Snorkeling from a beach in Antigua

[CSloan]

We've go excursions planned for most of the ports. In Antigua, we're hoping to go to a beach and snorkel. Are there any beaches with decent snorkeling?

 

Thanks.

[mcmarya]

This may be too late for you, but you can snorkel at Long Bay. It is a ways from the port, but we did see a lot of fish there. The water is not as clear as in the Virgin Islands, but the coral gets fairly close to the surface in places so you can still see a lot. In fact, the trickiest thing about it is getting through the coral maze if the tide is low. It's best to enter to the right as you look out to sea.

[CSloan]

This may be too late for you, but you can snorkel at Long Bay. It is a ways from the port, but we did see a lot of fish there. The water is not as clear as in the Virgin Islands, but the coral gets fairly close to the surface in places so you can still see a lot. In fact, the trickiest thing about it is getting through the coral maze if the tide is low. It's best to enter to the right as you look out to sea.

 

Not too late at all! We sail on Dec 8. That's good to hear - I was afraid there wouldn't be any snorkeling opportunities at Antigua.

 

Did you take a cab there? If so, what did you tell the cab driver?

 

I appreciate the info....:)

[mcmarya]

I can't help you with the cab since we took the local bus and got in our daily walk. You will probably want a cab since it is probably 1.5 miles past the end of the bus line to the beach--for us it was a fun adventure since we like to walk and it was a pleasant day. I believe there have been posts in the past about the cost of the cab if you search the Antigua board. There have also been posts about problems with cab drivers, which made it easy to decide to take the bus. We plan to repeat our adventure next month if the weather is nice.

 

As I mentioned, the water is not as clear as you will find in the Virgin Islands, but, if you really want to snorkel from the beach in Antigua, this is your best bet. Good luck.

 

I posted some pictures on this thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1355372

[mcmarya]

Looking at that thread again, someone posted some cab info, though it is not super recent.

[CSloan]

Sounds like a good plan.. thanks again for all your info & Pics!

[mcmarya]

Hope it works out for you. I've tried to snorkel places that supposedly had decent snorkeling and did not see a thing. You never know if the authors of those reports know what they are talking about or if you just got a bad day. Be assured that the pictures I posted were taken at Long Bay so it is possible to see some interesting things there.