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Grass Cay (north side)
Grass Cay is on the eastern
end of St Thomas, in the Atlantic. It is a large conglomeration of
huge coral heads and large sea fans. It gently slopes from the island ,
and there is some sand bottom to 55 feet and wonderful scenery. Conch are
seen here and if they're large enough - and in season - there might be a little Ceviche
that night for dinner. |
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Joe's Jam/Coral Bowl/Snapper Valley (south side)
This dive site is
as varied as all the different names it has.
It is off the outside of Buck Island, and Coral Bowl is the most
descriptive as it gets.The mooring
is in 30 feet of water, and swimming through Thors Twins you will be
treated to an old Spanish Anchor in 45 ft of water.
It is easy to miss, because it is totally encrusted, but the shape is
easily seen if youre not right on top of it.
Passing through down to 70 feet, there is a nice sand bowl bottom
with several large coral heads in the middle.
There is a huge green moray that is quite often seen in one
of those coral heads. |
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Ledges at Little St. James (south side)
This is one of the nicest
dive sites we go to - great for diving as well as snorkeling, so snorkelers
don't be afraid to come with us on this one. There are two sets of ledges,
one that gets to about 40 ft, to swim by and check out as well as several
rocks to meander around. Turtles, eagle rays and yellow-headed jawfish are
regularly seen on this dive. We do find the occasional 'sleeping' basket
star fish as well, all bundled up in gorgonian coral for the day. There is
also a very large dog snapper in residence, as well as goodly number of yellow-tail snapper, affectionately called
'salt water piranha'. |
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Mingo Cay (north side)
This site is often
used for training as its maximum depth is only 45 feet, and it houses a host of
invertebrates. There are small coral
heads and they have a steep slope of about 45 degrees.
Photographers, bring your macro lenses!
There arent any dramatic crevasses, but there are thousands of tiny
holes where tube worms, crinoids, and urchins hide. |
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Navy Barges (south side)
There are two barges we make
this dive on to a 40 foot maximum. There is a nice low coral 'path' that
leads from one to the other. They were originally housing for the Navy
when the submarine base was still in use. There were five in total sunk in
the area, and if you ask Carl, he might tell you where another one is.
During shark breeding season in June, it is not unusual to see congregations of
sharks resting under one portion of the wreck, large ones of 6 feet or
more. Always a treat. |
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