Our next day of snorkeling expeditions brought us to two shallow shipwrecks. The first was in Cay Bay, a boxy, barge-type wreck. The visibility was generally poor due to the swell, and the wreck was not too picturesque, but it was still worth checking out. The bay is currently being developed for a new hotel, so who knows what the area will look like in a year or two.

Traffic kept us from the south shore beaches, so we had lunch and then did a quick snorkel of the wreck in Galisbay. Again, visibility was poor, but it was still pretty fun to snorkel the half-submerged wreck.

On Monday we managed to visit four snorkeling sites. The first one was Gibbs Bay, which is located on the Dutch side between Dawn Beach and Guana Bay. It’s quite out of the way and also really nice. There were loads of soft corals, mixed schools of blue tang and surgeonfish and even some living elkhorn corals.

Next, we headed up to Dawn Beach and snorkeled the North side of the bay. Near the beach, there were some algae-covered patches of dead coral that were not that interesting. If you swim far enough to reach the outer side of the reef, there are a few soft corals, but overall it wasn’t that exciting.

Next we went to Coralita, the beach at Baie Lucas. The bay is relatively shallow, with sea grass and sand which gives way to some coral formations as you swim out. It seemed like a perfect place to see spotted eagle rays, and we did see one. There were quite a few nice soft corals there as well, and the bay is relatively protected, making it fairly calm.

Our last stop was at Le Galion, which is extremely shallow and calm. We swam out around the north corner of Baie de l’Embouchure and encountered a shallow area filled with sea urchins. In some slightly deeper areas there were a handful of living corals, and on our way back we found a couple spotted eagle rays feeding in the sea grass.

Team members Chris and Theresa had tipped us off about this snorkeling spot during the summer, but this was the first time we checked it out ourselves, and it was quite fantastic. From the northernmost end of Orient Bay, we swam around the rocky outcrop. The first area was okay, but after passing a small sandy area we came to a much better area with soft coral-encrusted rocks and loads of fish. There were colorful encrusting hard corals and large areas of what seem to be mat zoanthids. As in many relatively shallow areas, the remains of large elkhorn corals were common. It was the first really great locale we visited on this expedition.

On Christmas Eve, we tried snorkeling at the southern end of Orient Bay near Club O. Off the beach, the sea floor is mostly a mix of sand and sea grass patches. Near the point, there are rocks and coral skeletons as well as coral debris that has washed up and accumulated there. It wasn’t outstanding, but there were a variety of fish and a few living soft corals.

From there, we decided to check out the mangroves and shallow waters in the southern part of Baie de l’Embouchure. The visibility amongst the mangroves was mediocre, but we did have a nice time in the Bay. One highlight was the groups of urchins that gave cover to juvenile fish. It’s definitely a key nursery area for juvenile fish as well as young spiny lobsters.

Our next stop was the Little Bay side of Fort Amsterdam. A swim from the beach at the Divi Little Bay resort brought us to a platform and a few boats where there is a sea trek underwater walkway and a sunken submarine that is probably at least 40 feet long. Unfortunately, a large swell made visibility poor, but we did hear that they planned to sink a small helicopter there in the coming weeks. A highlight was a rock formation where brown boobies were resting. We have to return when the viz is better.

We are currently on an extended snorkeling research mission to document as many snorkeling locations on St. Martin as possible. On our first day, we started with the west side of Mullet Bay, which was not too good, just a few rocks with some algae and a smattering of tropical fishes. We did see a lionfish there, though:

Our next stop was Le Trou de David, but the swell was too big there to enter safely. Instead, we tried the pool between La Belle Creole and Pointe de Bluff. The pool is quite large and varies in depth from a few inches to a few feet. Inside the pool it was calm, with a mix of seagrass, sandy bottom and stones. Wildlife included sea cucumbers, juvenile fishes, stingrays and barracuda.

Saba rises abruptly out of the water, leaving precious little space for extreme shallow snorkeling. There is, however, an area of tide pools near the airport that is quite suited to our favorite pastime. Below are some above water shots of our expedition to the tide pools. There is also some underwater footage that Madam J has, which I can hopefully post later. Nestled in a rocky outcrop, there were several large tide pools, including one that was big enough to support a variety of corals.

On a recent snorkeling excursion in the bay Madam J and I were lucky enough to see a group of four small squid, probably about two or three inches long. They spread their tentacles in a v-shape, perhaps to make themselves look larger and more threatening. I think they were juveniles of the common Caribbean reef squid, but it’s possible that they were adults of a smaller species.

Later, we found an octopus which changed color several times before eventually crawling into a crevice under some rocks.

Here are a few shots taken with the point and shoot while snorkeling. The first couple are two different species of scorpionfish. Next is a photo of the algae that are currently blooming on the floor of Grand Case Bay. Huge amounts of these algae started growing after they opened the canal and let the sewage-filled water in the salt pond out to the bay.

With new snorkeling gear in hand, Yann and Marie came by yesterday and we set of for Baie Maria and Molly Smith Point despite a rising swell that was already tossing the seas quite a bit. Entries and exits were tricky, and the visibility was less than ideal, but we did manage to make a number of interesting finds. A small octopus was determined to extract a large snail from his shell, so he was bothered by my presence, but not willing to leave without his lunch. Out of curiosity, I tried to take the shell from him and he pulled back on it with surprising strength. He was apparently not strong enough, though, to extract the snail. After snorkeling elsewhere for a bit I returned and he was no longer trying to open his lunch.

We also found a couple scorpionfish, which despite their excellent camouflage, are often spotted by an alert snorkeler noticing a patterned fin on an otherwise cryptic body. West Indian sea eggs, a type of urchin which often grabs bits of algae to camouflage itself, apparently does the same with whatever is around, be it small stones or limpet shells. The last great find was a starfish that Yann discovered clinging to a loose piece of sponge with an anemone attached. A closer look revealed a cleaner shrimp inside the anemone. Another portable menagerie!

The bonus for the afternoon was seeing the iguana that lives in the large rock at the end of Molly Smith Point.