, however, quite crowded.

Of course, you can't tell it was crowded by my pictures

The snorkeling wasn't great, but the beach was pretty.

I did see this Yellow Pencil Coral when snorkeling

I had some fun playing with the surf. See here.

Honeymoon Beach waves (pretty gentle, although they did knock me down)

The Caneel Bay Resort – heavily damaged by Hurricane Irma – is on Honeymoon Beach. The views from the resort must have been great.

You can see part of the resort in the upper lefthand corner

Some Random Snorkeling Thoughts

Everywhere we snorkeled, the water was very comfortable. I never got cold (Becca did but she says she always gets cold). And, transition in and out of the water was pretty comfortable. Since we had lots of towels from Tropical Blessings, it was pretty easy to warm up. The sand fleas were a bit of a problem, but we saw no mosquitoes.

Get your own gear!

As I have mentioned before, I have my own mask with prescription lenses (distance only, not bifocal).

Without them, I could not snorkel.

I also have a snorkel with a valve that prevents water from getting in if you dive or get hit by a wave.

It generally works great. But, it came apart one day and I had to disassemble and reassemble it to make it work. And, once it got stuck, preventing ANY air from getting in. Once again an easy fix, but creepy to experience.

Just before this trip, we all bought our own fins. Caty and I bought short fins that made it easy to get in and out of water (usually, I put the fins on in the water, but, on rock it was easier to wear them in). They worked great without getting in the way. I highly recommend having your own gear, even if it means more luggage.

And, even though the best sea life can be seen snorkeling, don’t discount standing on the dock in Cruz Bay.