Tuesday was our boat charter day. There's a bunch of different types of boats to pick from. I wanted to use the charter company that we did because it was owned by someone who grew up on the island, and is known for taking interested guests to out of the way snorkel locations. The captain was a great fit for our group vibe and we had a wonderful day. I'll show some scenic and under water photos from the day, along, of course, with food. We tooled up the North Shore of the island to our first snorkel spot. This is Turtle Bay, which was one of the private beaches owned by Caneel Bay before the hurricanes. There used to be excellent snorkeling along the point in this photo. The current runs really strong to the left, and we would get in at the beach on the other side, let the current pull us around the point to Turtle Bay, and then walk back. It's still prohibited to walk on the grounds of Caneel Bay, so we could only look from the boat this time. You can see some of the ruins of the resort poking up above the trees.
This is Denis Bay. It's more of a locals beach because there's no signage at the trailhead. I actually haven't walked down to it for probably 20 years. Fun fact: when Melanie Griffith was a kid, she lived on this beach in an old plantation house. The home was destroyed in the hurricanes and not rebuilt. When the current owner dies, the land is being turned over to the National Park.
Our first snorkel was in deep water off Congo Cay. The highlight was seeing large schools of huge tarpon.
Our second stop was a place to explore large cliff walls and coral encrustations.
Then we headed over to our lunch stop, Pizza Pi. This is a sailboat anchored in one of the coves. They actually cook the pizza on the boat, I have no idea how. Here's the boat
The menu
We jumped in and snorkeled while waiting for our food. There were lots of turtles around
Pizza!
Our next stop was a mangrove snorkel. I was really excited for this one because I had not done one since the storms. Its a different experience. You are in really shallow water and have to be careful not to disturb anything with your fins.
It's darker on the mangrove snorkels
The mangrove roots provide shelter for juvenile fish
Sea cucumber
Everyone was hungry, but not starving, at dinner time. We went in to town and hit up Longboard. Menu
Drinks
Hummus with veggies only since nephew cannot have the chips
Tuna crudo. This was everyone's favorite
Mahi mahi seveche
Barbacoa tacos for my nephew
Aloha poke bowl
Sushi wrap of some kind. I did not try it.
