Today we have made reservations to go on a snorkeling trip with Octopus Diving out of Grand Case. One of the stops was to be Turtle Reef, in hopes we’d get to swim with a turtle or two.

We made our way to the Octopus Diving shop and met Aure, our French dive captain, and Sally who would accompany the diver, both merrily decked out in Santa hats. Aure was a very cheerful fellow, and he explained the various things we should see on our first stop, Creole Rock. There were just the four of us on the boat, with one other fellow who was going to dive.

We walked to the beach, hopped into the ocean and waded out to a fast looking boat called Octopussy. It was kinda cool that there was no dock, we just hopped into the ocean and waded out into about chest deep water and climbed up the ladder.

It took about 3 minutes to reach Creole Rock – I told you it LOOKED fast and it was very fast! We tied to a mooring ball, and Aure explained some of the things we could see, and where we might find them around Creole Rock. Eagerly we got ready and jumped in.

The water was warm, very clear, and very calm. We saw TONS of stuff. I even managed to get a few decent pics too! I had talked about a cool looking half black, half silver fish we saw a few days ago, and this time I managed to get a picture worth putting up. We’re still not sure of the name of this fish (called a coney actually) but pretty cool; he was hanging with the houndfish.

We saw a couple of unique crabs, one with teeny tiny claws smaller than the fingernail on your pinky. We saw just tons of different grouper, from the beautiful Nassau grouper, to the wonderfully colored tiger grouper. There was a very large Queen Angel, and lots of Sgt Majors of course. The Sgt Majors here seem much larger, in general, than we’ve seen on other islands.

Aure mentioned there was eagle ray and a big barracuda named Bob, around the rock, but we didn’t get to see them. It would have been very cool to see the ray, but alas, next trip I guess!

Because Creole Rock is a protected site, there was an abundance of coral as well. There were lots of gorgeous anenomes, waving gracefully. We’ve learned to check around them carefully for other small creatures, like crabs and sea horses.

After a long, satisfying snorkel, we packed back onto the boat and made our way to Turtle Reef. We excitedly discussed all we’d seen and before we knew it we were at our second destination. At first, I’m sure we all had reservations as we were stopped “in the middle of nowhere,” close to nothing! Diving in, we were rewarded with some of the best coral we’ve seen, with the possible exception of the coral gardens on Grand Cayman.

Because we had mentioned over and over that we were really eager to see turtles Aure jumped in with us and took us to a spot where there were usually turtles. This man can dive! Holy crap, he got down so deep and was able to just hover deep in the water! When we get down as deep as we can (no where near as deep as Aure) we simply begin rising to the surface! It was very impressive.

He found us a large hawksbill, and I managed to get a decent shot or two of her, even though the water was quite deep. She swam around about five to six feet off the bottom and we frolicked around trying to get close. We saw another smaller one too!

We saw another pair of turtles later, pointed out to us by Sally and her dive companion, but I’m not sure they were not the same pair we had already seen – you know what they say – all turtles look the same! haha

We saw a bunch of puffer fish, various sizes and just cruising about. That was pretty fun too – they are a cute fish to see, and always make Pam laugh. There were yellowhead wrasse that we soooo large! At least five times the size of the largest we’ve ever seen.

It really was a remarkable dive. In spots it was just a little too deep for snorkeling (unless you can dive like Aure!) but more than worth seeing. There were lots of portions of the reef easily visible and only five to six feet deep, so I’m not saying it wasn’t a blast, because it was! I’d go back in a heartbeat.
And trust me, the Octopus Diving crew were fantastic. Friendly, efficient and knowledgeable, it was easy to trust them. They put us at ease and made us feel safe. If you come to St Maarten, you will have no better experience than to go dive with them! The end of our dive was greeted with a large rainbow, ending right at the Octopus Diving shop! How much better recommendation do you need??

This post is getting very long, but I have to mention dinner. We drove over to near the airport, to try the Rancho Argentinian Grill. We had gone to the Westin, and Maggie, Tim and Pam all had the Certified Angus Beef tenderloin steaks. I told them that Argentinian beef was better, but they were naturally skeptical. Angus Beef, as the Westin proudly proclaimed, is a label that less than 8% of beef is able to receive. Well, all three felt the Argentinian beef was clearly better! I had said a couple of times that it was even better than Alberta beef, and Maggie conceded this was the case too. So I’m glad we got there – it’s nice that it was not a disappointment.

But Pete – I felt the El Gaucho in Aruba was better. Their steaks were cut thicker, I think. But I have to give Rancho kudos for better ambiance. A lovely space, huge and airy. The room had to be 60 feet tall, with huge pieces of cloth, like sails, billowing down to the wall. We sat basically right on the wharf, surrounded by 150 foot sail boats. Amazing.