When my 2 brothers and I did a dive trip to
Bonaire in late April to early May (no UW photos posted yet), we met a woman who estimated that she had done over a thousand dives at the section of Bari Reef in front of the resort! I cannot tell you how many times I have thought about that over the past 6 months, and I can only imagine what it must be like to have that kind of intimate knowledge of a living ecosystem. Of course, I’ve spent thousands of hours in my
garden over the past 13 yrs, and I discover something new (usually another weed!) every time in enter it. I can only imagine what it would be like to snorkel Loblolly Bay a thousand times….perhaps the fish might have recognizable features, smiling faces, and names…
Anegada
I snorkeled Loblolly Bay 6 times during our 3 days on Anegada in Sept., so here is my story…
But first, a word from our sponsor, Anegada. Christopher Columbus, named the island “Anegada” which means “drowned island,” or “sunken island” in 1493, and most of it is at sea level, as you can see by this
photo on our flight over Anegada. Its highest point is only 28’ above sea level, and many of its
trees are taller than that!
In contrast to the rest of the BVI, which is volcanic in origin, Anegada is formed from limestone and coral. Essentially, Anegada is a coral reef that has risen slightly above sea level over millions of years. Its 15 square miles make it the second largest island in the BVI, but its less than 200 inhabitants make it the least populated of the islands. Well known Caribbean travel writer,
Bob Friel describes Anegada as “the hot blonde, the beachy stepsister to the rest of the BVI's tall, coolly lush-green volcanic isles. It's the only island in the chain that was born slowly of coral instead of volcanic violence. Its origin has given the island a unique personality…” Friel’s insightful comment seems apropos to the
friendly and
laid back people whom we met on Anegada.
As you can see from this
satellite photo used with permission of Walker Mangum, Anegada is surrounded on 3 sides by a barrier reef. It is the only coral atoll in the BVI, and the barrier reef, known as
Horseshoe Reef is the largest in the Caribbean and the third largest in the world. This reef runs along the entire north side of Anegada, and is often within
a hundred yards or so from shore. This
1832 map by Robert Hermann Schomburgk on Walker Mangum’s website shows the outline of Horseshoe Reef, and this
satellite photo of Anegada taken from the International Space Station on Walker’s website shows the reef hugging the entire length of the shore on the north side of Anegada. By the way, few persons have done more to help promote Anegada over the past 20 yrs than Walker Mangum, and
his website is a gold mine of Anegada information. Walker has wonderful prints of Anegada as well as one of the BVI from space and other items
here.
Horseshoe Reef has claimed well over 300 wrecks. This
site lists those from 1523 – 1899. The BVI were well known hideouts for
pirates and buccaneers, and Anegada, in particular, became known as “pirates’ island.” It was not only an excellent place to hide with stolen booty, it also supplied a steady stream of ships to loot as numerous schooners foundered on its reef. In fact, pirates were known to place lanterns on poles in the shallow reef, thereby drawing unsuspecting ships into the reef for their untimely demise. Legends abound about lost treasures still waiting to be discovered in the reefs around Anegada.
One person who has discovered many of those wrecks is
Bert Kilbride, one of the most famous divers in history. In fact, Bert was named
“Receiver of the Wrecks” by Queen Elizabeth in 1967, following years of diving on Anegada Reef. However, others in the BVI government preferred the designation, “Pirate” for Kilbride, because he would not produce a map for the government of the wrecks he had found on Anegada Reef. One of the most interesting artifacts Bert discovered in 1969 was a
cannon from the HMS Astrea. The 32 gun British Frigate under the command of Captain Edmund Haywood hit Anegada Reef on May 23, 1808, resulting in the loss of 4 lives and the complete loss of the vessel.
Staying on Loblolly Bay
We thoroughly enjoyed our 3 days at
Loblolly Cottages in Sept., 2007. 6 of us, 3 couples, rented all 3 cottages owned by Kenneth Norman – here are
2 of them, and
here they are from the other side of the beach. A short path led us directly onto stunning
Loblolly Bay. I am indebted to Walker Mangum for permission to use this amazing
panorama of Loblolly Bay. You can see the roofs of the Loblolly Cottages on the right side of the panorama. The notable landmark on this side of Loblolly is the lovely villa
Lavenda Breeze, owned by hospitable hosts George and Reggie, which is to the far left of
this photo.
