Snorkeling

The snorkeling in the waters of St Kitts is generally good, no matter how clear the water, how high the wind, or no matter the weather!  Even when the waves are rolling and the water is cloudy there is a good chance of seeing something cool!  Today we ventured towards the bottom of the island to Banana Bay (check out the bottom tip for location).  Unfortunately the waters were a bit rough and we were not able to see a lot.  We did come across some star fish and a beautiful Spotted Eagle Ray swimming around though!

We do not have an underwater camera yet - so no ACTUAL water pictures, but here is what the ray looks like:

Here are some cool shots of the beach at Banana Bay - it is directly across from Nevis, so the island you see in front is Nevis!

Nevis across the channel

Brayton and a tree

view to the left

Since the water was choppy and cloudy at Banana Bay, we decided to head over to Shipwreck...We snorkel there often but were hoping for some good sightings!  There are always lots of schools of beautiful fish there and today we were lucky enough to see a gorgeous Hawksbill Sea Turtle!  He was tagged, so he has probably been here for a while!  Brayton was able to get close enough to touch him as we were trying to read the tag so we could track down his details...we failed at that mission!

Not the one we saw - but pretty much a replica!

We also saw another Spotted Eagle Ray while swimming and also saw a lion fish and a puffer fish.

Lion Fish - the one we saw was hiding under rocks!

This is a puffer fish, not puffed up!  The one we saw was also hiding!

This is what the puffer fish looks like puffed up! 

I also, somehow, spotted a stingray hiding under the sand...again no underwater camera so these are all internet pictures but they are close as I can get to the actual! 

Brayton and I call this a great end to 2011!  We then got to come home and watch Bit's basketball game online and relax for a while before heading out with some friends for the evening!

Happy New Year everyone! <3