We had a great time snorkeling Mahoe Bay in May! We saw 2 turtles, but did not get close enough to get a good photo or video of them. However, the schools of tang were magnificent, and we saw schools of squid on numerous snorkels, including a school as soon as we entered the water, at a small patch of coral in 4’ of water. We also rented scuba equipment from Dive BVI and did a shore dive at Mahoe which was really cool. I took both photos and videos at Mahoe, but still need to edit the photos.

Here is a photo of Mahoe Bay from the road to Nail Bay. You can see how close the reef is to the shore:

[Linked Image]

Here is a brief description of our Mahoe Bay videos.

On May 20, 2010, our last full day on Virgin Gorda, the sun was shining bright without a cloud in the sky and the visibility was some of the best I have ever seen at Mahoe. The rest of our group rented a sail boat at BEYC, and Alex and I did a 2 hour snorkel, starting around 11 a.m. Alex was in the water and motioned for me to follow him to this school of squid in 4’ of water:

http://www.youtube.com/user/honeymoon2#p/u/3/vQ2QBwDBxYo

About 15 mins. later, we came across this enormous school of tang, the largest I have seen in 8 yrs of trips to the VI – I use a wide angle lens and could not get all of the fish in my field of vision. The bright sun, excellent visibility and close proximity to the fish produced a video with vibrant, stunning colors of the fish as well as the color. There must have been a cloud that briefly blocked the sun for around 10 seconds, at 1:15, but the color quickly returns to the video. You get the clearest picture of how large the school is in the last portion of the video:

http://www.youtube.com/user/honeymoon2#p/a/u/0/g5aCiuGpwig

This is a good size school of tang in approx. 8’ of water, on May 15:

http://www.youtube.com/user/honeymoon2#p/u/2/-rEvmsifoVU

And this is a mid-size school of tang in approx. 15’ of water on May 17, with excellent visibility. If you turn up the volume, you can hear the sound of the tang and other fish eating:

http://www.youtube.com/user/honeymoon2#p/u/1/E1wapl6dX4A

With its dual reef system, including an inner reef that starts just off shore, Mahoe is an excellent place for newbies and others who want to become more comfortable snorkeling. At a number of places close to shore, as well as along the north end of the beach, you can snorkel in reasonably shallow water. On the north side, if you stay close to the shore, you can snorkel in fairly shallow water all of the way out to the point. I was near the point when I took this video in 2’ to 3’ of water. The rocks, boulders, and coral are a safe haven for schools of small fish. Toward the end of this 2 min. clip, a pretty bougainvillea flower drifted in front of me:

http://www.youtube.com/user/honeymoon2#p/u/5/QQCilGmaZHU

I counted at least 20 squid on this snorkel in about 10’ of water above the vertical coral columns that resemble a Greek or Roman temple. This is the largest group of squid I have ever seen and you can see them better toward the end of the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/user/honeymoon2#p/u/4/uC3gZIyS1lU

If you want to see an additional video of squid, this is a school of squid I videoed above me during a dive with Dive BVI at “Visible” dive site, Cockroach Island, one of the Dog Islands:

http://www.youtube.com/user/honeymoon2#p/u/19/kae-_P2SfSA

Back to Mahoe Bay, this is a brief clip of a trumpetfish in approx. 6’of water:

http://www.youtube.com/user/honeymoon2#p/u/6/HcFoV2AvcN8

Alex, Amy and I did a shore dive at Mahoe. We rented gear from Dive BVI and swam, I am estimating 150 yards or so, to the patch of sand between the inner and outer reef, where we were in 10’ to 12’ of water. The mid-afternoon sun was gloriously streaming through the water:

http://www.youtube.com/user/honeymoon2#p/u/7/pteaoCicJkU

A second video of shore diving from 12’ to 15’ or so of water. We do not touch living things underwater, but Amy used the dive as an opportunity to collect a few shells. You can hear Dad gently coaxing her to stay with Alex so that I can get both of them in the video (:>):

http://www.youtube.com/user/honeymoon2#p/u/8/_vIrJFDjcPI

All the best, honeymoon2 http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/