Best Snorkling

[mizpriz]

We are doing the Southern Caribbean in March and wondered which port has the best snorkling? We will be going to St Croix, St Maarten, Antigua, St Lucia and Barbados. Thanks!!

[emeraldcity]

Same question ... different ports (April 2012)

 

Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao.

[Nigeldelarue]

Same question ... different ports (April 2012)

 

Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao.

 

Forget snorkling in Aruba but Bonaire would be #1 and Curacao would be #2

when you get off the ship in Bonaire turn right and head to the Dive Flamingo Resort and you can get a day pass to snorkel, have lunch use the pool. Its very nice .

:)

[BILL-WI]

We are doing the Southern Caribbean in March and wondered which port has the best snorkling? We will be going to St Croix, St Maarten, Antigua, St Lucia and Barbados. Thanks!!

 

Depending on the weather...St. Croix. Buck Island; it is a National Park and on clear, sunny days, with little wind, has an abundance of fish. If the weather has been poor for a few days the fish will not be there.

 

BILL

[BILL-WI]

Forget snorkling in Aruba but Bonaire would be #1 and Curacao would be #2

when you get off the ship in Bonaire turn right and head to the Dive Flamingo Resort and you can get a day pass to snorkel, have lunch use the pool. Its very nice .

:)

 

Agree 100%, Aruba is not good! Have tried twice and both times was less than thrilled!

 

BILL

[Miss Vickie]

We are doing the Southern Caribbean in March and wondered which port has the best snorkling? We will be going to St Croix, St Maarten, Antigua, St Lucia and Barbados. Thanks!!

 

We've not snorkeled in St. Croix yet. We've had good snorkeling in Antigua (Eli's Eco Tour, Barbados and St. Lucia (Anse Cochon). Forget St. Maarten!

[Miss Vickie]

Same question ... different ports (April 2012)

 

Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao.

 

There's a great drift snorkel on Klein Bonaire. Easy to get to via ferry, and your ship wil likely offer an excursion to Klein. We tried three times to find decent snorkeling on Aruba - finally found okay, but not great, snorkeling at Boca Catalina. You need your own gear, no rentals there.

[khm1]

There's a great drift snorkel on Klein Bonaire. Easy to get to via ferry, and your ship wil likely offer an excursion to Klein. We tried three times to find decent snorkeling on Aruba - finally found okay, but not great, snorkeling at Boca Catalina. You need your own gear, no rentals there.

 

I did this in '09. I have snorkeled in a lot of islands. Bonaire was HANDS DOWN the BEST snorkeling that I have ever done. It was so beautiful, that it brought tears to my eyes. Go, you won't regret it. We used Woodwind, I highly recommend them. Lots of reviews are available on the Bonaire board.

[khm1]

We are doing the Southern Caribbean in March and wondered which port has the best snorkling? We will be going to St Croix, St Maarten, Antigua, St Lucia and Barbados. Thanks!!

 

St. Croix is your best bet. Forget St. Maarten and Antigua. No really good snorkeling at either island. Barbados has many companies that offer snorkeling with turtles. St. Lucia has good snorkeling, but there is so much to see on land that you may want at least a partial land tour.

[newlifeca]

We did snorkling on St Croix at Buck Island, not many fish that day, but beatiful island.

 

We also did snorkling on Jalousie beach in St Lucia, better snorkling there, but you'll need a way to get to the beach. We did a land and sea tour that included about 3 hours at Jalousie beach.

 

You may want to post this on some of the discussion boards in the ports of calls section of cruise critic. You may get more answers

[mizpriz]

Thanks so much for the input!! The only port we have been to before is St Maarten and we just do the beach there so I will be looking into the others y'all have mentioned!

[Hlitner]

Aruba actually has some very good snorkeling off of Arashi Beach. As to Antigua there is some decent snorkeling if you book a boat excursion (we prefer booking direct with some of the local providers as opposed to the overpriced cruise line tours). Bonaire has some of the best SCUBA and snorkeling in the Western Hemisphere. We think the best snorkeling on that island is to do a "drift snorkel" which can offer an amazing adventure. Try Google and type in "Bonaire and Woodwind" which is a great day. The lady that runs the Woodwind (Dee) is terrific and knows her business. Its one of the best snorkel excursions in the Caribbean...although you do need to be somewhat competant and comfortable in the water. As to St Maarten, if the water is relatively calm (and you have your own snorkel gear) just take a taxi over to Dawn Beach. St Lucia has always been a big disappointment to us (we were just there 10 days ago) and we hesitate to recommend any snorkeling. However, they will tell you that its pretty good if you go all the way down to the base of the pitons....and this would require a boat excursion (there are some local options) or a very long drive. We just snorkeled this area and were again underwhelmed. Barbados has quite a few different snorkeling places so you might want to just do a little on line research. Again, none of it is overwhelming...but its OK in several spots. As to Curacao, we prefer to rent a car and drive nearly 20 miles from the port to the smaller (nearly desserted beaches) in the Northwest (no excursions go to that part of the island). We personally enjoy Jeremy Beach...although there are several beaches in that region. We use our rental car to go from beach to beach in that Northwest region and happily never run into anyone from a cruise ship :)

 

Hank

[Colorado Kat]

Love the snorkeling and Scuba in Bonaire. St. Croix also has good underwater stuff, depending on the beach area.