Mitsugirlys FASCINATION with San Juan-review & pictorial

[mitsugirly]

10 minutes of sitting there and I'm bored. Ok, time to head back out in the water. I seriously can not sit still for a minute. I hate it. I'm on the go constantly on cruises. So much to see and do and I'm afraid I'll miss something.

 

I headed out to the water and turned right. It was pretty shallow and in some areas along the small rocky wall at the shoreline I could just float on top of the water and crawl using the sand.

 

So here's my tour of the right side snorkeling.

 

 

 

A little Azure Damselfish trying to hide from me.

 

 

 

A feather duster (sea worm) and I thought the look on this fishes face staring at me was cute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Where's nemo??

 

 

 

I think the colors of the water are neat how they turn out different depending on the area, how deep or shallow you are and if the sun is or isn't out.

 

 

 

French Grunt or blue striped grunt (not sure the actual name)

 

 

 

 

 

Rainbow Wrasse:

 

 

 

FIRE CORAL...THE DEVIL. LOL I think it's amazing how many years I snorkeled, not knowing anything about fire coral and probably had some pretty close calls with it in the past and didn't realize it. But the minute that Sakari had an encounter with it and got stung in Cozumel, I see it everywhere. I always make sure to point it out to her.

 

[mitsugirly]

Some four eyed butterfly fish

 

 

More grunts. This poor guy looks like he has a boo-boo. See the red around his face?

 

 

 

Cauliflower that has sat in the fridge too long: (I know my fish, but I know nothing about coral if you haven't noticed).

 

 

 

 

 

I believe the small black and yellow fish might have been a juvenile French Angelfish, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure if I have seen one as a Juvenile before.

 

See the puffs of sand? There was something down under the sand and every so often you would see the sand shoot up in the water. It was neat to watch. Maybe crabs?

 

 

 

 

YES! Actually I just looked it up and it was a French Angelfish. How cool that I got to see a young one. They also have a blue fin on the bottom. I didn't notice it until the above picture. I have seen them as adults (especially in Cozumel) and they get really huge and look completely different.

 

[mitsugirly]

A HUGE blue tang

 

 

 

It must have been the momma because a small one was close by her.

 

 

♪ We are family...I got all my sisters in me. ♪

 

 

 

A PURPLE feather duster worm!!

 

 

 

Squirrel fish...so hard to get them to come out. They seem to be the most timid fish I ever come across.

 

 

 

This is where I was at from shore.

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

Haha, this was a total mistake and the only picture I got like this. It's too bad the above area wasn't in focus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ran across another one of these Honeycomb Cowfishes and it was even bigger than the last.

 

 

 

No lie, the length of this guy was probably the length of my arm.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Then I found a smaller one. This place was just loaded with these cowfish. He was pretty green.

 

 

 

The kids following another cowfish. Sakari was amazed at them turning colors (honestly, I did not know they did that either). It would go from a green to a blue (the stripes). Sakari explained to me that it did that when it was nervous. She may be right, or she may have just assumed it by the way it was acting at any given time.

 

 

 

I had finished my snorkeling over on the right side and headed back to our spot on the beach.

 

 

 

Sakari and B still out there having fun with the fish and his seascooter.

 

 

 

Kendra found this carved on a tree and took a picture and sent to her finance and told him she did this just for him and was missing him. LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

So...I noticed the family packing up our things at the picnic table. I ask why they were moving. A guy came along and said he was the lifeguard and he needed that table and we had to move. He wasn't very friendly.

 

We packed up and moved. He brought out a surfboard looking lifesaving device and put it on the picnic table and then drove away. He was away for quite some time. It was weird. When he returned...FOR THE ENTIRE DAY...he sat at the table, not the life guard chair in the air, and starred at his phone. He was either texting, on the phone, or on social media...THE ENTIRE DAY!! I watched him for quite some time and he never watched the beach or the water or anyone in it. I had joked around with him a few times about a few things, trying to lighten his mood and be friendly, but he didn't smile and he wasn't having it.

