Roatán Snorkel off beach

[SweetPea0517]

We like to snorkel from the beach instead of boat excursions and will be in Roatan in February from a Carnival ship.  My husband will want shade when he is out of the water and it would be nice to have access to restaurants/bar/bathrooms for after we are finished snorkeling.  We need easy access to get a ride there meaning we cannot walk up and down the hill outside the port area for pickup.  
 

Any suggestions?  

[topspot]

We don't normally do a ships excursion, but in Roatan, but,Carnival offers a tabayana beach break.  It includes transportation, and everything you mention.  Going to the beach, you go at the time assigned, and returning, you can choose when you return.  The last time we did this return was every half hour.

[ABQrobin]

Carnival has the excursion...Tabyana Beach Break... it is exactly what you are looking for.  

[SweetPea0517]

Do you remember if they had a pool?  I can’t tell from the description.

 

Has anyone tried the Resort Adventure Package at Fantasy Island Resort?  I wonder how the snorkeling is compared to Tabyana Beach.

[mom22frogs]

22 hours ago, SweetPea0517 said:

Do you remember if they had a pool?  I can’t tell from the description.

 

Has anyone tried the Resort Adventure Package at Fantasy Island Resort?  I wonder how the snorkeling is compared to Tabyana Beach.

Here's a link showing the snorkeling areas near Fantasy Island Resort. https://www.snorkeling-report.com/spot/snorkeling-french-key-roatan/  I haven't snorkeled there. When we were in Roatan before, we did the sloths, iguanas, and then went to I think Las Palmas, which is a beach area in view of the Carnival cruise port. It's not an area particularly known for snorkeling, but we had our equipment with us anyway and just went out. We enjoyed it so much, we went out 3 times! We would go just beyond the bouy line, through the sea grass, and there would be coral heads, fish, barracuda, etc. The food was quite good too, probably better than what I'm reading about in reviews of other beach spots. They were smoking the meats right there, so smoked hot dogs, smoked chicken nachos, etc. The bathrooms were clean and it felt very safe. The only peddler on the beach was a lady offering to braid hair, which I thought was reasonably appropriate.

 

Thing is, for that, we were just swimming out a short ways, and most of it was very shallow. I really don't have a sense of scale, but I'd be trying to figure out whether it's better to snorkel the french keys areas by swimming there or by boat. You don't want to get tired. Would you be by yourself and your dh staying on land? Super important reason to have a guide or be really close to shore. 

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g15070974-d14188834-Reviews-Las_Palmas_Beach_Bar_and_Grill-Dixon_Cove_Roatan_Bay_Islands.html  This is the Las Palmas I was talking about. Fwiw, I'd probably do the Tabayana or one of the ones the cruise takes people to. I'm looking for our next trip. Some of the beaches on that west bay area look gorgeous. The water around Las Palmas (and I suspect that east side of the island) is kind of green and weedy, not so pretty.

[ABQrobin]

On 12/28/2019 at 8:21 PM, SweetPea0517 said:

Do you remember if they had a pool?  I can’t tell from the description.

 

Has anyone tried the Resort Adventure Package at Fantasy Island Resort?  I wonder how the snorkeling is compared to Tabyana Beach.

 

its just a beach, not at a resort.  No pool or anything fancy.  

[mom22frogs]

nt

Edited December 30, 2019 by mom22frogs

[SweetPea0517]

Thanks everyone for your information!

[SweetPea0517]

On 12/29/2019 at 8:00 PM, mom22frogs said:

Here's a link showing the snorkeling areas near Fantasy Island Resort. https://www.snorkeling-report.com/spot/snorkeling-french-key-roatan/  I haven't snorkeled there. When we were in Roatan before, we did the sloths, iguanas, and then went to I think Las Palmas, which is a beach area in view of the Carnival cruise port. It's not an area particularly known for snorkeling, but we had our equipment with us anyway and just went out. We enjoyed it so much, we went out 3 times! We would go just beyond the bouy line, through the sea grass, and there would be coral heads, fish, barracuda, etc. The food was quite good too, probably better than what I'm reading about in reviews of other beach spots. They were smoking the meats right there, so smoked hot dogs, smoked chicken nachos, etc. The bathrooms were clean and it felt very safe. The only peddler on the beach was a lady offering to braid hair, which I thought was reasonably appropriate.

 

Thing is, for that, we were just swimming out a short ways, and most of it was very shallow. I really don't have a sense of scale, but I'd be trying to figure out whether it's better to snorkel the french keys areas by swimming there or by boat. You don't want to get tired. Would you be by yourself and your dh staying on land? Super important reason to have a guide or be really close to shore. 

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g15070974-d14188834-Reviews-Las_Palmas_Beach_Bar_and_Grill-Dixon_Cove_Roatan_Bay_Islands.html  This is the Las Palmas I was talking about. Fwiw, I'd probably do the Tabayana or one of the ones the cruise takes people to. I'm looking for our next trip. Some of the beaches on that west bay area look gorgeous. The water around Las Palmas (and I suspect that east side of the island) is kind of green and weedy, not so pretty.

We decided to do the Carnival Tabyana Beach excursion.  Since it is just the 2 of us we don’t seem to be as brave to venture out that far from the port on our own.  I think the accident in Belize has impacted us some and we normally are with a group of people.
 

I am really glad you shared the information  on the other places, I have saved it in my notes.  My husband will be with me but he tires easy so I do need to pay attention to where I am at😊