The spotted eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari) is one of the most majestic fish we see around here, and one of the largest. On my way back from Baie Maria the other day, I stopped to snorkel off Molly Smith Point and spent a few very enjoyable minutes with this eagle ray as it meandered around the reef. As you can see in the video, this individual had a remora attached to it near its head.

The pier isn’t the only place to see interesting sea life in Grand Case Bay. Just head out to any boat mooring or large underwater debris and you’ll probably see goldentail moray eels (Gymnothorax miliaris) and a variety of other fish and creatures. Here are a few morays I saw while snorkeling. In Saint Martin, they tend to have reverse coloration from the norm, with a pattern of dark spots on a yellow undercolor.

First, there was batfish, then there was sea robin. Sea robins are a family of fish similar to the flying gurnard, with wing-style pectoral fins. The first few spines of their pectoral fins are also unattached, and they use them like little crawly legs. After staying near the same mooring rope for several days, I went out this morning to check on it with my good camera and it was gone. I did manage to get some photos and video with my little camera, though.

Crabs aren’t the only tenants in the Grand Case Pier, there are loads of little fishes as well. Below are a selection of blennies that were hanging out yesterday. Based on my decidedly unscientific observations, this spot has a greater diversity of blenny species than any other spot on the island that I’ve seen, either snorkeling or on scuba. It looks like my next step is a ten-foot deep scuba dive a the pier with a macro lens!

Five months into our stay on St. Martin, we snorkeled the Grand Case pier for the first time. Today, I went back and discovered that the pier is almost entirely made of decorator crabs! Although that’s not literally true, the number of crabs hidden amongst the sponges, algae and tunicates on the pier astounded me. So I went back to get my camera and below are some shots of the many decorator crabs and other crabs I saw there this afternoon. You may find it a bit of a challenge to find the crabs in a few of the photos below.

Another favorite snorkeling spot for sure!

Baie Maria is a small bay tucked in between Happy Bay and Molly Smith Point. It’s also probably the best snorkeling spot on Saint Martin proper (versus Little Key, Creole Rock or other sites that are primarily accessed by boat). The bay is quite protected – wake from passing motorboats cause the biggest surf if the swell is coming from most directions. Inside the bay are a number of large rock formations which are dotted with sponges and corals. Surrounding these are large expanses of old coral skeletons that are covered with newer corals and algae. The area serves as an extraordinary nursery for many fish. It is accessible by swimming around the far right corner of Happy Bay, or by walking to the end of Molly Smith Point. Below are a few snapshots.

After our trip to Molly Smith Point, Madam J and I headed out into the bay for a relaxing snorkel. After cruising around for a while and even stopping by Aure’s boat to say hello, we had a couple interesting sightings. The first was a turtle, which was something I had not seen in the bay before. The second was a shortnose batfish (Ogcocephalus nasutus), something neither of us had seen before anywhere. While Madam J kept an eye on our little friend, I went back to get the camera. This curious fish walks around on leg-like fins and camouflages itself with a layer of sand. An exciting find!

I took advantage of the calm weather and clear water and did a bit of snorkeling in the bay. A bit offshore, where the turtlegrass meets the sandy bottom, there are rolling patches of unattached seaweed mixed with trash, including lots of snorkeling masks, even more plastic cups and bags and a few young fish and other critters hiding amongst the flotsam. I also found a crab pot with a bunch of crabs and one cowfish that did not seem pleased with the situation.

Below are some photos and video of a lettuce sea slug (Elysia crispata) that we found while Extreme Shallow Snorkeling near the pier on Pinel Island. These are a common sea slug in the Caribbean, but they are not commonly seen because they are very small and well camouflaged. The skin frills on the sea slug’s back increase the surface area to increase oxygen absorption from the water.

We made another trip to our favorite mangrove spot on Valentine’s Day, but once again encountered bad visibility in the area where the salt pond meets the ocean. This time, we headed out into the shallows of Baie Lucas and found a great many things in the bay. Clouds of mystid shrimp and schools of juvenile fish abounded. Another highlight was finding a batwing coral crab (Carpilius corallinus) doing strange stuff with a small rock in 18 inches of water. Red warty anemones (Bunodosoma granifulera) were also common.

We finished up back at the mangroves where we attempted to revive a number of mangrove upsidedwon jellyfish (Cassiopea xamachana) that had been stranded on the sand by the retreating tide. These harmless jellies have symbiotic algae in their tissues that help nourish them. At rest, they pulse upside-down to let the algae get more sunlight.