Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Turtle sightings?

LMPego

By LMPego,
in Scuba and Snorkeling

Recommended Posts

scubaran

scubaran

Posted
Posted
Where is the best place to snorkel where I might see turtles?

 

Hi,

 

In the water.... Seriously, there isn't a place in particular where turtles hang out (except for the turtle farm in Grand Cayman). I've seen turtles all over the Caribbean but unfortunately they're on the endangered species list so an encounter is by chance only. However, if you were to ask where the better snorkeling is, any of the places listed except for San

Juan (since most of the good diving and snorkeling is on the south side of the island). I've been diving for 10 years and probably have just over a

twenty encounters with turtles but you never know what you'll run into in the water (swam with a 5 ft. Loggerhead Turtle in Key West for 10 minutes a month ago).

 

Randall

Link to comment
Share on other sites
billeelou

billeelou

Posted
Posted

Bunch of turltles there.....:p I saw at least a dozen in one 50 minute dive...Tank- ha knows the place, just up from Barracudas' reef, bnut there aren't as many barracudas there, seems like the fishermen figgured out why they called it Barracudas reef.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
captNcrunch

captNcrunch

Posted
Posted
We'll be on the Eastern Caribbean cruise on Carnival mid-May going to Half Moon Cay, St. Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk. Where is the best place to snorkel where I might see turtles?

 

We used Captain Nautica in St. Thomas went to Turtle Cove, saw many turtles along with a couple of eagle rays! Awsome :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bound4somewhere

bound4somewhere

Posted
Posted
We'll be on the Eastern Caribbean cruise on Carnival mid-May going to Half Moon Cay, St. Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk. Where is the best place to snorkel where I might see turtles?

 

Hi there. I stayed on STT for a week vacation and took the Red Hook ferry over to STJ almost daily. A far prettier and quieter island in my opinion. Anyway, while snorkeling @ Hawksnest Beach/Bay I noticed a rather large shadow come up towards me under the water and while I was quite startled :eek: I was in awe by this sea turtle that swam right up beside me :D and then away...it was an awesome experience really! To me this type of encounter was by far better than a commercial type with a bunch of tourists...again, just my opinion.

Enjoy and I hope you'll be surprised as well!!

 

Kathy

Link to comment
Share on other sites
scubaran

scubaran

Posted
Posted
Hi there. I stayed on STT for a week vacation and took the Red Hook ferry over to STJ almost daily. A far prettier and quieter island in my opinion. Anyway, while snorkeling @ Hawksnest Beach/Bay I noticed a rather large shadow come up towards me under the water and while I was quite startled :eek: I was in awe by this sea turtle that swam right up beside me :D and then away...it was an awesome experience really! To me this type of encounter was by far better than a commercial type with a bunch of tourists...again, just my opinion.

Enjoy and I hope you'll be surprised as well!!

 

Kathy

 

Hi Kathy,

 

Sounds like you had an awsome experience. While turtles are around, a lot of people forget they're wild migratory animals and you never know when you'll run across one. I've beeb lucky to run across quite a few of them diving but it seems like when the operator says look for turtles in the water you never see them and when you're not looking, they come out in numbers. BTW, on my underwater picture website I've created a gallery just for turtle's I've taken pictures of. You can find it at http://www.randallgamby.com :)

 

Randall

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bound4somewhere

bound4somewhere

Posted
Posted
Hi Kathy,

 

Sounds like you had an awsome experience. While turtles are around, a lot of people forget they're wild migratory animals and you never know when you'll run across one. I've beeb lucky to run across quite a few of them diving but it seems like when the operator says look for turtles in the water you never see them and when you're not looking, they come out in numbers. BTW, on my underwater picture website I've created a gallery just for turtle's I've taken pictures of. You can find it at http://www.randallgamby.com :)

 

Randall

 

Hi there Randall, Thanks for sharing! I just checked out some of the pictures on your fantastic website. I'm not positive what type of turtle I was fortunate to swim with, if only for a moment, but I'm thinking it was a Loggerhead from your pics/names.

Looks like you've really enjoyed yourself underwater...and here's to many more encounters:cool:

Kathy

Link to comment
Share on other sites
scubaran

scubaran

Posted
Posted
Hi there Randall, Thanks for sharing! I just checked out some of the pictures on your fantastic website. I'm not positive what type of turtle I was fortunate to swim with, if only for a moment, but I'm thinking it was a Loggerhead from your pics/names.

Looks like you've really enjoyed yourself underwater...and here's to many more encounters:cool:

Kathy

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the compliment. The big different between a loggerhead and a hawksbill (at least for me) is loggerheads have a tail. If you look at my pictures you'll see that pretty clearly. There are also green turtles in the Caribbean but I've not been lucky enough to run across any yet. Either way, like you said, it's your lucky day when you run across one in the water! :)

 

Randall

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 3 weeks later...
diverearl

diverearl

Posted
Posted
Hi Kathy,

 

Sounds like you had an awsome experience. While turtles are around, a lot of people forget they're wild migratory animals and you never know when you'll run across one. I've beeb lucky to run across quite a few of them diving but it seems like when the operator says look for turtles in the water you never see them and when you're not looking, they come out in numbers. BTW, on my underwater picture website I've created a gallery just for turtle's I've taken pictures of. You can find it at http://www.randallgamby.com :)

 

Randall

 

Hi Randall, Thanks for the mini mind vacation your page gave us......... earl

Link to comment
Share on other sites
scubaran

scubaran

Posted
Posted
Hi Randall, Thanks for the mini mind vacation your page gave us......... earl

 

Hi all,

 

Sorry I replied to this yesterday but it must have ended up in the bit bucket....

 

Thanks for the remarks from all who replied about my site. I created it so my friends and family could enjoy the sights and sounds that I've been lucky enough to experience while underwater. No pictures on it are sold, but if you see something you like, just let me know and I'll send you the file.

 

Thanks,

Randall

Link to comment
Share on other sites
diverearl

diverearl

Posted
Posted

Hi Randall, I was curious how you like Smugmug. I liked your page and thought I might make one myself. I was curious how many pictures they allow you to download, and how difficult it is to get them on the page. Any information you can give me that you feel is important would be appreciated. Thanks, earl.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
scubaran

scubaran

Posted
Posted
Hi Randall, I was curious how you like Smugmug. I liked your page and thought I might make one myself. I was curious how many pictures they allow you to download, and how difficult it is to get them on the page. Any information you can give me that you feel is important would be appreciated. Thanks, earl.

 

Hi,

 

I use Yahoo Small Business Website. It's only $11.95 a month and you get something like 20 Gigabytes of space for your web. It also includes web development software, tracking and an upload utility. That also includes my domain name for one year. Not bad considering that's about the price of a pizza. :O) I have my own web page development software (an old Adobe product that still does a good job). BTW, I don't work for Yahoo or sell their products.

 

Randall

Link to comment
Share on other sites
scubaran

scubaran

Posted
Posted
We saw one at Buck Island in St. Thomas. Our guide said it was rare to see them there though.

 

Hi,

 

You were extremely lucky! I've yet to catch sight of a turtle in the Virgins (though last time I saw the largest puffer fish I've ever seen). :)

 

Thanks for the sighting report,

Randall

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: Set Sail on Sun Princess®
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...