Snorkeling in Trunk Bay, St. John, US Virgin Islands

We received that magical call this week that our snorkelling photos from St. John were ready to be picked up. If you remember in the previous cruise post, we decided to try one more vacation with a disposable underwater camera - though we found out that when you add up the price of the camera + processing fee + two week wait, that it just isn't worth it and we're going to start researching digital underwater cameras for future vacations. We're considering buying a waterproof GoPro so that we can take video above and below the water, plus it takes stills. Anyone have advice?

But for now, there was still the uncertainty of, 'Will there be any photos that are usable - or even in focus?" With limited light and the ocean current pushing you around, you never know what you're going to end up with.

Luckily the water in the US Virgin Islands is so clear that we had enough light - though not everything was always in focus. I'm willing to accept the blame for that one.

So here we go...

We snorkelled at Trunk Bay, on the island of St. John. This bay has a beautiful crescent-shaped beach, with soft sand, and gorgeous blue water. When we were there it wasn't crowded at all - we'd heard that it could fill up fast - maybe because we were there on a Thursday morning.

The best snorkelling is off shore about a quarter of a mile - maybe not that far, but it sure felt like it. There is a small rocky island (Trunk Cay) and a marked underwater trail has been set up to let you know what you're looking at.

The most common fish we saw was the Yellowtail Snapper. These guys were everywhere. And really friendly. There was one or two that would circle around and weave between the snorkellers, as if they knew we wanted to take their picture.

There are so many different kinds of coral but it was difficult to get pictures that showcased their true colours. The purple of this fan coral was the brightest I could find, and the gold-yellow of the elkhorn coral is pretty cool too.

Oh, here is our fish friend again!

I'm just going to take some wild guesses on these next fish, based on what I could find on the internet. Mahogany Snapper and Blue Tang?

Blue Runner (Jack)? I'm so bad at this.

I did get a pretty good shot of Tom - the scariest creature in the sea.

So not bad - I'm glad I was able to capture the gorgeous blue of the water and a few of our marine buddies. We love snorkelling so much; I think this trip reminded us and now we're looking forward to doing it more often - and getting pictures to prove it!