Need Info: Shipwreck Snorkel & Beach

[DanielBu]

Hello,

 

has anybody tried the excursion to the Fantasy Island Beach with the shipwreck snorkel?

 

How was the beach?

How was the snorkeling?

 

Looks like it is not that crowded?

 

Thx.

 

Daniel

Berlin/Germany

[DanielBu]

nobody?

[larkwind]

We (51, 52DH, 22DS, 10DS) did this last Wed (the 18th). Great weather -- it had rained buckets the day before. Bus ride was on older our bus (not school bus) for maybe 30 min. It's on eastern/south side of Roatan. Guide was good; a talker, but good info. He walked us to our "area" on one side of a perfect lagoon with no waves at all. We set our stuff down (lots of lounge chairs in and out of sun), admired the palm trees and got our feet wet before walking across the hotel compound to the marina. Boarded the boat, got equipment (decent; 10yo had wave blocker snorkel), motored around the island to a reef and snorkeled for 45 min or so. The boat slowly follows so tired swimmers can go back onboard.

 

Amazing! We dive, but didn't bc the boys don't...yet. I'm amazed that so much coral and fish life is so close to shore in Roatan. This was as close to diving views as I've ever had while just snorkeling. Depth was 8-25 feet with the "wall" decending to 65 feet. Coral was well and fish were plentiful.

 

After snorkeling, we went back to beach and could order drinks and food (extra $$ but not high priced like on ship; beer $2.50 a bottle...). Guide delivered orders to us in lounge chairs in the water. Chillaxin' was our group name, he said :). He took those of us who wantd to go, on a nature walk on the hotel grounds. We saw large iguanas (3 ft long), little monkeys, cabybara (sp?), a fruit bat, almond trees w/ripe fruit, and three kinds of coconut palm. All within 50 ft of the beach!

 

Incredibly pleasant day. Sunscreen is definitely in order...just ask our 22yo how cavetubing the next day felt on a roasted back :eek:. Don't fool yourself about the sun's intensity down there. No bugs, lots of minnows and shells in the water, guide even cracked open a coconut for the guys to sample.

 

We were hungry, but not famished by the time we returned to the ship around 2pm.

 

Enjoy!

[DanielBu]

Thx. for your detailled report.

 

Did you see the shipwreck or were the seas too rough?

 

Daniel

[larkwind]

Sorry to be so slow replying--busy couple of days (and German School starts again tomorrow!) We did snorkel over the shipwreck at the end of the snorkeling time. This is a metal ship/boat that may have been sunk purposely to form a reef habitat or it just got hung up on the reef and serves the same purpose now. Either way, it's not a spanish galleon or a pirate ship, just a boat. But fun to look at. We were getting tired near the end so didn't spend a lot of time; our 22DS did dive down toward it, but it's just a bit deep (but very visible from the surface).

 

Waves were small, but there. 10DS hung on to Dad's arm for most of this snorkel since it was his first of this trip. In Cozumel, it was calmer and he darted off a couple of times and even dove down--a better place to practice snorkel skills; Roatan is all about the corals and fish.

Enjoy!

[Guest 2000]

Just a bit of added info..

 

Fantasy Island is on the windward side of the island... if one chooses to snorkel in the leeward side the reef protects from the deep sea, for the most part it is bathtub calm. Unless of course a northern storm rolls though, then all bets are off. :)

 

Have a look at google earth, it is free and one can get a better idea of where the reef is.

[larkwind]

We dove on the leeward (north) side a few years ago and it was absolutely beautiful. I imagine the dive outfits/resorts over there have snorkeling trips as well. We were fortunate to have a gorgeous day for Fantasy Island. We chose this snorkel trip bc it seemed close to the ship from the description, but we docked in Coxen Hole which is the furthest port west on Roatan, so our bus ride was at least half an hour. The Carnival port (name?) is much closer to this excursion and would fit the written description better.

 

Evaluation: Given that the weather that day was perfect, the snorkeling and beach were super. The shipwreck part was interesting--but not so spectacular that we would definitely go back for that. The lagoon and beach were a draw. The operators were commendable --no problems with them; felt perfectly safe and attended to.

Next time, we would probably choose another excursion in west end area (closer to our port) or on the north side (for better odds in case of rough waters on the south side).

 

Always keeping in mind that we were missing 18F weather at home that day!! Sand was 'way better than snow...