BUCK ISLAND REEF SNORKEL

We had just spent a wonderful time on the beautiful Turtle Beach and now it was time to visit the reef.

They passed out snorkel vest for everyone. I wish I would have gotten a picture of Karl's. It said "Married" on the front of it...which is funny because that is what the hubby's said last time we did this tour back in 2018. LOL Ours were plain and didn't say anything. The hubby was sad.

We were all on board and headed a short distance over to Buck Island Reef National Monument.

Like last time, Sakari was complaining about having to wear a life vest. She likes to dive down and this prevents her from doing so. They told her it was the rules of the park and they could get fined if we didn't have them on. But, she was not required to inflate it if she didn't want to. Karl trying to figure out how to put one on and where all the straps go...well that's an entirely different segment to this review I won't get into right now. 😉

Captain Mike told us how the Kennedy's came to the island and loved this area so much that they declared this a National Park.

In 1948, the Government of the Virgin Islands established Buck Island and its surrounding reefs as a territorial park. In 1961, control of the island was transferred to the National Park Service, and later that year President John F. Kennedy, in recognition of the need to preserve for scientific and educational interests “one of the finest marine gardens in the Caribbean Sea,” established Buck Island Reef National Monument by Presidential Proclamation (No. 3443). Finally, on January 17, 2001, President William J. Clinton expanded the Monument’s size by 18,135 acres making it now 19,015 acres!

That's a HUGE area! Captain Mike said that Buck Island/Turtle Beach only takes up 1% of those 19,015 acres. Can you imagine just how large this place is?

We were told we were going out in two groups. We would head over to the trail with our group. We ended up in Charlie's group. She held onto a rope with a life preserver on it. We were told the water is a bit choppy today and to be careful and aware of your surroundings because some of the coral is almost sticking out of the water.

There were a lot of Parrotfish and Barracuda's in the area.

I remember when we were came here back in 2018 and I was so excited to come here for the reef. I had seen pictures online and it looked amazing. Then I remember feeling the disappointment once we came here because most of the coral was dead in the area. I kept thinking "Why do people say this is the best place to come and snorkel?" It looked like an ocean graveyard with all of the dead coral.

Well, I can tell you that not much has changed. There was still so much dead coral in the area and it still looked like a coral graveyard.

Within a decade of President Kennedy establishing the area a protected marine park, it suffered several major coral disease outbreaks. They do not know the reason for the outbreaks. Corals are just like humans. They can catch and spread diseases. This new disease, called White Band Disease, took over the reef and reduced the amount of living coral over 90%. Since the early 1990's coral disease outbreaks have been more frequent and intense due to stress, which is caused by the warming temps of the water.

You can just see the devastation of the spread of this disease all around. They say it happened almost over night and it spread fast.

We had arrived to the "Underwater Trail". It is a shallow water lagoon that is protected by a barrier reef. It makes it the perfect place to snorkel because the waters are usually calm in this area. There are signs throughout the shallow water showing you which way to go and various names of coral and fish you will see.

If you look closely, you will see that this area was filled with Comb Jellyfish as well. So many of them.

I captured a good picture of one here. Can you spot it?

Looking threw the water you could see them as well.

Once we made it to the beginning of the trail, Charlie instructed us where to go in. She told us to explore on our own as much as we'd like...then I believe she went back to the boat.

Now notice it says to only enter during gentle wave conditions...this was anything BUT gentle water conditions. It was so wavy that we were told not to lift our heads out of the water too often. You would definitely get smashed in the face by the waves and sometimes even taking on a gulp because it was so forceful.

As you move along the trail, it was like playing in an escape room and you had to search for the markers on the seafloor to know which way to go next. Every once in awhile you'd see a marker with an arrow and know to turn. Some were not so easy to find.

They would also have markers with names of fish on them. But, you wouldn't always see the fish hanging out in that area posing for you above the marker so those that do not know their fish like we do, would have no clue which fish it was referring to.

All of a sudden I noticed movement coming toward us...it was a very large school of blue surgeon fish. This was just like the last time we were here. There were quite a few of them circling the area. They are so amazing to see in groups like this. They must hang out in the area all the time.

We continued on in the trail of deadness (notice all the jellies in the second picture)

There was a few living coral here and there, but really not much to see.

We had come to the end of the trail. I did not see Sakari or Karl during this little adventure of getting bashed around by the waves, smashed in the face and it was similar to riding a rollercoaster as you bobbed up and down while you kicked full force to stay away from the coral and make your way around the trail. I was almost positive that Karl had turned back.

My camera was really struggling to take pictures because of all the jellyfish. Just look at this!!!

