Dive or Snorkel Waterlemon Cay, Virgin Islands National Park, USVI

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Waterlemon Cay is a small cay within Leinster Bay on St. John. At Waterlemon Cay, you can explore the reef and seagrass teeming with sea horses, trunkfish, grunts, flounder and parrotfish. Visitors need to complete a short, relatively easy 20 minute hike (less than a mile) from the Annaberg Ruins parking lot. Then, a moderate swim into Waterlemon Bay to the Cay makes extensive coral and marine life accessible. The Cay is surrounded by a wide variety of fish and Sea Whips and Sea Fans. Waterlemon Bay is home to numerous large Orange Cushion Sea Stars. Visitors also are able to views Sea Turtles and Peacock Flounder swimming in the crystal clear water. The dive sites are suitable for both scuba divers and snorkelers. The best scuba diving area is said to be north on the ocean side of the Cay where divers will find a number of isolated coral heads including some spectacular stands of pillar coral. The fish life around these coral heads is mostly small tropical species but the populations are prolific and make for good fish-watching right along the shore. A swim only area marked off around the cay provides a boat-free area for snorkeling and water entry. Leinster Bay is a top notch snorkeling spot where divers and snorkelers will find Hawksbill Turtles, Stingrays and a wide array of marine life including baby barracuda that are often seen inches off the beach. There can be very strong current here, and a lot of sea urchins in very shallow water.

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