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ST CROIX 2024 DAY 8
Day 8: Boat excursion, the most beautiful beach, snorkeling frenzy, and panic shopping kinda day.
The hubby beat us up (not physically, but in time) and was sipping on coffee before 6:30am. We had a hard rain early this morning and I wondered what today would bring with the storm headed our way. Would we even get to do our Buck Island tour? I was already kicking myself for not booking earlier.
The ocean looked a little stirred up today and waves were higher. This might end up being a bust.
But as of now...it was bright and sunny out.
Since our tour wasn't until 12:30pm today, with a meeting time of 12noon, we had plenty of morning time to hang out. I decided to start some laundry even though we still had several days before we left this beautiful island. I kept watch of the wind, tides, water and temps closely at this point with the storm headed our way. Would our tour get cancelled because of it?
I made egg salad sandwiches for breakfast. Ok, ok...I did change it up again this morning. Karl has never had one before. He thought we were strange. He refused to eat. "Mayonnaise mixed with smashed up eggs? On bread? That's just weird" he said. Um, Karl...have you never had deviled eggs for Thanksgiving before? He had not. This kid needs to live a little I tell ya! Ok, that's just more for me then. He decided to warm up his left over pizza...you know, the one he claimed he would be able to eat all of it in an entire setting? Eyes big. Stomach not.
I called Big Beards to make sure we were still on for today and we were. Whew! Now I wasn't going to book for Monday because that is when the cruise ships are in port normally. However, I was informed that since the Tropical Storm Ernesto was headed our way, there would be no ships in port today and they would be doing their itinerary in reverse in hopes to miss the storm.
We packed up everything we needed for the day and headed out early. I wanted to go back to the store Karl had purchased his snorkel shirt at and get me one before our trip. It was a 30 minute drive to Christiansted from our place.
We arrived and parked at the historical parking lot again. Hey, free is good right? Walking along the waterfront we would see multiple businesses already closed and boarding up their buildings.
Critters along the way over to Big Beards on the waterfront. Karl was amazed at the size of the Tarpon just hanging out.
We walked over to Big Beards and checked in with them. Yep, we were still on for today! You see I need multiple times of reassurance.
We still had some time of course so we went over to the store Karl had purchased his shirt at so that I could get one.
Then I hear "Hey can I wear your shirt? I forgot mine". Oh Karl...geesh. I suppose so since I have my other one on today.
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.
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!!!
