Scuba Diving at Buck Island, St. Thomas

Mark and Rod got in one scuba diving trip to Buck Island, just off the southern coast of St. Thomas. It was a short run from the dock at Havensight around to the east to the island. The first dive was to a reef at about 60 feet depth.

Mark is down close to the reef after our descent with about six other divers.

One of the neat fish we saw was a spotted drum, an unusual arrangement of black and white. At right is an old friend, the immature phase of the stoplight parrotfish.

Mark heads for the bottom with the group. The reef was pretty beat up, with lots of dead coral. Perhaps the devastation of Hurrican Marilyn damaged it, but at 60 feet you wouldn't expect much damage. It may be just the buildup on the south shore and the runoff from it that has damaged the reed, like the damage we have seen at Pennekamp Park in the Keys. There was a lot of life there though, and it was an interesting dive.

Blue Chromis As soon as I reached the reef at about 60 ft, I started seeing these little flashes of blue. The tiny blue chromis contribute to the beauty of the reef environment by flitting around, often in sizable schools. You often see them, but they are usually on the order of two inches long, so they are hard to get on film. I remember big schools of them in the Caymans.