 

So, at one point I said something like "So if someone is out there drowning, should we disturb you or just grab the board and head out?" His reply was "You might just want to grab the board because I can't even swim". I laughed. He did not. At that point he said "seriously, I can't" and of course at that point I also began to think he wasn't lying about it. I told him "No worries, there's a mermaid out there that is a really good swimmer and she would probably save a life"...still trying to get a smile or giggle out of him. But I got nuttin! His head went back down in his phone and that's where it would remain the rest of the day. Oh, except when he was on his phone and pacing back and forth toward the parking lot. It's kinda a scary thing to know this is what you have to rely on if something bad was to happen. Honestly, this guy should not have this job. He made us move so that he could sit back at the table and text all day instead of doing his job. He could have easily text in the life guard chair where he belonged.

 

See how he's sitting there and his head in his hand while looking at his phone?

 

 

 

We (Kendra and I) decided to head down to the other end of the beach and see if there was anything down that way ...either by land or water. The kids wanted to join us and off we went while the hubby stayed back at the table.

 

 

 

There was a lot of areas that had hard rocks that had been carved out by the water.

 

 

 

Those areas looked like sand and sea grass that you could walk out onto, but I would quickly find out it was nothing but rocks and you can't walk on it or it would cut you to pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Now look at the size of these 2 pieces of coral!!! They were massive and in the picture you can see just how close it was to the shore and in very shallow water. They were probably at least 3' round.

 

 

 

 

 

In we went to snorkel. This area was a little deeper than where I was over on the other side. It kept getting deeper and deeper. But, the kids did good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kendra spotted a Blue-stripped Lizardfish and pointed it out to me. Good eye Kendra!

 

[Arzeena]

:D

 

No, you do not need a passport from PR (daughter wouldn't have been able to go if so because she still don't have one yet. :eek:)

 

 

 

 

Another "on my to-do list"=the Oasis. So that's what was there that day? I will have to check this out! However, is the Oasis itinerary as port intensive? If so, I wouldn't want that ship out of there. When I sail the Oasis, I want very little ports and more sea days to experience the ship.

 

Oasis:

7 day E and W caribbean, usually 3 ports.

 

I have been patiently waiting for and really enjoying this review.

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

Sakari was doing pretty good swimming out there. She's an excellent swimmer under water, but above water I still worry. She just learn to swim on top of the water and tread water (I think) last year on one of our cruises. She's improving all the time, but I still worry. She's excellent as long as she has her fin on, but without it, she still worries me. She would continue to improve this cruise...more to come.

 

 

 

 

The area started getting deeper and deeper. I took B back to an area that had a bit of a sand bar type thing going on and told him to stay there OR ELSE! I warned Kendra and told her it's up to her to watch him now.

 

The further out we went, of course the better things got.

 

[mitsugirly]

Now when I say we went out further and further, I don't mean like really far out. We were still following the shoreline and there were some rocks with coral along the area where they had the ropes for swimming at. Along that area and a little past it was some pretty awesome snorkeling. I didn't go far since Sakari didn't have her fin with her. I knew she would insist on going and without the fin, I wasn't going to chance it. So I turned back around when I seen we were actually on the other side of the flags.

 

I did have to dive down to get close ups of anything I wanted a picture of.

 

 

 

 

 

FIRE CORAL!!!

 

 

 

Sakari doesn't think twice about diving down to get a better look at things she sees. This would get her into trouble this cruise.

 

 

 

As we headed back to shore, once we were able to touch again, I stood up and looked toward the beach and see the hubby coming in the water. Maybe we must have been gone too long and he was starting to worry and came looking for us. He says "I think there's something over here you might want to see" and points....

 

 

EEEKKKKKK!!!! YES!!!!

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Oh the excitement:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sakari took off following it (she thinks all animals are her friends) and then it took an about face and headed toward us. Eek

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

QeiaQQVokLo

[Dirkgun]

Great pics of the snorkeling and fish. Very impressive with all the names. I love snorkeling... it just puts you in another world, so peaceful to just float and watch for their lives to happen. Again thanks for sharing.

