Le Saintes underwater treasures

 At Le Saintes there are some of my favorite snorkeling places, including Paine de Sucre, where we're anchored. It is so nice to have the chance to go snorkeling straight from the boat and relax and enjoy in the breaks between boat projects.

I met this Spotted Scorpionfish on my way towards the shore. 

There are many pretty Sea Plumes here, they belong to Gorgonian corals. They are swaying and moving with the waves and actually look too soft for corals.

Christmas Tree worms come in many pretty colors.

These are the Longspine Squirelfish, during the day they mostly hide in shaded areas near bottom and come out at night to feed - that's why their eyes are so big.

This is Bearded Fireworm.

Look at all the bristels and "lace" that decorate this guy.

I like this Goldentail Moray, because of her blue eye makeup and nose. One rarely gets to see the tail, so I don't know if it's really golden.

I thought this turquoise thing was a sponge, but it turned out to be a Tunicate. Not as pretty as the translucent ones I found in Barbuda, but still of nice color.

I liked Warty Corallimorphs since I found the first one at Marie Galante. Now that I know what to look for, I'm finding them more often. These here are of very pretty colors ...

... and this one is my favorite.

A Star Horseshoe Worm.

Don't know why this Chain Moray was hanging down from the coral, hope she wasn't ill or anything. The wound on her back (the whitish spot) seemed already healed though.

This is the Reef Urchin.

I call this a "sponge sandwich". I'm not sure which type of sponges they are, but they look cute together.

This is an Atlantic Oyster.

The Clinging Crab was hiding under the Giant Anemone. To the right there are some Squat Anemone Shrimps ...

... that deserve their own photo.

This is a Slate-pencil Urchin.

And this is a Split-crown Feather Duster.

Hydroids are one of my favorite little animals.

I found the Pederson Cleaner Shrimp near the Corkscrew anemone, where there was also ...

... this Spotted Cleaner Shrimp.

I have had quite some problems to get some decent photos of this fragile translucent beauty - it is a Spot-winged Comb Jelly.

It is 3 to 6 cm big and bioluminescent - its body can produce light.

This is a very dark specimen of Barred Hamlet.

A Yellow Fanworm, a relative of Christmas Tree Worm.

This is a Whitespotted Filefish. It has a spine on its back and sometimes raises it when it's feeling threaten.

And this is its smaller relative - a Slender Filefish. They are small and hide well among algae and corals, so this is only the second time I found one.

Sometimes when I snorkel I hear the whales. I have to dive a bit, 2-3m deep, to hear them well, on the surface there are too many noises from wind, other boats, outside world. Their songs are so beautiful and they actually have a wide repertoire of melodies. I heard some whales singing in Marie Galante and then at Paine de Sucre last Wednesday.

Last Wednesday Jan and George of Wild Cat sailed to Le Saintes. We haven't seen each other since last spring since Classic Regatta in Antigua and were really happy to meet them again. We visited them on Wild Cat that evening, had some great time together and were even watching the whales spraying the water on their way between Le Saintes and Guadeloupe. They could have been the ones I heard singing earlier that day.