What are the best places for snorkeling in the Southern Caribbean

[mamacruiser2012]

Hello fellow cruisers :)

 

We are going to Grenada, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Croix and St. Thomas in April 2012 and am trying to decide where to try snorkeling for the first time. I am thinking we would prefer to do it from a beach but not sure if that would provide the best experience. I have heard that the coral reefs in some of these places are damaged so am trying to find the best places for a snorkeling excursion as well as a great place to snorkel from the beach!! Any help/suggestions are welcome!!:rolleyes:

[Islandbear]

Buck Island Reef National Monument (St. Croix) Is on my bucket list.

 

Anse Chastanet (St. Lucia)The best snorkeling is in the waters in front of the Anse Chastenet Beach. This is a great spot for first-timers and weak swimmers because the area is cordoned off by buoys, so no boats are allowed near the snorkeling site - it's a marine reserve.

 

St Thomas is my least favorite. Grenada has some good snorkeling off Grande Anse to the south.

[divechick]

Buck Island off St Croix is some off the best snorkling I have seen it was what convinced my husband to do his OW certifcation. St Lucia and St Thomas had good snorklingwe snorkled there several years back before I did my OW but nothing compared to St Croix have fun.

[mamacruiser2012]

Thank you so much for your suggestions Islandbear and Divechick!

 

Although the Anse Chastanet Beach in St. Lucia sounds wonderful I am leaning toward Buck Island at St. Croix. I have heard and read a lot about this and since we are only spending about 8 hours on each island and have several things we want to do in St. Lucia this would give us something to look forward to in St. Croix. Is the snorkeling at Buck Island done from a boat or from the beach and are snorkeling vests provided?

 

Islandbear, I hope you get to cross this off your bucket list soon :)

[divechick]

Thank you so much for your suggestions Islandbear and Divechick!

 

Although the Anse Chastanet Beach in St. Lucia sounds wonderful I am leaning toward Buck Island at St. Croix. I have heard and read a lot about this and since we are only spending about 8 hours on each island and have several things we want to do in St. Lucia this would give us something to look forward to in St. Croix. Is the snorkeling at Buck Island done from a boat or from the beach and are snorkeling vests provided?

 

Islandbear, I hope you get to cross this off your bucket list soon :)

 

 

It is done off a boat we used Big Beard they offer half day and full day trips I believe cost was about about 95 pp for full day picked us up at the dock about 9-930 and we were back at 1530 price included lunch . think half day was 68 pp . Was well worth it. If you have and questions let me know.

[gersus]

I agree about Anse Chastanet. It was the best snorkeling we did! We just finished a cruise on the Victory. Sapphire beach at St Thomas was my second favorite. Barbados was my least favorite.

[Lsimon]

I'd also recommend Buck Island and doing an excursion with Big Beards. You'll snorkel from a boat but they will help you. The trip we took with them on a snorkeling excursion a couple of years ago included a stop on a beach to instruct beginner (experienced snorkelers had time to swim) before they went to the reef area. After snorkeling they stopped at another beach for lunch before returning.

 

Photos: http://simon-pics.smugmug.com/Cruises/Caribbean-March-15-2010/St-Croix-Big-Beards-Buck/11693611_Q9DMqM#825047986_YDFTF

 

There is also decent snorkeling at St. Thomas and Antigua. We typically do excursion day sails which include snorkeling.

 

Here are links to a couple recent ones:

 

Antigua:

 

St. Thomas: http://simon-pics.smugmug.com/Cruises/Caribbean-March-15-2010/St-Thomas-Pre-Cruise-Trip/11693513_jSzmR3#825039728_YUD7k

 

In St. Lucia there are several tour guides often recommend on the St Lucia port of call forums here on Cruise Critic who offer similar tours. Most of these include a land tour with various stops along the coast between the port and the Pitons. Several include a stop at the beach in between the Pitons which is a great place for easy shore snorkeling.

http://simon-pics.smugmug.com/Cruises/Galaxy-March-2008-Caribbean/St-Lucia-Cosols-Island-Tour/5626067_vDxG6f#345676728_VGcBX

[Middleager]

Coki Beach in USVI offers pretty good snorkeling. There's a dive shop that also offers Discovery scuba right there. For me, I've done boat diving with them, while my relatives/friends did the Discovery scuba from shore there, and others snorkeled. On the way back, can arrange for a land tour, to go up the mountain, and end at Paradise Point.

 

In St. Lucia, to see the pitons you'll need to be on a boat. So arranging a snorkeling trip on a boat will give you both.

 

In Antigua, the better diving/snorkeling will be in the south, but that takes some time to get to as the cruise ship docks at the northwest.

[CRUISERTN]

If you are a beginner or first time snorkeler, you might want to try a place like Coki in St. Thomas where you can snorkel from the beach. Easy entry, shallow water and lots of fish. Buck Island in St. Croix is from a boat, and when we went, there was a very strong current and not good for a beginner. Anse Chastanet area in St. Lucia is also nice...we snorkeled from a boat there, but the boat is very close to shore.

[peabody99]

Grenada (~2009-10)-did an off shore trip independently booked trip. pretty disappointing reef conditions.

St. Lucia-have not been

Antigua-no good shore snorkeling that I could find. nice beachs but visibility poor in most areas. PLus beaches are more sandy than with coral.

St. Croix-Buck Island (about 2009) We took a caterman cruise. I could not believe how this reef was so hyped and in what poor condition it was in. Very sad. Also there can be quite a current there.

St. Thomas-generally not the greatest conditions due to high population and damaged reefs. I have not been to Coki beach, may be a good place for beginners. Consider an excursion or indep. trip to St. John. The reefs are in somewhat better condition there-but shore dive ones are also worn out. We have never gone on cruise ship excursions to St. John..always jumped on a ferry and then cab to beach. We once took an independently booked boat snorkel trip out of St. John. It was AMAZING. I kick myself for not keeping a card or any other info.

 

Does your cruise have any other stops...or a private island? Believe it or not I recall NCL having great snorkeling at their private island. This was a long time ago though, so things could have changed.

 

Sorry to be a downer. I am a snorkel fanatic. Truth is pretty much everywhere, year after year the conditions get worse it seems. With that said there is almost no such thing as a "bad" snorkel. Some places are much better than others though.

[Lsimon]

Grenada: Molinere Point accessible only on boat excursion and water is fairly deep:

 

 

Antigua - off of Bird Island a destination on several popular excursions and accessable by boat:

 

 

St. Croix - Buck Island:

 

 

St. Thomas - Snorkeling on day sail off of Christmas Cove:

 

All these places have decent snorkeling and we've had lots of fund there even though I wouldn't call them the "very best" we've seen. We always like to plan our activities to include more than just the snorkeling - except when we've gone to some of the very best snorkeling spots (Bonaire and Hawaii)