![Snorkeling at Buck Island with Big Beard's Adventure Tours! [St. Croix 2018]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a48547fd0e6283f891dae82/1538690204322-Z7TPZPWBHYVF83S5FVG2/LARJ9618-Edit.jpg)
Snorkeling at Buck Island with Big Beard's Adventure Tours! [St. Croix 2018]
The last time I went snorkeling was in St. Maarten in October 2014. I hadn’t stopped thinking about going snorkeling again since then. So I woke up EXTREMELY excited about Big Beard’s Adventure Tours and what the day would bring.
Liz packed us a small breakfast and we ate it in the car on our way to to Big Beard’s. We had already paid for our tickets the day before, over the phone. It was $150 for the both of us. We checked in then parked the car in a lot. It cost $5 for the whole day, or something like that. Then we walked back to the dock and waited for the other couples to arrive.
It was a 20-minute ride from the dock at King Christian Hotel to Buck Island National Monument.
I got so excited when I realized we were finally getting really close to the island. It was absolutely beautiful.
We got a 10-minute refresher on snorkeling—the do’s and don’t’s, tips & tricks—and then we got the chance to practice in the shallow shore water. Roody and I just couldn’t get the hang of it for some reason, and we weren’t too happy. Our masks kept letting water in, we kept getting washed back unto the shore… We tried for maybe 10 minutes and then gave up. I was having small panic attacks and I made Roody hold my hand the entire time, so that definitely was messing us both up.
I sat back in the boat for a minute after this photo was taken and told Roody that I needed to go and try again. We were about to go into 10 feet of water. If I couldn’t figure it out in 2 feet of water, how on earth was I supposed to manage out there??
So I put my flippers back on and headed out into the water. I’m pleased to say that I figured it out :)
I came back unto the boat so excited. Our teacher told us that he would be pulling us along in the deep end with a lifesaver. Thank God! I was good, but I wasn’t that good to do it all by myself.
The tour was gorgeous. My God. I wish we had remembered to by the back piece for our GoPro so that we could have gotten some underwater footage. We saw so many different kinds of fish, swam really close to coral (that no one is allowed to touch or stand on) and Roody saw an eel.
We were still having a little trouble in the water with our masks. Roody kept having to take his off to empty the water, and I took mine off a few times. We were out there for about 20 minutes. The water went from 10 feet to maybe 20. They took us on the extended tour because no one called to make an appointment for the afternoon tour. Our guide brought us back to the boat and told us we could go back inside. Then he swam away. So Roody swam to the boat and I had a mini panic attack again. But then I realized that if Roody could swim by himself in 10 feet of water, I could do it, too. And I did it!
Roody is so yummy :D
Roody washed himself off and then the captain took this photo for us.
I thought the tour was over, but it wasn’t! So I put my gear back on and swam. All by myself. It was so freeing and amazing. I was swimming in deep water!!
After that, the rum punch was served and they played some 80’s music and I was really feeling content.
The rest of the day was a blur. We spent way too much money at a nearby shop on souvenirs for ourselves and my friends. Then we drove to Napoleon’s Pizza and had the best pizza we’d ever eaten in our lives.
I took a really long nap back at the B&B, then we ordered dinner from Ziggy’s gas station, played “Fear Pong” and then watched a movie. What a day!!
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