St. John - Snorkel Trip Report (May 2006)

Hi,

Just got back from St. John (Westin Timeshare Villas - May 21 - May 28) and wanted to give some of you snorkelers a summary of the places I snorkeled and some of the underwater wonders I was lucky enough to see. Below is as good of a summary I can remember now until I look at all my underwater pics. If you have any questions, email me at smitte2@ameritech.net. I also had dinner at quite a few restaurants so if you have any food questions, let me know.

Cheers,
Steve


Day Date Beach Highlights

Sunday 21-May Arrived

Monday 22-May Leinster / Waterlemon (great spot) Starfish, Turtle, Stingray, Parrot Fish, Bluehead wrasse and many more.

Monday 22-May Francis Bay
Nurse Shark, Queen Angel, lobster, Parrotfish lots of beautfiful small fish, shallow reef

Tuesday 23-May Trunk Bay (go early, real nice) Thousands of feeder fish, Tarpon, 5 foot baracuda, stingray, turtle, gray angelfish, parrots and etc.

Tuesday 23-May Jumbie Bay (not my favorite)
Lots of nice coral, not a lot of fish.

Tuesday 23-May Honeymoon / Solomon Bay (10 minute hike) beautiful beach, turtle, stingray, crab, flounder school of blue tang and etc.

Wednesday 24-May Little Lameshure (Coral bay)
Conch, few fish….not great

Wednesday 24-May Salt Pond (great spot)
Eagle Ray, Stingray, squid, turtle, sanddollar, lots of fish.

Thursday 25-May Indians (charter)
awesome coral formation, crevices, small eel, big sanddiver, schools of tang, trumpet fish feeder fish, queen angel and lots of other fish.

Thursday 25-May Caves (charter)
Cool caves, 5 foot barracuda, jellyfish and small fish.

Thursday 25-May Carvel Rock (charter)
Turtle, Tarpon, schools of feeder fish, parrots, barracuda and etc.

Friday 26-May Hawksnest
not a great reef, shallow. Had great luck - squid, turtle with remora, lobster and lots of small fish like bluehead wrasse, grunts, fairy basslet.

Saturday 27-May Jost Van Dyke Trip (Cruz Bay) Lots of Parrots, octopus, barracuda, scrawled filefish, big sanddiver and lots of other nice fish. Can't remember snorkel spot, close to STJ.

Sunday 28-May Depart

Thanks for posting your info!

I have heard bad things about the health of coral in the area and had been wondering what we'd see this summer.

Yeah, It really depends on the beach. Some of the coral looked a little beat up, but some was still really nice. Still lots of fish and the beaches are great. This is only my second time snorkeling the area (now own at Westin) so I don't have prior years experience to base my judgement on. I did see lots of nice coral and fish. I took over 500 pics.

Cheers,
Steve:whoopie:

Great to hear - I saw your report on VINOW - thanks for the update - we will be there in 2 weeks!

Also - as a TUG member - you should rate the Westin St John - maybe help get it up from a 9.0 that seems to be low in comparing other resort reviews.

Did you take photos of the resort and units?

Which restaurants would you recommend?

Hi,

Didn't take any photos of the units / resort. Did take some pics of the view from the unit.

Restaurants I would recommend are Asolare (our favorite, great view, great tuna). Tage and Chloe and Bernards were pretty good as well. A good place for breakfast is the Deli Grotto in town. I also heard Zozo's, Chateau Bordeaux and the restaurant in Caneel bay were nice.

You will have a great time!:whoopie:

Cheers,
Steve