Before our expedition to find the big bat cave, Madam J and I went with Yann and Marie on a semi-ill-fated expedition to snorkel the mangroves. Poor visibility in the water made the mangroves less than ideal, but we were able to see quite a bit of interesting life in Baie de l’Embouchure. The first exciting discovery was a hermit crab in a conch shell with an orange-tentacled anemone attached to it – a walking menagerie. Next, we saw a small octopus in the sand which gradually went into a small hole. While Jenn was taking some video, he even reached out to grab her camera. Finally, we came upon a group of seemingly abandoned fish pots that were full of lobsters, a large nassau grouper and even a big green moray eel. I did take a few spooky photos in the murky mangrove, but even at the highest tide it wasn’t very clear.

Madam J and I recently walked out to Baie Maria for an Extreme Shallow Snorkeling expedition and were rewarded with a few outstanding sightings, including several small moray eels, two scorpionfish, a couple mantis shrimp and loads of juvenile fish. This time Madam J swam back instead of walking along the shore and actually found it easier than walking.

After our time in the bat cave, we were united in our desire to have a swim, so we headed to Le Trou de David, which was nearby. It was late afternoon by then, and the iguanas had congregated on the cliff to warm themselves under the setting sun. We headed into the water, exploring the varied canyons and cave entrances near Le Trou de David. A couple small turtles were spotted, or perhaps the same one was spotted by separate groups. Large schools of small, silvery fish filled the basin of the hole, and there were schools of glassy sweepers in many of the caves and crevices. After a last look around the cliffs, we headed back to Grand Case to celebrate our expedition.

Boston.com’s The Big Picture featured an awesome National Geographic photo of some scientists doing Extreme Shallow Snorkeling in a Tennessee creek in search of a 2-inch catfish. Bonus points: the fish is called the smoky madtom.

Below are a few photos taken while Extreme Shallow Snorkeling with my old Powershot SD1000. Photography while snorkeling is much harder than while diving, because it is much harder to remain still, and you don’t have too long to compose your shot. These factors are compounded by the challenge of using a point and shoot camera, which can be quite unforgiving. Still, it’s a fun challenge to see what shots you can get.

Today I saw a pipefish for the first time since I’ve been here. It was in about 18 inches of water just off the shore in some algae. Add this to the batfish and the sea robin and I’m starting to accumulate quite a list of interesting fish that I’ve seen while snorkeling but not while diving. It just goes to show that snorkeling and diving are complementary activities, especially if your snorkeling in shallow water, which is usually a very different habitat versus a diving-depth reef.

Yesterday we headed out to Pinel Island and I did some E.S.S. in a few locations that I had only recently explored: off the north beach, in the tide pools on that beach, and in the very shallow area off the south beach.

First up was the north beach, where a ring of coral forms a barrier enclosing a calm lagoon. The top of the barrier is quite wide in some places, and the top is mostly dead coral skeletons as it is probably too shallow for new growth. On the inside of the lagoon, we found a group of six reef squid and there were many schools of grunts foraging. On the outside of the barrier reef, I found large mixed schools of blue tang and surgeonfish. There were quite a few nice corals on both sides of the barrier reef.

Next, I did some super Extreme Shallow Snorkeling in a couple of the tide pools on the beach, with a maximum depth of about ten inches. The water was quite warm, and the primary inhabitants were small damselfish. Although there wasn’t much diversity, I always find tide pools charming because they are miniature sea environments, almost like an aquarium, or even a snow globe.

After lunch I headed out to the large shallow area near the south beach on the Atlantic side of the island. Due to strange weather, the prevailing currents were not as strong as usual, so it was easier to navigate. Still, the current-swept soft corals were permanently bent over by the normal current and the elkhorn corals were stunted by the shallowness of the water. I saw a very young moray eel, less than a foot long, and a decorator crab wearing a very elaborate ensemble.

We’d visited Le Trou de David (David’s Hole) before, but after glowing reports from Robin and Aure, we knew we had to snorkel it. Located between Baie Rouge and Pointe du Bluff, it is a large natural hole inside a cliff with a pair of arches leading to the sea.

