Peterman

Hi All-
A playful comparison. I had a fluke schedule this year that took me to St. John U.S.V.I. and Maui within three months and hands down Hawaii's fish were more abundant, more colors, larger in size, more variety and even closer to shore than St. John's. I was on Maui and this is compared to Trunk Bay and a boat trip to Water Caye (or wherever the Caneel boat takes you). If anyone wants the answer Hawaii is it. Within 5 minutes I must have seen more than 200 fish and from memory I can recall about 15 different varieties. On St. John in an all day trip I only saw two schools of fish, one was like sardines or anchovies and the others were those dark blue/purplish ones, about 20 total) and then two other varieties and one manta ray and one barracuda. St. John was fun, just saying as far as snorkeling goes.

And Pacific'O the restaurant was not at all as great as the first time we ate there. The food was stale tasting. The portions, too big.
Peterman

Peterman

Sorry folks, I thought I was in the Caribbean forum.

iamq

Interesting. I've never been to St. John yet (this summer!), but everything I've read here and on the Caribbean forum is tilted towards St. John having the better water conditions and snorkeling when compared to Hawaii. Thanks for this contrary report! Where on Maui did you snorkel?

-Bill

starrsville

The best is Buck Island off St. Croix.

tpatricco

How ironic, I had the exact opposite experience. Saw hardly anything in Maui/Molokini and a wide variety of fish, turtles, stingrays etc. right off the beaches in St. John.

You might also note that Trunk Bay is the most touristy beach of the 39 on St. John.

ajcolorado

We LOVED Honolua Bay on Maui for snorkeling. It was absolutely amazing.

But, we seriously considered abandoning our cruise ship and becoming castaways when we were in St. John. The snorkeling wasn't as good but the beach was so incredibly beautiful.

Clearly Peterman has the right idea - go to both within three months!

Peterman

Hey everybody- maybe this was the place to post afer all.

I should have definitely given St. John credit for warmer water. I could not stay in more than 20 minutes in Hawaii without going numb.

I snorkeled in Kapalua Bay which is on the West Side of Maui, but everyone was raving about Honolua Bay. Just didn't feel like getting too far from my beach chair. It was far better in the morning, and maybe the St. John experience would have been different if I had gone there in the morning, although the snorkel trip was 9:30 am.

Anyway, I agree, trying both is the only way to guarantee an accurate comparison!
Sure beats doing work today!
Peterman

snowrooster

Peterman - You should have done more research prior to your visit to St John. My experience was completely the opposite. We saw tons of fish on many trips off secluded beaches on St John (Trunk Bay is pretty much a spot for beginning snorkelers IMHO - cruise ship crowd). On St John we loved Waterlemon, Brown Beach, Salt Pond Bay. I enjoyed Maui and we did some decent snorkeling there, but I would take the St John experience over it any day of the week!

iamq

snowrooster,

Is Brown's Bay where there are supposed to be lots of conch? Thanks.

Bill

Peterman

Hi
I was in all three of the places yu mentioned and only in Brown's Bay did I see anything resembling wildlife- the conch you mentioned.

In Maui, you didn't even need your mask to see fish. Salt Pond - I was all alone, ditto Watermelon off the beach (but I did not swim off the Caye).

But good to know for next time (and hey I'm just a lazy vacationer- researching my snorkeling spots ahead of time isn't my sport of thing).

ajcolorado

I had a brand new mask and snorkle in Maui so I bent down into the very shallow water, just to give it a test and was gave a little jump when I saw a fish mere inches away. It was amazing.

And the say the snorkeling on the Big Island is even better - I can't imagine it.

The very cool thing about St. John was the way the colorful fish were out by the little island. My friend Michelle and I just floated in one spot for more than 15 minutes just watching the fish do their thing. The fish swimming above the white sand were pure white.

I have a large soaking tub in my bedroom and my youngest often takes her snorkel & mask in with her. I'm not sure what aquatic wonders she's finding in there.

escargot

we have snorkeled in both, and I think it depends on where you go - we love the snorkeling around the USVI/BVI's , but you need to go to the less crowded beaches on St. John and/or take a boat out to the indians, Normans caves, and little spots the boat captains know about was where we saw the best snorkeling and for our luck and timing better than in Hawaii.....but if you want to play playful comparisons....so far for me nothing has beat Australia/coast and Great Barrier Reef islands and area.

escargot

but you should definitely post this on the caribbean forum, it will really get it going !!

Malesherbes

I had the exact opposite experience as well. Very few fish for our Maui snorkel but scads of them and a wide variety in St John, including squid which I've never seen on any other snorkel trips (Cayman, Mexico and Bermuda). We were in fairly deep water in Maui, which I suspect was part of the problem, but that's where the snorkel cruise took us, and it was way too rough to snorkel closer to shore, where we typically have had our best luck...

Peterman

Wow, squid! I've only ever seen that at dinner out.

Clearly from everyone's responses, I'll need to do much more research!

Yes - giant clams off Great Barrier Reef were unreal. They have purple lips! (But the sun was so hot there. Not very enjoyable to snorkle while thinking "skin cancer" and "deadly jellyfish".)
Thanks everyone for "playing."
Peterman

snowrooster

We saw squid in St John too - awesome! Also saw the giant starfish just of Waterlemon Caye.

Peterman - It sounds like you might not have ventured far enough from the beach on St John. At Salt Pond we swam for quite a while before we got to the reef but it was great. At Waterlemon we snorkled completely around the Caye and saw all sorts of great fish. Maybe St John is just better if you are a strong/adventuresome swimmer.