mitsugirly

Thank you so much for your kind words. So many wonderful people have helped me out along my travel journeys and I’m just playing it forward when I’m able to help others. Most of the walk is in the jungle like area and there will be plenty of trees and shade along the way. I don’t remember a whole lot of areas with direct sun from my memory.

I don’t know if I could hear the calling but when someone tags me I usually get a notification to appear somehow. Then I just cross my arms in front of me and nod my head and poof, I’m there like Jeannie. 🙂

Hola I’m here in wonderful Mexico for awhile. I’d be happy to answer any questions if I can.

Just as pretty as I remember it. The water swings are new since I was there. Absolutely beautiful there.

It took me that long because I was in a walking boot with 2 previous surgeries (that didn't go well and ended up with a misaligned leg with tons of pain...even after 3 years, and requires an ankle replacement in my future to correct) 😞 It also depends on what dock you are at I suppose. They told me it was a 5-10 minute walk...just not for someone like me. 😞 Here is a map from International Cruise port to show the distance.

Yep, absolutely. 🙂

There is a small beach there for swimming but the snorkeling is off a dock/pier. You step down into the water on the steps and the reef is right there. It's fairly shallow water. I think they make you wear snorkeling vest and there is a life guard. They do provide (free) snorkel and fins if you didn't feel like lugging yours around. There is another beach (you have to book separate) beside the regular beach and they have flamingo's on that beach. There are certain times they open it up to public for pictures with them. There's a water park and water slides and animals there as well. There's a few peacocks running around too. It's a pretty neat place. They also have the SeaTrek, which we do these a lot and every place we can find one on vacation and I have to say Aruba is the best place for it there. You can find our days there HERE and HERE and HERE There's tons of pictures for you to check out if you'd like.

We've been there many times and have docked (mostly) at Punta Langosta but have docked at International before AND also had to tender at Punta Langosta. Cozumel is equipped to handle a big load of cruise passengers so you should be ok. We just vacationed there last year and they were working on building another dock (of course the locals don't want that so not sure if it is still happening).

I do not know of any in Cozumel (Belize yes) but scuba diving will sometimes find you a shark (or it did when we went) 😆

OP, you didn't say what you like to do or what type of things you are looking for? A lot would depend on if your group likes active things, beach people, sight seeing, action packed? There are so many things to do there. We've done almost all of the beaches from laid back to ones with water toys. We've done a tour around the island and over to the Wild Side and Punta Sur ecological park. We've done dune buggy's to Jade Caverns. We've done scuba diving, Sea Trek walk, Pearl Farm, Parasailing and a snorkel tour that took us snorkeling and to the sand bar where there were tons of starfish. What is your group interested in? Click here for my blog...you can take a look around and see what might interest you.

We booked with Cozumel Cruise Excursions . Net. We rented a jeep but because there was only 3 of us, our tour guide drove the vehicle (which in the end, I was glad because being with her we were able to get a lot of information as we went along). She took us all around and over to the "Wild Side". She would stop along places of interest and any time we wanted her to. We ended up at Punta Sur, which is an ecological park with beaches, lagoons, a light house you can go up in, Scenic Tower around the alligator swamp and lunch. There was a lot to the trip and we had a good time. We enjoyed it so much we booked again with them the next time we were in port. (Plus driving around like that gave us the opportunity to learn the island for our land vacation we ended up doing there after that...good times). If you want to check out my blog for our day using them, you can find it HERE.

I agree with TTEllis, we loved Goffs Caye and it was so beautiful!

Usually the only place to snorkel (that I'm aware of) is by taking a cruise ship excursion to either Goffs Caye or Rendezvous. I found both to be amazing and very unique because they are both a very small island with next to nothing on it. We had an amazing time and the guy that took us out to snorkel around the island was amazing as well. I have a tendency to think that people that don't like it or complain about it is because they are expecting more than what is there. If you go knowing what it looks like and to expect, you're fine. It is an island in the middle of the ocean. It had a few huts for shelter, a place to purchase drinks/food, bathrooms and beautiful sandy beach around it. I would go back in a heartbeat but I like these kind of places. If you are wanting to see what it is like there and our experience, you are welcome to check out my blog/website. I have a full review with TONS of pictures there. It might help you. You can find it HERE.

Their site says it runs every 40 minutes until 11:30pm. I'm not sure which beach you are trying to get to, but the bus on this schedule will run all the way up to Arash. CLICK HERE

We go off on our own at every port LOL The bus is safe and we have done it before with no issues. Of course it's much cheaper and you get to stay as long as you want. That's an added plus.