We settled into our cottages and several of us snorkeled the section of Loblolly directly in front of our cottages during our first afternoon. The next two mornings, we drove the short distance to the
Big Bamboo Restaurant. The
beach stretches on
both sides of the restaurant, and there are lots of
benches with palapas. It is still hard to believe that we had the
entire beach to ourselves for 3 days!
Snorkeling Loblolly Bay Sept. 19 Morning
My
BVI Anegada Snorkel I album is from our first snorkel on Loblolly in front of Big Bamboo on Wed., Sept. 19. We were thrilled by our snorkel that morning, and when we finished we were certain that the 60’s rock band
Iron Butterfly was really singing about
Anegadavita, baby! You can readily see
the reef from shore, making it easy to set a bearing and
snorkel toward it, while also enjoying
the view along the way. A fair amount of the coral is
dead or
bleached, but there are also lots of
coral heads,
brain coral,
fans,
soft coral, and
all of them together.
I snorkeled out to the reef where the
waves break and estimated the depth of the water there to be
25’ to 30’ deep. We had thought about making arrangements to do a shore dive on Anegada, and I assume that divers swim on the surface to places like
this and then descend. I saw some of the
healthiest coral on the reef out there.
Gosh, I wish I could recall identifying features of fish more readily! I’ve been known to fall asleep at night in central Virginia with a Caribbean fish ID book in my hands, but I still need to look at my resources nearly every time I finish a dive or snorkel. The encyclopedic type reference books with hundreds of photos are invaluable, but I inevitably end up leaving them at home when we travel, because they are too heavy and take up too much space. What I do take on every Caribbean vacation are two resources, a laminated fish ID card and a small waterproof fish ID book half way down
this page on Frank Burkle’s website filled with a great deal of helpful information for people traveling to the BVI, and especially for people chartering a boat.
Highlights of this snorkel include this
series of shots of the
2 largest parrotfish I have ever seen. I think are
rainbow parrotfish and I estimate that they were at least 36" to 40” long. Other interesting sights on this snorkel include ubiquitous schools of
blue tang, inquisitive
palometa jacks, a
bristle worm, a
trunkfish, a small
red grouper, 2
headless snorkelers that kept following me,
babies, and
yours truly.
Snorkeling Loblolly Bay Sept. 20 Morning
During our 3rd day on Anegada, my “BVI Anegada Snorkel II” album begins with this photo of dry, shady
benches. We can’t say enough good things about how convenient it is to put our gear, towels, cameras, etc on shady benches while we were snorkeling.
We snorkeled Loblolly this morning a bit
further down from the previous day. I experimented quite a bit trying to take above/under water shots on this snorkel, and here is a series of those, including this
interesting one. A little further out, I took
this one, and even
further out. Then I took
these 3 on my way back in, and this one
almost to the shore just for the heck of it! Did I mention that I love digital cameras?!
I saw lots of newborn babies on this snorkel, including this series of
3 shots of a snapper who may have been giving birth at the time. I saw a lot of
stony corals, including this
staghorn and this
elkhorn, and
this stand that had seen its better days. Even dead coral becomes a foundation on which
new coral begins. Other corals included
brain and
gorgonians of
various shapes and
sizes and
colors as well as
fans.
I swam out to the
drop off again and took 7 shots there. Fish on this snorkel included several
schools of tang including
this gang that went
on and
on, and this
stoplight parrotfish, this pair of
banded butterfly who mate for life, a good size
snapper, and these 5 shots of
grunts including
babies. I really get excited around new born babies and just can’t take enough
pictures of them! I took this series of
brown algae on my way in, and then I turned around and took
this shot of the reef that had just welcomed me into its home for a visit.
Snorkeling Loblolly Bay Sept. 20 Afternoon
Anegadadavita, honey, don’t cha know that I’m loving you! I just had to get back to this side of Loblolly again, and
Susan spotted for me as I snorkeled it again on our last afternoon. I put my photos in the first half of
BVI Anegada Snorkel III and that first photo from beach shows the point where I set my bearing. The
waves were up and I stayed inside the drop off and set my bearing for the point, where the sun was also headed.
