speedboat to anguilla or swimming with turtles in barbados?

[CruisingTheWaves]

hi all :) sailing on a 10 night ultimate caribbean aboard the equinox in march. i am lining up 3 excursions for us. the first one is in st. thomas in which we will be taking a sail boat to st. john. i asked the tour operator if there is a chance of swimming with turtles on this trip and he told me there is a very good chance.

 

second i have booked is a "turtle cruise" in barbados. basically a whole day on the water, i don't think we would have access to any beaches on the sail. however my mom and dad did this same trip last january and had a great time and my mom noted there were "so many" turtles. this sailing cat holds 12 guests max.

 

third one is going to be river tubing in dominica.

 

my dilemma is this: last year in st. maarten i REALLY wanted to take a trip to anguilla. it's hard to do in one day, especially aboard a cruise ship because of the interest in time. i had to give it up last year for that reason and instead we took a private cat to islands around st. maarten. but this time i have found what looks to be a pretty good excursion that takes you to 3 areas of anguila, includes lunch on the beach, and will have us back to the port in time. the power cat holds up to 35 people (but may not be that many on the trip). having a hard time deciding between the barbados turtle trip and the anguilla trip! if there is a good chance to see turtles on our st. john trip, should we skip the barbados trip and do the jaunt around anguilla instead? that island's beaches just look so amazing in pics.

 

sorry if this is long, but i'm just hoping for some comments that might help me make a decision! TIA!

[keithm]

hi all :) sailing on a 10 night ultimate caribbean aboard the equinox in march. i am lining up 3 excursions for us. the first one is in st. thomas in which we will be taking a sail boat to st. john. i asked the tour operator if there is a chance of swimming with turtles on this trip and he told me there is a very good chance.

 

second i have booked is a "turtle cruise" in barbados. basically a whole day on the water, i don't think we would have access to any beaches on the sail. however my mom and dad did this same trip last january and had a great time and my mom noted there were "so many" turtles. this sailing cat holds 12 guests max.

 

third one is going to be river tubing in dominica.

 

my dilemma is this: last year in st. maarten i REALLY wanted to take a trip to anguilla. it's hard to do in one day, especially aboard a cruise ship because of the interest in time. i had to give it up last year for that reason and instead we took a private cat to islands around st. maarten. but this time i have found what looks to be a pretty good excursion that takes you to 3 areas of anguila, includes lunch on the beach, and will have us back to the port in time. the power cat holds up to 35 people (but may not be that many on the trip). having a hard time deciding between the barbados turtle trip and the anguilla trip! if there is a good chance to see turtles on our st. john trip, should we skip the barbados trip and do the jaunt around anguilla instead? that island's beaches just look so amazing in pics.

 

sorry if this is long, but i'm just hoping for some comments that might help me make a decision! TIA!

I'll try..

1)Great excursion. We haven't tried it but hear rave reviews. St.John is very nice.

2)Only saw 1 sea turtle that day. I guess they had more fun things to do!If they offer the Sting Ray beach..go for it. It's really cool how they come right up to you!(no, they DON'T bite!!)

3)The tubing in Dominica was great. Near the end of the trip,a large wave would come up the river & push us quite a ways back up river. These waves are dependent on rough surf. If it's smooth surf, you won't see that happen. The trip was really enjoyable & the guides were a real hoot!

[koolforkatz]

I can't help you out with Anguilla, never having been there, but did do a turtle snorkeling tour once out of Barbados that was incredible. Tons of sea turtles.

 

The river tubing in Dominica is SO much fun. Highly recommend!

 

Could you give me the name of the tour operator for the Anguilla trip? That sounds really interesting.

[20pluscruises]

We did the snorkel, swim with turtles through the ship. TONS of turtles and as a Swedish couple on the trip with us said "the beach at the end was DELIGHTFUL" They even brought drinks out in the water to all over 21 guests.

 

I going back to that beach one day!!!!!!!!

[CruisingTheWaves]

thanks for your comments everyone. i do know the barbados excursion has NO beach at all. my parents have done this same excursion and said it was great, but she said that if i will see turtles in st. john, we could skip the one in barbados. the only difference with that is that turtles are pretty much a guarantee and they feed for them to come. in st. john there's just a "very good chance."

