Snorkeling photos from Curacao

[Dave C]

I recently got back from a two-week trip to Curacao (Netherlands Antilles) in the Caribbean. Curacao had some gorgeously clear water, but there was not anything big and it appeared to be quite overfished. Here are several of my snorkeling photos:

Yellowtail snapper, Tugboat wreck:

Whitespotted filefish, Playa Lagun:

Giant anemone, Playa Porto Marie:

Octopus, Playa Kleine Knip:

View of Playa Grote Knip, probably the best beach on the island, showing how clear the water was:

There are more photos here, although I'm still in the process of editing and uploading:
Curacao 2010 - a set on Flickr

 

[Arubandi07]

Beautiful shots, esp. the Anemone and the Octopus, out in the open in broad daylight and posing, what an opportunity. Please write more about your trip experience.

 

[tjride]

Awesome Pics, What Camera did you use?

 

[deeper thoughts]

Beautiful pix, a shame about the overfishing

 

[Dave C]

Beautiful shots, esp. the Anemone and the Octopus, out in the open in broad daylight and posing, what an opportunity. Please write more about your trip experience.

Thanks for the comment. The more time you spend in the water (and when you snorkel you can spend A LOT of time in the water), the more likely you are to stumble upon something such as an octopus out in the open. It can happen; I've them out in broad daylight before, although that is always an unexpected treat. I'd like to write a trip report on the SB ABC islands subforum, but after trips like this I usually have so much that I want to say that I become intimidated by all the text that I might have to write. I just have to sit down and force myself to do it.

 

[Dave C]

Beautiful pix, a shame about the overfishing

I had heard not to expect anything big (same holds true for Bonaire), so I was prepared for this. However, I saw guys in little fishing skiffs bringing in bunches of undersize groupers about 6" long, babies really that probably were too small to have had the chance to ever reproduce. I also saw a fish trap whose only catch was 5 small parrotfish (4 were immature phase also about 6" long). Maybe the trap's owner threw these back, but I suspect they were kept. I did not see a single lobster during my two-week trip, and I am always looking in holes. This kind of overfishing did not seem necessary on Curacao, because it's a relatively prosperous island and not like Haiti or Jamaica where people need to do anything to survive.

 

[Dave C]

Awesome Pics, What Camera did you use?

Please my previous post about snorkeling photos for this info: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/snorkeling-freediving/302671-snorkeling-photos.html

 

[Arubandi07]

I had heard not to expect anything big (same holds true for Bonaire), so I was prepared for this. However, I saw guys in little fishing skiffs bringing in bunches of undersize groupers about 6" long, babies really that probably were too small to have had the chance to ever reproduce. I also saw a fish trap whose only catch was 5 small parrotfish (4 were immature phase also about 6" long). Maybe the trap's owner threw these back, but I suspect they were kept. I did not see a single lobster during my two-week trip, and I am always looking in holes. This kind of overfishing did not seem necessary on Curacao, because it's a relatively prosperous island and not like Haiti or Jamaica where people need to do anything to survive.

Painful to hear this, but I guess that's the way it goes. Hopefully the government will at some point in the near future realize, that environmental protection means income-$$$, and take the apppropriate steps. Re your previous post, try to get over the hump and write, it'll be appreciated by the rest of us, you can be sure of that.

A.

 

[jl_va_21]

The first picture (labeled as Yellowtail Snapper) reminded me of a question I've had for a while. Obviously you see these guys pretty much everywhere in the caribbean. On a recent trip to Bahamas though I also heard the name applied (probably mistakenly) to other fish that are similar looking (same size plus yellow tail) but have a slightly different body. I even saw them mixed together in schools occasionally - which has led me to some confusion as to which is which. Can anyone help me ID the fish in this group in this photo? Notice the one of the bottom matches the first picture posted here (above). The others look different though. Maybe juvenile/adult of same fish????

 

[Arubandi07]

jl, looked it up to be sure, these are Horse Eye Jacks. A.