I was greeted by a
school of tang that
grew and
grew! The entire ocean floor seemed to be
covered in tang! The dark spot in the left center of this photo is
solid tang! Toward the end of my snorkel, I encountered another
huge school of tang that filled the ocean floor as far as I could see!
I saw lots of large
coral heads,
brain coral, and quite a few large colonies of
pencil coral, including
this colony that I could not decide if I liked better horizontally or
vertically, and this really pretty stand of
gorgonians.
As I mentioned, the current was the strongest it had been than any of my earlier swims and
this photo will give you an idea of that. I usually have a steady hand when I take photos, and I can’t help but chuckle when I see that some of my shots were
not quite level on this snorkel!
When I got back to shore, I was happy for Susan to take a picture of
me and I then had fun getting one of
my tracks before taking one more of the
two of us. As I was de-briefing this snorkel with Susan on our way back to our cottage, I was having one of those “Omygoda, Anegada!” moments, and I knew I had to try to get in one more snorkel somehow….
Snorkeling Loblolly Bay in front of Loblolly Cottages
I snorkeled
the reef directly in front of Loblolly cottages 3 times, the first and second afternoons, and the last morning of our vacation, but only took my camera with me once. On our 2nd afternoon snorkel, Ted and I demonstrate the 2 schools of thought regarding putting your fins on
before you get in the water or
after you are already in the water.
Snorkeling Loblolly Bay Sept. 21 Dawn
The fairly strong waves in which I snorkeled Thursday afternoon were the precursor of a front that came through while we were sleeping. I was awakened in the middle of the night by bright lights outside for a millisecond that lit our entire bedroom. After pinching myself to make certain I was not dreaming, I saw the bright flashes several more times. We are all nature lovers, and I assumed that someone must have been taking some rather interesting shots of something or someone in the middle of the night. When I went outside
early Friday morning, it was obvious that it had poured down rain during the night and I chuckled when I realized the brief flashes of light during the night were actually lightning….
Anegadadavita, baby, don’t cha know that I’ll always be true! I just had to get in the water one more time, and I had made arrangements Thursday night for Ted to spot for me during a snorkel at dawn on Friday. These photos, filed in the 2nd part of Anegada Snorkel III album, begin with it still being
overcast at dawn. I knew I would not have the bright ambient sunlight to help with photos, so some of my shots the last morning are not as clear as the other 3 albums. The other difference on this dive is that water was completely calm with no wave action and very little current. Anegadadavita, baby, had apparently come to take my hand, and I joyfully embraced her.
A friendly
palometa greeting me as soon as I entered the water. Shortly after that the
largest barracuda I had seen in nearly two weeks of scuba diving and snorkeling stopped by to make certain I was enjoying my last morning on Anegada. I saw
hard and
soft corals and lots of
combinations.
I had a little better luck taking landscape shots of the
beach in front of our cottages and lovely
Lavenda Breeze as the clouds began to part. On an earlier snorkel, I had seen a very attractive colony of staghorn coral directly out from Lavenda Breeze, but I was unable to find it again. I turned around and headed back to our
side of the beach and was glad to see
Ted waiting with a cup of coffee.
Before getting out of the water, I could not help but notice this interesting
algae, another
worm, and this
yellowfin mojarra (thanks for the ID hint, Walker) When I got home, I enlarged that shot and discovered that the mojarra was directly over a
peacock flounder.
I took one more look at the
overcast sky to the east and at the
clearing sky to the west, and I knew that we would not run into any problems on our flight from
Anegada to always entertaining
SJU!
Camera Info
For those interested in cameras, I took the snorkeling shots with an Olympus SP 350 in an Oly PT030 housing with a wide angle lens. The camera has been discontinued, but I purchased mine last year from
Cathy Church on Grand Cayman, and I believe she is still selling them, at least, refurbished ones. Cathy is an extraordinary photographer and claims that the Oly SP350 is one of the best underwater cameras that have ever been made. I shot most of the photos in “automatic” setting, but I also used an underwater setting with internal flash on shots that were shady or deep, especially the photos I took at dawn on Sept. 21. I edited my snorkel shots with Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0.
I took the land and aerial photos with Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 with wide angle lens.
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