[mitsugirly]

We headed back to our table and decided it was noon and we needed to have lunch. Everyone gathered around for our yummy gourmet subs.

 

 

 

After eating, there was an iguana (there's tons of them in the trees) above us that would come down and stare. Can you spot him? (Where's Waldo).

 

 

 

 

The hubby decided he wanted to be friends and try to feed him.

 

 

 

 

Which of course would scare him off every time and he would go higher up

 

 

 

I seen some other people looking up in the trees down a ways from us and went over to investigate.

 

 

 

Before long, this was the sight and entertainment for the day...

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

The kids found a sand toy and the hubby put food in it and climbed the tree to put it up in the tree.

 

 

Mr Iggy came down a few times and ate some, but is clumsy and knocked it over several times. The hubs would pick it up, put the food back in it and repeat.

 

These guys were getting jealous and started to gather around. It became a game of once the food fell, who could get to it first, the hubby or the birds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Now one thing I wanted to show you about the entrance to the water where we were located at. There were a bunch of rocks/shells right as you go in the water.

 

 

 

 

 

We swam some more and enjoyed more of these guys...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Time for a trip to the bathroom.

 

Out behind us at the turn around/handicap area

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sand was HOT! The road was HOT! It was hot. ♪Feeling hot hot hot♪

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Very nice and clean restrooms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outside of each restroom, there was a shower area on the sides. Kendra and I both made the mistake of going in the guys...don't ask. LOL Oh well, we had B with us so we played it off.

 

 

 

 

 

Chickens and Roosters there

 

[mitsugirly]

Back to our area...and the life guard still with his head down in his phone. But hey, at least he moved up a little higher and sat on the table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hubby made it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

To my surprise, the hubby wanted to come snorkeling with me. Ok, I'm game. Let me show you around.

 

I spy you!

 

 

 

Now I don't know what the heck this is, but the picture didn't turn out very good.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm telling you, these were just everywhere

 

 

 

 

Angelfish

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Now these fish always confuse me. I don't know if they are needlenose fish (gar) or a pipefish or trunkfish. (I don't think the trunkfish because they have a larger and wider mouth). Does anyone know??? What's the difference??

 

 

 

 

 

 

Neon fish cluster

 

 

 

 

Once we were done snorkeling, we headed back to our spot and started to get things gathered to leave. It was about 2:30 and I wanted to get rinsed off and dried some before our trip back.

 

Our open air bus pulled up in the parking lot at 2:45pm. He said 3, so we weren't ready and we sure weren't standing in the area he told us under the roof. Not my fault. He did park the bus and got out for awhile.

 

We headed back to the port for a little bit of shopping.

 

 

Now, I would DEFINITELY recommend this place. We had an awesome day here. I thought the snorkeling was decent, we seen a lot of things, and the stingray topped off the day. (It's no Coki, but it will tie you over with things to see :p) The restrooms are clean and it's nice they have showers. The admission price of $5 is well worth it. But, the life guard is useless! It was gorgeous there and definitely a place I wouldn't have a problem returning to (only I like to try new places ):D so I probably won't any time soon).

[Cricket551]

Loving your review, thank you for taking the time to do this!! Hubby and I love the smaller ships (really all we have been on, except Valor). Hubby says they seem less crowed! We are going to try a bigger ship next April (glory), so we will see if he still feels that way!!

Well my question may be weird but I'm loving all the grape trees?? Assuming there are vines in there lol. Just wondering if they are eatable?

Now for the real question we are going to st Thomas next April (never been) I was thinking of the trunk bay excursion. Have you been there? And if I may ask if not what made you pick the other places you have been. Just trying to get some info so I can make an informed decision on our day there!! Thanks!!!

[luvcruzing]

Kim,

 

Loving your review and pictures, as always.

 

Which side of the street is Gourmet Gallery on? Been to Havensight a couple of times, but I don't remember seeing this store.

 

Also, is your computer possibly auto-correcting, because your daughter's betrothed is her fiance not her finance.

 

Thanks for all the time and effort you always put into your reviews.