TURTLE BEACH 2024

Excursion with Big Beards to Buck Island

Big Beards office right on the waterfront:

Our excursion boat was off in the distance. It was different than the last time we were here. It was a sailboat last time and (if you remember that review) there were a bunch of girls on staff that would work really hard lifting the sails on it while the guys watched. This time, no sails. Just all motor.

We waited on the dock in the shade. It was hot out...of course.

Here is where we are and where we are going:

I decided I should probably use the restroom before getting on the boat and found that they shared the restroom with the restaurant next door. I also wanted to get some drinks to take with us. I had forgotten that Big Beards said you can bring your own drinks and snacks and they would provide the cooler to store things in. I got us all a drink but then they informed me that I needed to spend $10 to be able to use my credit card. Well then...I put everything back and headed out to see if anyone wanted anything else to bring that dollar amount up and by the time I returned, our boat was already here and ready for us to start loading. No worries, they said they would have drinks on the boat for us after snorkeling (water and punch and rum punch...even better).

We all piled onto the boat and the captain and crew started giving their speech.

He read us the rules: Don't try any TikTok challenges or act like you are jumping ship or falling off the boat. He told us a true story that some girls had done this and actually fell and the girls were fined $5000 for doing so.

"Hold onto your hats because unless there's a head attached to it when going over board, we're not going back for it"

We had Mike as our Captain. Then there was Charlie, a girl, that was born in Wisconsin but raised here. She came around and talked to us for awhile. She was super nice. Then we had Simon on board with us as well to help.

After we got so far out, the captain announced that anyone who wanted to walk up on deck on the front of the boat could do so. But, you must hang on...it can get real bumpy up there.

Sakari immediately jumped up. Karl did not. He decided to stay put for the remainder of the ride.

Sakari always loves riding up front. It was definitely wavy and the boat was jumping waves and sometimes splashing really high up. We did not get wet though. The hubby was trying to get his hair wet. You know, that salt kissed wet look.

Some pics that Sakari took while up front:

Our first stop was going to be a Turtle Beach...the most beautiful beach in St Croix and the Caribbean they claimed. We would spend some time here "learning to snorkel" in the calm waters for awhile. Then after everyone was ready, we would head over to the National Snorkel Park for the real stuff.

Buck Island Turtle Beach was in site now.

The boat stopped all of a sudden and everyone was looking around. There were dolphins! I completely missed it because it was on the opposite side of the boat and by the time I discovered what was going on, they were gone. Sakari said she didn't see them either and she was up front with a full view.

We have arrived!

The nice thing about this boat was it had steps on each side that you could just walk down and into the water. However, they can't pull right up to the beach so you would walk down the steps and drop into the water.

Turtle Beach is absolutely gorgeous! I'm not sure of its claim to fame of being the prettiest in the Caribbean but it is beautiful.

We grabbed our snorkeling gear and off we went into the water to explore. I did notice there were a lot of barracuda's in the area. Rather large ones actually.

Then there was this big fish I ran into while snorkeling. Scary!

There were plenty of fish to see in the area and lots of rocks. I liked snorkeling the area.

Then I started noticing blurry spots in the water. As my eyes focused, I noticed they were jellyfish. No worries, not the stinging kind but comb jellies. They are harmless but man there were A LOT! They were just everywhere. It was almost hard to get a clear picture of what I was trying to take a picture of because they were in the way. It's really hard to focus your camera on them because they are so clear. Here's an attempt of a close up one in my face.

Another swimming by in front of my camera (right above my name stamp). Of course Karl immediately freaked out but he wasn't close enough to shore to run out of the water. We assured him he was going to live. Sakari was fascinated by them and kept touching them. Ohhhh, they feel like jelly. Well, yep, they are "jelly" fish.

Some fish in the area: One eyed Butterfly fish, parrot fish, Juvenile French Angelfish, and a Mahogany Snapper.

A large black spotted Coney Grouper...well actually there were 3 of them! (You'll see in my video)

Smooth Trunkfish

More Barracuda's in the distance (above my name)

Caribbean Stingray swimming by:

More Comb Jellyfish but a little better picture:

Now this guy...he was HUGE! like I've never seen a Mutton Snapper this large before. We always see the small regular sized ones hanging out with the Grunts. But it was LARGE and there were several of them out in the deep water. He looks mean and mad. Just look at that face! (He's in the picture above too and look at the size of him compared to this large rock in the water)

They usually grow to around 20 inches with a maximum of 34.8 inches. They can weigh up to 15 pounds and live for around 40 years.

We went up and down the waters along the beach. It was a good time. On the way back we came across another Stingray.

The hubby and I decided to get out and walk to the end of the beach so that I could get more pictures of this beautiful area. The captain told us to make sure to stay within site so that we could see when it was time to leave. So we just walked to the curve as it went around the island.

The water was gorgeous. The beach was gorgeous. The sun was shining. Life is good.

We would see Ghost Crabs along the beach. They are super quick and really leery of people passing by. I waited for awhile for it to come back out to get a picture.

We walked past the boat and onto the other side of the beach. They had displays of conch shells up on the rocks by the trees. We were told no hiking because of the cactus and deadly trees in the area (manchineel trees). (Although I know there are tours that do hiking excursions here and we did see the entrance to the trail).

It was a little more rocky in the area by the beach too.

Some area's were not as bad.

The kids took off walking to explore.

When it was time to go, Captain Mike blew the conch horn for everyone to get back on board and we were heading to the snorkel trail.

They had a hose on the boat to rinse the salt water off with.

Time to head off to snorkel Buck Island Reef. Please see the main St Croix page for that review.