St John, US Virgin Islands
Lynn & Mike ..around the world
Mike Drinkrow & Lynn v/d Hoven
Fri 13 Mar 2009 13:53
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18:21.93N 64:43.44W Waterlemon
Bay, St John
St John is one of the US Virgin Islands and is a nature
reserve. After checking into Cruz Bay we headed up the coast to visit the many
beautiful bays. The parks services maintain this island very well and have
placed mooring balls in all the bays to protect the coral and seagrasses from
the horrors of poor anchoring. Payment for these balls is based on a trust
system, where you put an envelope with the fee ($15) into a postbox on a raft in
the bay, called an "Iron Ranger" Imagine that working in South
Africa!!
Yesterday we went for a paddle in the bay on our canoes.
Passing another yacht, they called us to tell us about a dolphin close by.
Quickly we got our snorkelling gear and then had the amazing experience of
swimming with a wild dolphin. This dolphin was calmly swimming around this
yacht, taking notice of us, but showing no fear or concern.
Back at our boat I noticed something under the boat - and
there were three large remora's who had taken residence under the keels. These
amazing fish have "suckers" on the tops of their head so they can attach
themselves to larger fish (usually sharks) and go alone for the ride, eating
left-overs and cleaning the host. I wonder if they are hoping to catch a ride
with us?   Remora
Water Melon Cay
Another amazing thing about this park, is that you are
allowed to fish and take out lobsters, conch and whelks (with some seasonal and
number limitations) In Francis Bay we saw a large number of conch, fairly close
to the beach, but not quite big enough. However in Watermelon Bay, after a
fairly long swim out to the point, I found my first giant Queen Conch. The
official minimum size is 22.5cm, which I had worked out is slightly bigger than
my foot (a perfectly mobile measuring device). I dived down and grabbed it, and
then was faced with the interesting prospect of swimming all the way back while
holding on to the big conch. Of course I made it back, proudly showing my catch
to Mike and the camera. Hard to believe but we decided to put it back, as it is
a really messy job to clean, and we still have some in the freezer which be
bought down-island.
 Our next stop is St Thomas
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