I'm sorry, I can't answer that question since we've always went there while staying on the land and went to Arashi when we came by cruise ship. You might be able to message them and ask if there's a way? I usually don't book cruise ship excursions if I don't HAVE to but some things I will if it's really something I want to do. I'm not sure how much time they give you there (by cruise excursion) but the snuba is just amazing! That reef is what you picture in your head when you see online pictures of diving. I don't know of any other places in Aruba to do Snuba. There's places that do the SeaBobs. Then of course snorkeling between Boca and Arashi is the place to go if you just want to snorkel.

Ok this is funny because I've been a cruiser for many many years and we always have them do our laundry and I never knew they put these tags on the laundry until last year. I seen one of them peeling up and thought "what the heck is this and when did the stores start putting tags like this on clothes?" I started finding more and more of them and ask my husband about it and he's the one that broke the news to me about it coming from the cruise ship. I had no idea. LOL I think I have officially removed all of them now. Mine peeled right off.

You didn't say when you were going but if you haven't went yet, are you talking about kayaking to Pinel Island? That's what we did and had a great time. We booked with Caribbean Paddling and everything went smoothly. HERE is my review from our day with them if interested.

That really sucks to hear this. We've toured with him twice and loved both tours (one we just went to the pitons for the beach/snorkeling day and it was AMAZING! The next time we did the land and sea excursion and had a blast at the mud bath. Yes, we also did a drive by at the banana plantation as well and then on to the pitons. Right on his website when booking and in information it states US CASH only in bold letters. Maybe you just missed that? However, running out of gas is just irresponsible on his part. That should never happen and they should know better. Hopefully he'll get his stuff together and worked out before he starts to lose people. HERE and HERE are my reviews for our times there.

We did a rainforest tour but booked privately with Javin Tours. It went to an old ruins building, then to the rain forest for a hike (which was really beautiful), then off to a place along the rocky shoreline that you went to a small cove with water splashing and lava rocks. We ate lunch, then they dropped those that didn't want to snorkel off at a place called No Limit Beach Bar, which was located at Cockelshell Beach. I believe several tours were being dropped there. So, maybe it's that place?

We've used West Bay Divers twice and Bananarama once. I would recommend either one of those places (and we were by cruise ship)

Crew, what about the actual snorkeling area off the dock? Did something change there? It use to be amazing snorkeling from the dock with plenty of coral and fish. We had a great experience there snorkeling. Yes, the beach wasn't the greatest (but there was plenty of shade) and I wouldn't say that was much of a snorkeling area but off the dock was awesome back when we went. They even had a path you could follow. To OP, the place is very pretty there and there's a lot of things to do as well...see the replica ruins and learn the history, the animals, there's a pool for if you get tired of the beach. I would say it would be a great place to go for a day. I looked on TA and there's still reviews saying amazing snorkeling so I don't think you'll be disappointed in that. You can find my review on my blog, located HERE, and there's tons of pictures and shows you around the place. That might help get a feel for it.

It's been years since we were there and not sure if this place is still operating the same as when we were there or not. But...we went to Sunset Grande Resort (booked using a place called Jamaica For A Day). It was a resort with a beach, food, pools, waterslide and snorkeling. It was very pretty and the beach faces the cruise ships right there in port. You could check into that if it's something you think you might be interested in. You can find my review on my blog with tons of pictures of the place when we went. Located HERE

We have been to both in the past. Pillory Beach is located at the Bohio Dive Resort. You can rent chairs there and have food. We found the food to be very expensive and when we went, the food we ordered wasn't that good. The beach is very pretty and has soft sand. I have a blog with our experience there located HERE. It has tons of pictures so you can see the place. Governors beach was so beautiful and it ended up being one of our favorites. However, unless something has changed since we were there (and it might have and hopefully someone will chime in if so), there were no chair rental or food there. There was bathrooms and a place to wash off the sand on your body. It used to be a very popular place and the stores that were there still stand. There's plenty of shade and there were picnic tables. There was a neat old ship that has been sitting there for years after a storm I believe. It made for some neat pictures. But since there weren't any food places, it felt very remote and that was just awesome! It's very close to the cruise port as well. HERE are my pictures and blog for it.

I've never heard of a clothing optional beach on Grand Turk and we drove all over the place before. When I google, I see one listed on google for Turks & Caicos, but it's not located in Grand Turk. Did it say which beach or the area?