Snorkelling the ABCs

My wife and I will be in the ABCs in early November and want to do a few snorkelling trips. We've been to Aruba decades ago, but never Bonaire or Curacao. My scuba days are over, sadly, but I am totally comfortable at sea or off a shore. My wife is a timid, surface only snorkeller who absolutely wants to wear a vest. We'll be on the Royal Princess.

Are there any decent shore snorkels available on the three islands, preferably within, say, a half hour walk of the cruise ports? I'd prefer to avoid ship tours if possible, and if we really have to, I'll look into private excursions.

Thanks in advance...

You can take a water taxi over to Klein Bonaire from Kralendijk (Bonaire) - it’s cheap and pretty close to where the ships tie up. Take your own gear, water, and snacks - there’s nothing on the island. Taxis run out to KB about every hour. Google is your friend.

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You can take a water taxi over to Klein Bonaire from Kralendijk (Bonaire) - it’s cheap and pretty close to where the ships tie up. Take your own gear, water, and snacks - there’s nothing on the island. Taxis run out to KB about every hour. Google is your friend.

 

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Couldn't resist, could you? Thanks anyway.

I only said that so that you could find out the particulars of the water taxi operations - cost, times, etc. Sorry if it sounded snarky.

I’m a diver and go to Bonaire on land vacations. KB has some of the best snorkeling in the Caribbean.

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If your wife is timid wouldn’t it be better (maybe) to book a private tour where there are different levels of experience? If you research (on here or google) and go with a good company they usually will put beginners or timid people in a small group with a leader.

I can’t help with shore snorkels as we’ve only taken either ship or private excursions. When we were in Bonaire in December the water taxi was not running.

We did the drift snorkel at Klein Bonaire with Sea Cow (but if a ship is in they won’t do private excursions). In Curacao Curious2Dive is great or H2O Visions.

I’m interested in comments too about shore snorkel as we have a couple of upcoming cruises that include the ABC’s again.

Hopefully others will chime in.

My wife is a timid, surface only snorkeller who absolutely wants to wear a vest. Thanks in advance...

All snorkeling tours I have done make everyone wear a bright vest not to stay afloat but to be visible to the boat excursion operator while you are in the water, some people choose to inflate the vest others don't.

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All snorkeling tours I have done make everyone wear a bright vest not to stay afloat but to be visible to the boat excursion operator while you are in the water, some people choose to inflate the vest others don't.

 

 

 

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Thanks, that's also one of my concerns. My wife has her own vest which we bring with us, but I specifically don't want to wear one. As a life-long diver, I consider I don't need it for safety in the benign conditions my wife snorkels in. I spend most of my snorkelling time on the bottom, and find vests add too much drag. If they force all guests to wear one as a convenience for themselves, that's a non-starter for me. I'll probably have to keep researching DIY trips

Thanks, that's also one of my concerns. My wife has her own vest which we bring with us, but I specifically don't want to wear one. As a life-long diver, I consider I don't need it for safety in the benign conditions my wife snorkels in. I spend most of my snorkelling time on the bottom, and find vests add too much drag. If they force all guests to wear one as a convenience for themselves, that's a non-starter for me. I'll probably have to keep researching DIY trips

When I had to wear the vest and didn't inflate it never felt a drag while going around the bottom, it feels like wearing a t-shirt, the tour operators supply their own vests in fosforent green or orange for safety of spotting people in the water and for poor swimmers to stay afloat when inflated. If you go on a tour and like to swim around the bottom I suggest wearing a watch to keep tab of the time, they usually have a set amount of time to be back in the tour boat.

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On ship excursions we were told the ship policy insist on the wearing of a vest. For private tour some do not. You may need to email a bunch of private operators to see their policy.

We always wear one but don’t inflate unless rough water.

Woodwind on Bonair is some of the best snorkeling you'll find. It is a catamaran within walking distance of the port. You can usually book it through the ship or privately.

When on Curacao we usually book through scubacao.com. They are a small outfit and can customize a trip for you. We are using them again next Feb on our visit to the ABC islands.

Woodwind on Bonair is some of the best snorkeling you'll find. It is a catamaran within walking distance of the port. You can usually book it through the ship or privately.

 

When on Curacao we usually book through scubacao.com. They are a small outfit and can customize a trip for you. We are using them again next Feb on our visit to the ABC islands.

Thanks very much for the links, both seem to have very good Tripadvisor rankings with large samples. We'll be investigating them both for sure.

Reading through this thread and have to let you know of a tour we took. Renae guides snorkeling trips in her minivan. Very small groups and when we went, just my wife and me on the trip. She pointed out things I never would have seen. It was awesome. Finished at a resort where we let Renae leave us. Paid the $10 guest fee and snorkeled all afternoon on our own. 

http://www.reneesnorkeltrips.com/

plazaresortbonaire.com

In Aruba, I’d recommend taking a taxi to Mangel Halto. Best snorkeling we found there! There are a couple other listed here: https://www.tropicalsnorkeling.com/aruba-snorkeling.html. Most of the tour boats that run out of Palm Beach stop at Malmock and Catalina. They advantage of the boats is they also take you over the shipwreck which was very cool, but in rougher waters.