 

the tour from st. maarten to anguilla that i am looking at is swaliga 2.

[20pluscruises]

thanks for your comments everyone. i do know the barbados excursion has NO beach at all. my parents have done this same excursion and said it was great, but she said that if i will see turtles in st. john, we could skip the one in barbados. the only difference with that is that turtles are pretty much a guarantee and they feed for them to come. in st. john there's just a "very good chance."

 

the tour from st. maarten to anguilla that i am looking at is swaliga 2.

 

Awww...that's a shame. The beach in Barbados was better than Trunk Bay!

[CruisingTheWaves]

Which beach in Barbados? That's why I'm considering doing Anguilla instead of the Barbados trip so that I can have some beach time there as well.

Edited January 9, 2014 by CruisingTheWaves

[20pluscruises]

Which beach in Barbados? That's why I'm considering doing Anguilla instead of the Barbados trip so that I can have some beach time there as well.

 

I wish I knew the name,,,it's not far from the turtles and you can see the ship from the beach. It was the the shipwreck snorkel, awim with turles and beach break excursion booked on the Equinox. They should be able to tell you the actual name. It would be a short taxi ride from the ship (at least where we were docked at) It wasn't crowded and it had a small food shack, and everyone said it was the best fish sandwich they ever had. I didn't het to try the food. It was crystal clear water and the sand was like baby powder.

 

We have been to all of the Caribbean Isands and this is by far my all time favorite beach/sand/water. It wasn't a large beach, but the turquoise blue water, soft sand and the fact that you could just float in that water without a mat forever was "delightful"! No lounge chairs on the beach and nobody cared...the sand was better than a lounge chair. So nice in fact, at one point we were all using the sand to exfoiliate our legs. I can't wait to one day get back there!!!!!!!!

 

We made a mental note that it was not much more than a mile from where the ship was docked...on the right hand...just follow the road to the right.

 

Hope this helps somewhat. If I can find the name of the beach I will definately follow up.

[kcdancerkc]

That's a tough one! Did you take a vote? Just did Barbados....cat for 12 called el Tigre ....has a beach stop....lunch....sail and motor....turtles in Barbados soooo guaranteed.....

 

 

Anguilla, look at st. Martin boards.....info there

 

Also look at tripadvisor.com

[CruisingTheWaves]

I wish I knew the name,,,it's not far from the turtles and you can see the ship from the beach. It was the the shipwreck snorkel, awim with turles and beach break excursion booked on the Equinox. They should be able to tell you the actual name. It would be a short taxi ride from the ship (at least where we were docked at) It wasn't crowded and it had a small food shack, and everyone said it was the best fish sandwich they ever had. I didn't het to try the food. It was crystal clear water and the sand was like baby powder.

 

We have been to all of the Caribbean Isands and this is by far my all time favorite beach/sand/water. It wasn't a large beach, but the turquoise blue water, soft sand and the fact that you could just float in that water without a mat forever was "delightful"! No lounge chairs on the beach and nobody cared...the sand was better than a lounge chair. So nice in fact, at one point we were all using the sand to exfoiliate our legs. I can't wait to one day get back there!!!!!!!!

 

We made a mental note that it was not much more than a mile from where the ship was docked...on the right hand...just follow the road to the right.

 

Hope this helps somewhat. If I can find the name of the beach I will definately follow up.

 

thanks for the info, if you can find the name of the beach, let me know. we went to a beach in jamaica that had sand like that. just white, white, white, and powder to the touch.

[CruisingTheWaves]

That's a tough one! Did you take a vote? Just did Barbados....cat for 12 called el Tigre ....has a beach stop....lunch....sail and motor....turtles in Barbados soooo guaranteed.....

 

 

Anguilla, look at st. Martin boards.....info there

 

Also look at tripadvisor.com

 

thanks, tripadvisor is always a must of course, this is more of a "i know i can't go wrong but i am having trouble deciding" kind of thing. and of course if the weather ends up being not so great one one of those days i may wish i had chosen the other option, but there's nothing that can be done about that!