Bahamas itinerary question

[KPookey]

I’m sailing on Pride to Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Freeport.  We want to snorkel at one of those ports, the other two stops we will probably shop and/or hit a beach. They all have snorkeling excursions.  Which island is my best place to snorkel, or which island do I really need to have an excursion planned?  I’m leaning towards Freeport, because I’m reading there is not much to do right off the ship.

 

thanks ⛵️

[beacha]

8 minutes ago, KPookey said:

I’m sailing on Pride to Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Freeport.  We want to snorkel at one of those ports, the other two stops we will probably shop and/or hit a beach. They all have snorkeling excursions.  Which island is my best place to snorkel, or which island do I really need to have an excursion planned?  I’m leaning towards Freeport, because I’m reading there is not much to do right off the ship.

 

thanks ⛵️

Hi,

We hopped off the ship in Grand Turk hoping to snorkel from the beach, but the water was extremely rough. When you get off the ship turn right. You will leave the cruise port area. There looks like some reefs off the shore a bit. We kept on walking and came to the part of the island that fronts the Atlantic Ocean. It was so rough, but beautiful. We stopped at a bar on the way back to the ship ,”The Beached Whale” which was a lovely little place. Sad we couldn’t snorkel.

No real reefs at Half Moon, but a beautiful beach.

At Freeport, we had planned to take a taxi to Deadman’s Reef, but I was too burned to go. We have snorkeled there many times and it was great.

[HeavyMetalDeacon]

You best bet for shopping is  Grand Turk or Freeport . Make sure you attend the shopping presentation and be ome friends with the shopper for the best deals. For just a beach day we did grand turk ( right off the ship) and half moon . 

 

Sorry , not a snorkel person .

[purplephenom]

Grand Turk is nice for snorkeling, but probably not right off the beach.  You'd want to go out on a boat,I think. 

[elcuchio24]

Grand Turk. Good snorkeling, even right from the beach, but if you want to work the drop off book a catamaran tour. The drop is not to be missed. 

[OCruisers]

A catamaran snorkeling tour at either Grand Turk or Freeport.

Half Moon Cay is wonderful for a beach day.  

[GradUT]

We’ve done this cruise a couple of times. 

 

Grand Turk — Has a nice beach (with free lounges/umbrellas if you go to the right section—otherwise you’ll be charged).  The snorkeling is not good off the beach by the pier—you really need to take a boat excursion to get out to the coral where the fish live.  Our 2nd visit was a last-minute change due to a hurricane in Bermuda, so we had not planned anything.  As a result, we took a ship’s snorkel excursion rather than booking our own (which we usually do on cruises).  I was surprisingly pleased by this excursion.  Despite starting out with a wait for everyone to show up, it was a good excursion.  There were just about 25-30 people on the boat so it was not crowded.  We stopped first at a decent Reef and spent about 30 minutes snorkeling.  From there, we went to a stingray area where the rays would swim right around your legs—totally cool. Afterwards we were taken to a beach club where we had access to lounges and umbrellas next to the water—much nicer than the area by the pier!  I would rate this excursion 4 stars out of 5.  If you can arrange a non-ship’s snorkel trip, it will probably be even better. 

 

Freeport—Both times we went to Freeport, we chose to stay on the ship so we had the Serenity deck practically to ourselves and rode the waterslides without an audience!  But if you want to go ashore in every port, then this would be the place to do your snorkel trip because there’s nothing worth doing in Freeport itself. 

 

 

[ABQrobin]

Freeport - the ship's dock is right in the industrial park area, nothing is nearby.  Take an excursion there.  Looks like it might be a great option for snorkeling.  We did the kayak tour in the mangroves with a beach break excursion and loved it.  It was beautiful.  But if you want to snorkel and one port, i would do it Freeport.  

 

Grand Turk - beach beach beach.   We did a snorkeling excursion our first time there and it was very disappointing.  

 

 

[Nevada Jen]

You definitely want an excursion in Freeport. Whether it be for snorkeling or something else.  We did the kayak thing also and it made me fall in love with the island.  So many people really don't like the Freeport stop, but I suspect that is because they have not done it with a planned excursion.  I wouldn't give up that Kayak tour and beach for snorkeling but I get lots of chances to snorkel.

[Squadleader]

Freeport sounds like a good bet since you have to get an excursion or cab to a beach anyway.

 

For what it's worth, Grand Turk may also be a very good target of opportunity for snorkeling. We love Grand Turk, or any of the "private Island" type venues because it's an instant can of beach, just pop the top. What could be simpler, walk right off the ship and onto a wonderful beach. Near the ship the ocean bottom is rocky and a bit unpleasant to walk barefoot in, but as you walk further and further to the left along the beach away from the ship, as you walk off the pier, the bottom becomes just sand. 

 

Grank Turk is famous for "the wall". You can Google it. It's a 6,000 foot drop straight down, about a quarter mile off the cruise ship beach. Just before the wall drop, the water is about 25 feet deep with coral and lots of fish. 

 

Don't be crazy and try to swim out that far, first you're liable to drown, and second, there's a lot of small boat traffic taking snorkelers and divers to the wall, and you could accidentally be run down swimming out there by yourself. 

 

We took a boat that left right off the cruise ship beach to the wall and my kids had a great time. We were walking down the beach and the guy was standing there with his boat and I made a deal to go out to the wall. I suspect if you keep your eyes open, you could ckeck-in with those boat operators working in the surf of the beach, about the possibility of any open slots they may have left during the day, and if it's slow for them, maybe negotiating a discount for empty space. 

 

It'll probably depend on the season, having just one ship at the pier couldn't hurt your chances of finding empty space.

 

The beach and the convenience of it to ship, make Grand Turk wonderful no matter what. but also having "the wall" just offshore is a great bonus. As far as I'm concerned, getting off the ship as soon as possible and even grabbing a boat for a single hour to run out the quarter mile to the wall would be well worth it, if the opportunity presents itself. I usually travel with four or five of my children, so that does make it easier for me to justify a higher dollar amount to the boat owner, as opposed to a couple who don't have the multiplier I do. 

 

For fun, open Google Maps and type in Grand Turk. Make sure you have the satellite photo mode on. You'll see the cruise ship pier in the lower left corner of the small island of Grand Turk. You'll notice the reason the pier is where it is, is because the wall (deep water) is closest to land at that place. You'll also see Margaritaville and its huge pool.

 

Booking an excursion with the ship is always easiest of course and guarantees you'll have the activity, but if you don't come off the ship with a plan, you might also find a nice opportunity to still snorkel the reef and "wall" just off the beach.