Tag Archives: coral

Playa Kenepa Chiki

Playa Kenepa Chiki, CuracaoWe were back out Westpunt way again today and stopped in Playa Kenepa Chiki. It’s a smaller beach, with nice sandy entry to the water, but a quick dropoff gets you into the water quickly. The water was nice and warm, and visibility was very good today. There are not many facilities – no shower, no bathrooms. There is a guy who will rent you a beach chair, and a small food truck to grab a beer, pop and a light snack. The food truck also sells some souvenirs too.

Playa Kenepa Chiki, CuracaoWe had a really nice swim, but saw mostly the usual suspects. Lots of eels, a nice school of palometos as we exited. The coral was best on the left side near the wall. You can swim a long way out, since the water depth seems to stay at about 25 or 30 feet the whole way. The reef was nice, but we’ve definitely seen better. It was a really great swim though. Enjoyed it very much.

 

Smith's Reef, Providenciales

Coral, Smith's ReefWow! WOW! WOW!! In case you didn’t get it, I’m impressed! Tuesday we headed to Smith’s Reef, a little up the bay from the Coral Gardens. It’s a much larger area, with several reefs, separated by sea grass. Smith’s Reef has to be one of the best places we have ever snorkeled, with more large fish here, than we’ve seen anywhere. The abundance of coral, healthy, thriving, and colorful is amazing for a shore dive. Sure, you can pay to get on a boat and head out to the ocean, and you’ll get impressive stuff, but there are very few places where you can just walk in fifteen feet off shore and see this!

Dog snapperWe saw enormous grouper, porgys, huge dog snappers, margates, and the biggest schoolmasters we’ve ever seen. Even the wrasses were big, much bigger than we typically see. There were porcupine fish, lionfish, huge schools of barjacks, just tons of coneys in lots of colors. And coral – just vibrant and gorgeous, and so alive.

PorgysOver the seagrass we saw schools of yellowtail snapper, being escorted by dark black barjacks. There were lots of goatfish always with several kinds of dicks escorting them to scoop up anything the goatfish dug up. There were ceros scooting over the seagrass as we approached, one of the few nervous fish here. It’s been a strange thing seeing some fish just not care as we approached – when we’ve snorkeled in Aruba, we’re so used to them scooting off when we come around!

HogfishI’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it already, but it’s worth repeating – it’s cold getting into the water! Not used to the water being this cool. Once you are in, it’s fine, but wow – that initial shock is something! Still, it’s worth it because this is really some of the most remarkable underwater scenery we’ve ever seen.

Swimming buddyThere was a little fish, and I mean tiny, that hung around our face. Just one, one for Pam and one for me, and they swam with us the whole afternoon! Pretty funny. I’ve taken a picture of Pam with her little buddy, and I’ve added a big black arrow, because he’s so small, you might miss him!

ConeyYou might want to check out the gallery for Providenciales. I’ve uploaded fourteen pictures for today, but have only referenced about half that many in the post here. There was just so much to see on Tuesday. A most remarkable day. It will deserve another look, and we’ll probably be heading there on Wednesday. Apparently, we didn’t even get to the main reef, just two of the minor reefs. We’re hoping to see some eagle rays.

SomersetIn the early evening, we took a drive around and saw some of the other hotels. One of them, called the Somerset had the most amazing display of bougainvillea! Just went on and on, all around the hotel, up the driveway, around the back, around the pool – just awesome. We found a little “cultural center” where we picked up a couple of souvenirs, and a nice shirt.

Sunset, April 17th 2012We came back to our resort, had a nice dinner on the balcony while the sun came down. The resort’s restaurant, the Mango Reef, had some live music. It was a duo, with a guitar and a lovely songstress. So we ate our dinner, being serenaded, while the sun slowly set in another spectacular display of color!

We went to the Casablanca Casino, a small intimate place. About eighty slot machines, a couple of roulette wheels and four tables of blackjack, and a craps pit. It was nice, got lots of play for our money. Ended the night down about seventeen bucks, so can’t beat that since we got free drinks all night!

Smith’s Reef, Providenciales

Coral, Smith's ReefWow! WOW! WOW!! In case you didn’t get it, I’m impressed! Tuesday we headed to Smith’s Reef, a little up the bay from the Coral Gardens. It’s a much larger area, with several reefs, separated by sea grass. Smith’s Reef has to be one of the best places we have ever snorkeled, with more large fish here, than we’ve seen anywhere. The abundance of coral, healthy, thriving, and colorful is amazing for a shore dive. Sure, you can pay to get on a boat and head out to the ocean, and you’ll get impressive stuff, but there are very few places where you can just walk in fifteen feet off shore and see this!

Dog snapper We saw enormous grouper, porgys, huge dog snappers, margates, and the biggest schoolmasters we’ve ever seen. Even the wrasses were big, much bigger than we typically see. There were porcupine fish, lionfish, huge schools of barjacks, just tons of coneys in lots of colors. And coral – just vibrant and gorgeous, and so alive.

PorgysOver the seagrass we saw schools of yellowtail snapper, being escorted by dark black barjacks. There were lots of goatfish always with several kinds of dicks escorting them to scoop up anything the goatfish dug up. There were ceros scooting over the seagrass as we approached, one of the few nervous fish here. It’s been a strange thing seeing some fish just not care as we approached – when we’ve snorkeled in Aruba, we’re so used to them scooting off when we come around!

