Cococay and Atlantis questions

[WanderlustingPenguins]

Hi all, getting super excited with less than two weeks left! Have a couple of questions.

 

First, we booked our cruise through Expedia. Looks like booking the dolphin excursion through them is a lot cheaper than through RCCL. We arrive that day at noon in Nassau and I wanted to try to book the 1:20 dolphin encounter. Is that enough time, knowing we aren't going through the cruise line, to make it there in time with taxi time etc? And reasons we would want to pay $120 more to go through the cruise line?

 

Second, none of the cococay snorkeling excursions take you out on a boat, correct? Doesn't seem to be much benefit to paying for the excursion when we can probably find the reefs on our own. But my boyfriend thinks we would see more if we went out further.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Clarea]

You should have no problem getting to Atlantis by 1:20pm if you dock at noon. You will likely be off the ship before 12:30pm and maybe a 10 minute taxi ride to Atlantis. When you get a taxi, before you get in, I would ask the taxi driver if he is leaving immediately. Sometimes they can wait for a while for their taxi to fill up.

 

We have enjoyed snorkeling at Coco Cay right off the beach. If you go to the left, towards where the ship is anchored, there is a reef.

[CruisinCrow]

I can't answer the Atlantis question but yes, you can snorkel from shore at Coco Cay. You just need to rent the snorkel equipment. You can also bring your own snorkel equipment but you'll still need to rent the snorkel vest - it's required.

 

The best snorkeling is a bit of a swim but well worth it. There is a sunken cannon and tons of fish out by the life guard stand.

[Scottohiocpa]

On Coco Cay there are some man made shallow lagoons for people to get wet in. If you go past the man-made rock formations, there is a lot of interesting stuff to see just feet from shore. I would rate the snorkeling here an 8 out of 10. Also, the southern half of the island where barefoot beach is has a very shallow sandbar that runs out for 1000 feet or more. Last time we were there we found live Conchs wandering across it. We also saw stingrays swimming through and one guy picked up what we thought was a Conch, only find it had an enormous hermit crab inside it instead. A lot of people visit the island without ever knowing about the barefoot beach area and they miss out on seeing this unique habitat.

[WanderlustingPenguins]

That's awesome, thanks! Hopefully we'll be able to tender, looks like it may be raining/thunderstorming next weekend. Fingers crossed for awesome weather!

[CruisinCrow]

I hope you get to go. Coco Cay is beautiful. Wind is more of an issue for tendering than rain.

[WanderlustingPenguins]

Yea but thunderstorms usually bring wind with them! But I just checked the forecast again and now it says mostly sunny. Being a true blooded Floridian, I never take weather forecasts very seriously. I took my kayak out once with black skies and all the tourists rushing OUT of the water looked at me like I was nuts. Joke was on them when the storm went right by us and we spent the afternoon with the water to ourselves

[CruisinCrow]

True, but the winds that come with thunderstorms tend to be short-lived, as you know from living in Florida. :) Wind is more of an issue during the winter when the cold fronts mess up the weather for days. Have a great time!