Anyone done the BOAT SNORKEL in HMC?

[Fourseventeen]

My wife and I are scuba divers but as far as I know scuba diving is not an option from HMC. Anyone done the boat snorkeling that Carnival offers as an excursion? If so what did you think? We have been to HMC before and snorkeling from the beach is pointless but im real curious if the boat snorkel tour takes you somewhere worth while or not. If you liked it can you tell me a little about it...as well as maybe some other places you have snorkeled or dove so to compare experiences. Thank you.

[WillieD13]

Just got back a week ago. Yes, we did "Snorkel By Boat" at HMC. I thought it was pretty good. They take you out along the southern shore, a couple hundred yards off shore. It it not a reef, just a flat bottom about 10'-12' deep with lots of coral "lump"s all over the place. There were a lot of fish. When I jumped in off the boat, I landed in a school of a couple hundred Sergeant Majors and Atlantic Blue Tang, who didn't go anywhere, I had to swim clear of them. I will still rate "Ultimate Snorkel" at Grand Turk as my #1 snorkel excursion, by HMC is a pretty good 2nd place, and for those who may be beginning or novice snorkelers, or have younger children, who may not be strong swimmers, it is a really good choice. As I said, the water is not deep, so you can easily see the coral formations from the surface, and the fish swarm around you. I am in the middle of uploading photos to my Flickr album. I will try to remember to come back and post some, so you can see what we saw.

[Fourseventeen]

thanks for that info I appreciate it. We have been diving in Grand Turk which was nice...not my favorite scuba dive spot but it was def a nice stop. We have been to HMC and "tried" to snorkel from shore but didnt see even one fish from shore. I think we may skip scuba diving on this trip so we dont have to lug our gear around. If thats the case we will snorkel at HMC by boat and GT both I think. Thanks again for the input

[slabeaume]

I did that excursion last Nov. after trying to snorkel from shore. As you mentioned, not much to see from shore. I did find a few fish by the playground, but the sand was pretty churned up. So I did the excursion and really enjoyed it. I'll try to post a link to my pictures of HMC on Picasa. The place we went to wasn't far from the ship. The water was super clear. It was a really fun time. I've snorkeled in the Bahamas, Kauai, the Big Island, Oahu, Grand Cayman, Cabo, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few places. The clarity of the water here rivaled the Big Island. The fish were also very plentiful. Not better then elsewhere, but not bad, either. I'm doing the cruise again this Nov. and will probably do the excursion again.

https://picasaweb.google.com/slabeaume/HalfMoonCay?authuser=0&feat=directlink

[WillieD13]

Here is a couple pictures from our day at HMC. I also included a link to the whole series. The Snorkel By Boat excursion is in the middle. Both my wife and I enjoyed it. The water was not deep (10'-12'), so even the weaker swimmers were able to see a lot, and as others mentioned, plenty of fish. If we ever get back there, we will definitely do it again.

 

 

P7130078 by WillieD13, on Flickr

 

P7130073 by WillieD13, on Flickr

[Fourseventeen]

thanks for posting the info and pics up. :D

 

I just got back from my trip. HMC was beautiful as always and they built a new shipwreck bar on the beach since the last time we were there...that was real neat. We did the boat snorkel and I have to say...I wasnt all that impressed. It wasnt terrible but I have enjoyed many other places much better personally. When we go back to HMC again, I wont snorkel there. For someone who has not been to a lot of snorkel or dive locations it may be neat but for me...it was pretty boring.