Providenciales | Snorkeling the ABC Islands

On Wednesday we headed back to Smith’s Reef. Why? Because it’s there! No seriously, there are five or six pieces to the reef, separated by seagrass, and we’d only explored two of the smaller pieces on Tuesday. We headed to the further point, and while it was slightly more difficult to enter, only a little rockier, it was certainly worth it!

This is really an amazing reef. It’s so alive and gorgeous. The many types of coral give an amazing panorama, any which way you look. In fact, it might be its biggest problem! You can’t just focus on one thing, because you’re worried you’ll miss something fantastic, just to your right, or just to your left, or straight ahead! It’s so amazing. Pam calls it eye candy, but it’s way sweeter than that!

We had been in the water about two minutes when we saw our first turtle, cruising over the seagrass. He was a good size, and it sure made us think that today was going to be a good swim. And it was… We saw so many things, it’s hard to even put them down on paper. There was an amazing school of horse-eye jacks, ranging in size from eighteen inches up to about three feet, just cruising over the sea grass. The huge leader of the pack just casually kept them on the move. Pam has a nice movie of them, and I’ll get it uploaded over the next while.
We saw a second turtle out over the reef, just nonchalantly weaving in and out of the big coral heads. He had metal tags on both his front flippers, but they didn’t slow him down! I’ve uploaded a movie of him that Pam took. It’s a bit jerky, but it’s well worth watching. Note the amazing coral he’s swimming through. It’s a terrific thrill to paddle along beside him as he cruised about the reef.

There was a big stingray, nestled snugly in the sand. I dove down trying to get him up and swimming, but he just watched me. His big eyes followed me around, but wasn’t too worried about me! I dove down a couple times, but I wasn’t a threat, or else he thought he was too well hidden! You be the judge!

We saw this cool sand tilefish. He was a longish, thinnish fish, that moved really elegantly. His dorsal fins rippled in the current, and his bright white body bend and twisted around. Apparently they are a shy fish, but he didn’t seem to be too concerned, when suddenly he bolted down the rabbit hole! Check out the little movie Pam took of him taking a powder.

There were lots of Queen Angels, some very big. There were times three were within a foot of each other! Pam even caught a little juvenile with one shot. Not sure we’ve seen this many queens all in one spot. It’s been amazing to see so many of them… they are so colorful with their bright blue and yellow bands, your eye is just drawn to them.

We saw blue chromis, a beautiful bright blue and black fish, about four to six inches long, there was a big scrawled filefish, lots of coneys, and on and on. We saw a fish called a graysby, which looks very much like a coney, but is distinguishable by his distinctive black dots along his dorsal fin.

It was tough to get out of the water. An amazing amazing day of snorkeling.

For dinner we were going to go to a place called the Tiki Hut, where Wednesday is “cheap night” for bbq ribs and chicken, but the place was packed. So, we decided to give Baci’s another try. And we were glad we did! What a nice restaurant. Everything spot on, and enjoyable. From the maitre d who seated us, and told us of the specials, to the many waitresses, to the view… Usually when you are served by so many waitresses, it can be a disaster, but they were fantastic. They quickly brought us a basket of hot garlic bread, and took our drink order. We started with the antipasta mista, a selection of meats, cheeses and greens with a balsamic dressing, and a very nice caprese salad, served on a big beautiful platter for two ($16.95). For dinner, we made a mistake and ordered a pizza. Not that the pizza was a mistake, we ordered the large! And it was HUGE! We only managed to eat half of it. A small would have been more than enough. Total bill was $59 – and VERY well worth every penny!

Wow! 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!

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.

Over 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!

I’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.

There 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!

You 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.

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.

We 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!

Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao