Snorkeling on CoCo Cay

[number one eagles fan]

I was just wondering about the snorkeling on CoCo Cay. Is it any good? I'll have my 9 year old son with me who is a good swimmer and I would love for him to do some snorkeling.

 

Or, should I book a separate snorkeling excursion in St. Thomas or St. Maarten?

 

I would appreciate any advice/opinions/comments on your experiences.

[bancytu]

I loved snorkeling in CoCo Cay. You rent the equipment all day and you snorkel at your own pace. They give you a floating vest so swimming shouldn't be a problem. We saw all kinds of sea life including a sting ray! On my cruise in August I plan on renting the equipment again in CoCo Cay.

[BaumD]

The snorkelling at CoCo Cay is pretty tame and not the greatest. But it may be good for a 9 yo trying it for the first time.

[kittyg]

We took the Turtle Cove snorkeling excursion in St. Thomas (same destination as the Buck Island tours) and as a diver from 20 years ago, the coral was in a sad state. However, some on the boat who had also snorkeled at Coco Cay said it was so much better since there was virtually nothing to see at Coco Cay. We saw many of the endangered Green Sea Turtles which was exciting.

 

My 8yo did snorkeling at St. Thomas for the first time and did well - just make sure you get a child's size mask from the tour.

 

I'm not sure if snorkeling was better, coral/fish wise in St. Maarten, but we wanted to do the beach tour there.

[piphigoddess]

We snorkeled CocoCay. It was very sandy so we didn't see any coral. We did see fish around the submerged plane and ship but nothing spectacular. We were more excited by the sea cucumbers everybody passed by because they were camoflauged.

 

It's an easy snorkel because of the vest and sheltered area. There were lots of people and you snorkeled off the beach, not my favorite. I would have snorkeled in Nassau if I had it to do over again.

[johnjen]

Snorkeling? We loved it at Coco Cay!

 

[PhinsAndGills]

It's been a few years since I've been there, but we've snorkeled all over the Bahamas, Cozumel, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Labadee, Belize, and a few other places, and CocoCay has been one of my FAVORITES!

 

No, there's not much coral if that's what you're looking for. The plane is neat. The old sunken ship was neat too, but it was only there on my first trip. A hurricane took most of it away. If you're standing on the beach and looking out at the plane area, stay to the FAR left, there's a drop off on the other side of a rock wall. Going out to this area and on the other side of the wall is where we saw eagle rays, stingrays, TONS of fish (including a spiny pufferfish) and a LOT of other things. We were able to get pretty up close and personal with some really cool marine life. I'm not into these "trap the animals and let you pet them" attractions, so I was pretty excited to get an up close picture of an eagle ray that was about my size!

 

There again, it's all based on opinions and the way you look at things. Cozumel, for us, was a big let down because of the side trip we chose, not because snorkeling in Coz is bad. We maybe had a better experience than most on CocoCay because we went different places around the area. I do suggest that if you're going to snorkel a few different places, and if this isn't going to be your only trip where you'll get in the water, buy your own snorkel gear. I've seen fairly decent sets for only $35. We just lug our gear in a separate OLD hard-sided suitcase (go look at garage sales. With the way airlines beat them up, it's not worth an expensive new one and the old tacky mustard yellow color with brightly colored strap is REALLY EASY to spot coming off the luggage belt at the airport...) Its also good for bringing home souvies.

 

Go and try it out. Who knows, you may see things none of us have seen yet! Let us know and have fun!

[cb at sea]

The water was so clear when we were there, you didn't need to snorkel--you could just wade out and stand there and see all there was to see!

[DreadPirateRobert]

I thought St Thomas was better than Coco Cay. Your son will probably enjoy the submerged airplane, and there were some interesting fish the day we were there.

[SharkCruiser24]

Snorkeling in CocoCay is awesome. Many many fish, plane wreck, ship wreck, and so many different types of coral. I went with the Adventure Ocean staff (miss you Joe Mama!) in November last year. As it turned out I was the only one that went, but I had a blast. I saw a huge stingray!! Your son can go with the Adventure Ocean staff aka a tour guide (at least Joe was like that) for $18, and you can tag along with them it is $25 for 18 and up. It was relativly easy, I was a beginner and we went into pretty rough open water which is where we saw the sting ray. I wouldnt recomend going over there unless you are a really strong swimmer, and don't mind the current pushing you.