Beach snorkeling in St. Maarten

[Fleur de Lis 27]

We're sailing on FOS in June. We snorkel everywhere we can, however this is our first time in St. Maarten. Our ship is in port from 8-5. Which beaches have the best snorkeling. Is it worth a trip to Pinel Island? Would it be an all day affair?

[greenscooter]

We stayed on St. Martin for 2 weeks and have been to all the beaches there. The only average shore snorkeling we found was at Baie Rouge, which, incidentally is where a lot of the boat tours come to snorkel. There is a very small cave with mostly rocks; but, a good amount of fish. Dawn Beach is mentioned a lot; we mainly seen black sea urchins and a few fish. Now, Pinel Island was an awesome place to laze the day away and had some great snorkeling; but, the preservation people took it over and roped off a snorkel area to protect the reef. The area is still okay; but, you no longer have access to the best parts of the reef that we were able to snorkel at prior to this group taking over the island. You can also snorkel at Happy Bay; but, you will either have to take a tour with aquamania adventures or take a taxi to Friar's Bay and walk a good 15 minutes over the hill to access the area. Hope this information helps-

St. Maarten is our favorite caribbean island.

[Fleur de Lis 27]

Greenscooter, thanks for the great info on snorkeling. I think we may take an excursion for part of the day to Pinel. It's difficult for us to just sit at a beach since we live about 10 minutes from 3 great beaches (not Caribbean water, but pretty clear when it's calm). We snorkel, maybe stay about an hour and go home. Looking forward to visiting St. Maarten.

[greenscooter]

If you find a few people to share a taxi to the boat landing, you can take the very short boat ride over for $5-7 each and stay as long as you want. The small boats travel back and forth every 30 minutes. There are 2 restaurants there and umbrella/chair rentals (2 free drinks included with each rental). The water is very clear and shallow and the island has awesome views of St. Maarten. You can hike a short distance over the hill and see the Atlantic side (not safe for swimming) as well.

Otherwise, if you just want a beach for a few hours: look into Great Bay at the Divi (If the water taxi is still operating, it's like $5) at the cruise pier marina. When you tire of the beach, you can hike the short distance up the hill to the old fort and you have incredibly awesome views of St. Maarten and your cruise ship in port. Take the water taxi back and hit Front St. for some window shopping or lunch before heading back to the ship.

Also, a short taxi ride to Maho beach is fun. There's the Sunset Bar & Grill there and you can watch the planes fly right over the beach - crowded; but, lots of fun and a great experience. Happy Travels -