We entered the water in the shallow and dangerously urchin-rich rocks beside the hole. In the protected waters near the shore, there were thousands of schooling silversides. Swimming inside Le Trou de David is an interesting novelty, but the true treasures are just outside the hole. In addition to the two arches that pass through Le Trou de David, there are submerged and semi-submerged caves in the side of the cliff. There are an abundance of large rock formations extending out from the cliff which are full of canyons and overhangs which hosted schools of blue tang and a small hawksbill turtle.

The reef area is fairly large, wrapping around the cliff to where you can see the beach on Baie Rouge. It extends out at least a few hundred feet in most of the area, where it transitions to a sandy bottom at about 25 feet deep. Although I keep saying it, this may actually be the best snorkeling area on Saint Martin proper. It could also be a lovely dive site. As we returned to shore, I saw a large spotted seahare in only a few inches of water, an excellent end to the exploration.

After getting used to a DSLR, using a point-and-shoot camera can seem like using a toy camera. This is especially true underwater, where it is challenging to get good images with any camera. Still, toys are fun, my little Powershot is much easier to carry around and I’m glad to have it if I do see something unusual. Yesterday, the unusual thing was a chain moray. These eels are supposedly not uncommon in the Eastern Caribbean, but I had never seen one before. He was visibly frustrated by my attention – at least, that’s how I anthropomorphized his facial expressions – and as soon as I stopped watching him he snuck away. I also found some neat crevices in the large boulders to the left of Petite Plage that were home to a school of glassy sweepers.

Yesterday we spent a day at Pinel Islet with new team members D Money and Jessmaster J. While they snorkeled with Madam J, I headed across the island to investigate the mini-forest where my dwarf geckos live, as well as exploring a couple new snorkeling areas. As noted yesterday, I found the tiniest lizard I’ve ever seen. I also found and interesting cricket. The woods were drier than in previous visits and perhaps there was less to eat: when turning over rocks or logs to investigate, the usually shy anole Anolis gingivinus often immediately ran down from from a nearby perch to see if I had uncovered anything edible.

Walking around further, I found some large crevices in the rocky hillside, but they seemed uninhabited. I also did reconnaissance of potential snorkeling spots and took a few landscape photos of the island. After lunch, I headed back out with snorkel gear and explored three new areas.

The first was the tide pool area on the North Beach. There are quite a few large tide pools here, but they are very shallow, only a few inches deep, so they mostly hold algae and a few small fishes. Next, I headed out off the northeast beach and found that a small barrier reef creates a relatively sheltered lagoon near the shore that slopes down to about 12 feet deep. Swimming out through a cut, the reef drops down to about 30 feet on the outside and there are many beautiful coral formations. Finally, I did a drift snorkel over a large patch of shallow water between the two beaches. The current is very strong and the entire area, perhaps 100 meters or more in diameter, is less than two feet deep. Much like trees on a windy coastline, the soft corals were stunted and permanently swept to one side. I even saw an elkhorn coral growing in water so shallow the branches were growing downward. A very exciting site!

Here’s another set of photos from the pier in Grand Case, taken while snorkeling with the 60mm macro lens. Taken between 4pm and 5pm or thereabouts, there were plenty of decorator crabs on the pier and lots of blennies. After experimenting with both the 85mm and 60mm macro lenses, I think the 60mm is probably a little easier to use when snorkeling: the focus seems a bit faster and the distance to subject is also reduced, which makes it easier to use smaller apertures for greater depth of field. On scuba it’s easier to remain stationary, so the 85mm can be advantageous for taking photos of skittish blennies without having to get as close.

I also discovered a technique to minimize movement when taking photos while snorkeling: dive down head first and then fin gently to remain stationary while taking photos upside-down. When doing this, adjust the strobes so they are firing down slightly when the camera is upside-down to achieve more natural lighting. If there is a current, try to position yourself so the current isn’t pushing you into the surface you are photographing, because in this head-down position it is easy to move up and down, but harder to move forward, backward, left or right.