HogfishI’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it already, but it’s worth repeating – it’s cold getting into the water! Not used to the water being this cool. Once you are in, it’s fine, but wow – that initial shock is something! Still, it’s worth it because this is really some of the most remarkable underwater scenery we’ve ever seen.

Swimming buddyThere was a little fish, and I mean tiny, that hung around our face. Just one, one for Pam and one for me, and they swam with us the whole afternoon! Pretty funny. I’ve taken a picture of Pam with her little buddy, and I’ve added a big black arrow, because he’s so small, you might miss him!

ConeyYou might want to check out the gallery for Providenciales. I’ve uploaded fourteen pictures for today, but have only referenced about half that many in the post here. There was just so much to see on Tuesday. A most remarkable day. It will deserve another look, and we’ll probably be heading there on Wednesday. Apparently, we didn’t even get to the main reef, just two of the minor reefs. We’re hoping to see some eagle rays.

Somerset In the early evening, we took a drive around and saw some of the other hotels. One of them, called the Somerset had the most amazing display of bougainvillea! Just went on and on, all around the hotel, up the driveway, around the back, around the pool – just awesome. We found a little “cultural center” where we picked up a couple of souvenirs, and a nice shirt.

Sunset, April 17th 2012We came back to our resort, had a nice dinner on the balcony while the sun came down. The resort’s restaurant, the Mango Reef, had some live music. It was a duo, with a guitar and a lovely songstress. So we ate our dinner, being serenaded, while the sun slowly set in another spectacular display of color!

We went to the Casablanca Casino, a small intimate place. About eighty slot machines, a couple of roulette wheels and four tables of blackjack, and a craps pit. It was nice, got lots of play for our money. Ended the night down about seventeen bucks, so can’t beat that since we got free drinks all night!

Friday at the Sea Aquarium Reef

Coral forestSnorkeling on Friday was the MOST AMAZING thing I have ever seen… I am still in shock about how magnificent it was.Coral Forest - 2 I’m still trying to find words to describe it – simply amazing. In all the times we’ve been in the water, in all the islands we’ve been to, I’ve NEVER seen anything like it, or even close to it.

Coral forest -3 I tell you – the snorkeling in Curacao is so much better than Aruba – Pam and I have already decided if we do the 4 week thing again, we’ll do more time in Curacao — it is more expensive there – the car rental was more, food is more, but the ocean is totally superior.  PorkfishWe stayed at a place called the Royal Sea Aquarium, and they’ve talked about their private reef and how wonderful it is, and we’ve snorkeled around 4 or 5 times there, and never really saw what they were bragging about – I mean it’s nice but…

Barred hamletWell on Friday we actually found the “coral forest” – coral 30 feet high, 20 feet wide, and it goes on for acres – thousands and thousands of fish – think of the most crowded area we saw, Barracudaand multiply it by about 500 per cent, and you’re starting to get the idea…. even when we went out to the Cayman Islands and took a boat out to a coral forest, it was NOTHING compared to this… and THIS was within 10 minutes swimming of our condo!

This movie is kind of a compilation of lots of things we saw. From the towering coral, to the black durgons, to the smaller fish – it was really a great swim today!

Sunset, November 19 We were so in awe of what we saw, we really didn’t take enough pictures to give you a clear idea of what we saw. I feel bad about that, because it really was something amazing. I honestly never dreamed there was something like this to see in the ocean. I thought we’d seen it all – and then this – I tell you – I wish I had the words to tell you what we saw.

We even had an awesome sunset to complete the day! What a treat this day was.

Red lipped blennySpotted drumHere is another brief movie of the coral forest. It’s like nothing we have ever seen. I do hope these movies have given you a sense of what we saw… I wish we’d done better, but we were really in awe. We kept saying to each other, “Do you believe what we just saw??” then we’d swim another hundred feet and then we’d say “Do you believe what we just saw??”

Swimming with the stingrays

Stingray_City.jpg Stingray We’re nearing the end of our vacation, and today we headed out to see the famous Stingray City. We took a large catamaran about a mile off land, and then hopped into the ocean. It was FILLED with stingrays. Stingray-Tangs.jpgThe Stingrays having been coming to these waters for years to collect the scraps the fisherman toss over the edge, as they clean their catch. The stingrays are quite docile, and don’t mind being handled and touched. They feel sort of like a big portabella mushroom!

It was really quite an experience.

Purple CoralThen they took us to the Coral Gardens. That was easily the most amazing experience we’ve had in the water! I was so distracted, I did not hear Shy Guythe blasts to return to the ship and almost got left out there! Honestly, I simply did not hear it, it had nothing to do with not wanting to leave!

But the fish were amazing. We saw a very cool Nassau grouper, Pam’s been waiting for one of those. Big faces and lips on them. The colors of the Coral.jpgcoral were something to see as well. We thought we’d seen coral, but wow, this was so much different. There were long golden stalks of what looked like feathers waving in the sea. There were elkhorn coral, brain coral… coral I can’t name. But seeing it all together like that, in this huge teeming world, it was amazing. Just remarkable.