Snorkeling in majahual, coz, roatan, belize

[katmad]

My husband & I & 2 teenagers wld like to do some snorkeling in these ports. What beaches do you recommend? Can we take a taxi & avoid the more expensive shore excursions? Which port is best to skip & do a mayan ruin tour? We'll be on the Grand Princess.

[lhbsurf]

My husband & I & 2 teenagers wld like to do some snorkeling in these ports. What beaches do you recommend? Can we take a taxi & avoid the more expensive shore excursions? Which port is best to skip & do a mayan ruin tour? We'll be on the Grand Princess.

 

I have not been to Roatan - but in January we snorkeled in Belize and Costa Maya and snorkeled Cozumel last year. I have to say, that the snorkeling in Belize was spectacular. We took a ships tour here because they were allowed to pick us up from ship, thus avoiding the tender rides (which are quite long in Belize) and saved, I would guess an hour or more of our time. We went to the Barrier Reef with Island Paradise and thought it was excellent.

 

In Costa Maya, we just picked up a snorkel trip at the pier (or you can just decide from the town) with Olinca - it was $15. (Taxi ride to town is 5pp round trip.) A small boat took us on about a 10 minute boat ride to a reef and we snorkeled for about 45 minutes - pretty good. Not the best or worst I've ever done.

 

In Cozumel, a lot of the shore snorkeling was damaged last year after Hurricane Wilma. We did not snorkel this trip, as it was quite cloudy, but have heard that some of the boat trips are quite nice and run about $25 per person I think. In 2005 we snorkeled at Dzul Ha and then went to Paradise Beach and my teenagers - 13 & 16 enjoyed it with the water toys and busy beach - plus you would have the option of a snorkel boat from there as well.

 

I think the snorkeling in any of these ports would be fine, especially if you haven't done a lot of it.....