AOS - Snorkeling

[clonegirl]

Headed on AOS in 3 weeks. Where is the best snorkeling in the Southern Caribbean? Any other recommended shore excursions or other tips?

[flyerbrp]

Aruba has some amazing snorkeling. Was on AOS last week. We went with Delphi Watersports They had a 20 person catamatan 3 hours for 40 bucks they were great There is a ship wreck there to snorkel at lots of fish gave us bread to feed and attract tons of fish saw a giant turtle too

[hockeyboy]

We just got back from snorkeling 3 places from AOS.

 

Aruba - fair, we made two stops from Jolly Pirates.

One was a little reef (I guess). Not much coral, murky water, a few fish.

The wreck was better but only OK. Lots of fish and kind of scary. If you snorkel the wreck, remember that the wreck is in 3 chunks. If you keep swimming towards shore you'll find the other two chunks.

 

Curacao - best snorkeling we did. We went with Curacao Actief. They did the tugboat. There is much more to see than just the tugboat, there are many corals in the tugboat area. Clear water, lots of fish. Actief goes here early in the morning before the crowds arrive. The second place was even better. It was along a dropoff. Lots of fish and corals. We were the only people there.

 

St. Thomas - We went to Sapphire Beach. A great beach with very good snorkeling. Highly recommended if you're going to stay on St. Thomas.

The very best snorkeling is on St. John. Trunk Bay is OK, Cinnamon Bay is better. Waterlemon Cay is the best but tough to get to.

 

St. Maarten. I'm told there's some decent snorkeling around an island to the far right of the beach as you face the water. WE didn't snorkel there, we just played in the waves. Great Beach (but not as nice as Sapphire).

[lovetocruise99]

We also were on AOS last week and did many of the same things. We booked Jolly Pirates directly which I highly recommend doing versus the ship's excursion. For basically the same price as the ship we had 4 1/2 hours with 3 snorkeling stops and a very good bar-b-que lunch served onboard plus extra time with the rope swings at the third stop.

 

In Curacao we snorkeled inside the Curacao Aquarium which is cooler than it sounds. The area to snorkel in is outside with many large fish such as grouper, stingrays, etc. Also you can feed big sharks through holes in the plexiglass. I highly recommend this tour for children because it's very safe and they can see everything they would see in deeper water. The water is 12 feet deep. The ship also offers a scuba excursion here for first time scuba divers who are not certified.

 

In september we went with Curacao Actief which was also fun, especially the drop off.

 

 

I would not plan on snorkeling in St Martin. In St Thomas we've snorkeled at both Sapphire Beach which is nice and shallow with plenty of fish and Coki Beach, which I felt was the best snorkeling in the Southern Caribbean. There were tons of colorful fish, including parrot fish in 2 feet of water with crystal clear water.

[crisp1]

St Thomas- Secret Harbour, Cowpet and Sapphire in that order

St Martin- Creole Rock or 3 island snorkel tour with Captain Alan. Dawn beach if the surf is down

Haven't been to Curacao and didn't snorkel in Aruba.

Also check the scuba/ snorkel board and ports of call boards for each island