We decided to hang out around the outside of the grotto to explore a bit. I honestly thought there was probably more alive coral outside of it than inside.

Then along came Sakari and Karl. They had made it through the grotto. I have to say I was completely shocked. Karl was super proud of himself. I tried to tell him I thought he went back because of how rough the water was but he was gleaming with joy about doing it (although admits he was a little nervous at first).

I spotted a couple of Scrawled Filefish and followed them around for awhile.

These fish are very rarely seen probably because they have the ability to change colors to match their surroundings. On the sandy bottom, they can turn white to match the sand. When swimming in deeper blue area, they change to blue. They can change from yellow to brown.

More of the outside of the grotto:

I'm pretty sure this Parrotfish was smiling for the camera:

Another school of Blue Surgeon Fish in the area, although not as many as the last one:

More Scrawled Filefish over here too:

I feel lucky if I get to see one snorkeling or diving, but this time, to see this many...it was a treat!

However, this was not a treat...it was scary:

And a little too close for my comfort.

Several Parrot Fish:

Just a few more pictures before heading back to the boat. I think we've seen about all we are going to see and the water was just so rough and pushing us far away from the boat. Sakari and Karl had already given up and went back on board. I know my foot was hurting at this point and I wouldn't be able to kick this forcefully much longer. The hubby kept checking on me and asking if I was ok. I was ok, but about to give up.

On the swim back to the boat, there were Parrotfish everywhere.

We had made it back to the boat finally:

As others were getting back on and climbing the steps, I was busy watching the fish below, including another Spotted Trunkfish.

Here's a video of our day at Turtle Beach and Buck Island snorkel trail. I hope you enjoy it.

We were told in order to get up the stairs to the boat, you turn around and sit on the bottom step and ease yourself up to the next and go up backwards on your butt.

We all washed the salt water off and they also had a leave in conditioner for your hair and not only did it smell fabulous but made our hair easy to comb!

We were all safely back on the boat, yes even me without any mishaps, and the weather was changing rapidly. It was now very cloudy and the Captain said that a storm was about to roll in.

The staff was preparing rum punch and when they were done, I walked over to get one. After I sat down, Charlie told me "You can't have that yet. We have to wait until we get out of the National Park". Well...then don't bring it out and put it in front of my face then. I mean what am I supposed to do now...as I'm holding my cup of rum punch. Is the National Park Rum Punch Patrol in the area? I mean I'm thirsty after all that snorkeling and gulping salt water....***turns head, acts guilty, looks to see if anyone is watching, takes big gulp, hides cup***

A lady comes in with her spouse and says "We seen the biggest shark out there". Um...where the heck were you? She pointed out a ways and said "It was twice as big as me and gray!" The Captain said it was probably a Lemon Shark if it was that big.

As we started to pull out, Captain Mike told us we should all probably sit on the inside seats of the boat. A storm was about to be chasing us into port...as he pointed over toward the island and behind us.

You could tell that it was really storming over that way. One minute you could see where our house was and the next you could not.

They started passing out the Rum Punch...finally. Karl could not wait. I think he had 3 of them, I had 6, hubby had 4 and Sakari had a virgin.

As we continued on, they would come around and pour more into our cups. I was real thirsty I tell ya. At one point, they poured some into Sakari's cup and she blankly starred at me. I blankly starred back. She took a sip. She liked it. LOL Honestly, you could not really taste much rum in it. I mean I had 6 and wasn't even feeling it....other than feeling thirsty still. Salt water really makes you thirsty. I was replenishing...don't judge.

Charlie came by at one point and pointed at Sakari and said "Is that alcohol?" Sakari gulped it down and said "no" and got up to get another. 😂

I headed off to the restroom and came back with a souvenir:

Yea it was bleeding pretty badly. The family thought I was gonna bleed out from all the blood. I started moaning and pouting and holding my hand as if it was about to fall off. So much pain and agony. I was getting pampered by the family. They felt sorry for me..."Let me get you another drink!" Yea, that should help take the pain away. "Do you want anything else mom?" "Um, I think I need another drink."

Then after the bleeding stopped I showed them. They were like oh my gosh it's not that bad. (It really wasn't but I liked the pampering and attention I got from it). Game over I guess. It was good while it lasted.

Off in the distance...more rain and it was looking bad. I was thinking the rest of the day was going to be a wash...literally.

The hubby headed down to the restroom and I yelled "Be careful! It bites!" His reaction....really Kim, really? Sigh...he just didn't believe me I guess. I showed him my now non-bleeding hand and reminded him of what door locks to restrooms can do to you.

Once we made it back to the dock, it was back to being sunny again and no rain.