first time snorkle for 8yrl

[tropicalwoman]

we will be going to Grand Cayman and Cozumel in april with my DS8. what is a good place to snorkel for the first time with and 8 yrl?

[LoneStarMama]

*bump*

I have the same question

[topspot]

Don't know the best place to snorkel on GC, but there is a helmet dive there where you actually go down about 30ft of water to see the marine life and walk around on the bottom. You wear a helmet where air is pumped in and your hair doesn't even get wet. You must be a minimum of 8 and 85 lbs. It was awesome. If you do snorkel I suggest you get the child to practice with the equipment in a pool. Hope this helps.

[jean-lynd]

We just spent a week in a condo on 7 mile beach. Our 9 year old grandson really loved the snorkeling. I think it helps them a lot if they can do it from shore first and not from a boat. We did Stingray City on the last day and by then he had no problem just jumping off of the boat and swimming like a fish. When we took him out from the beach at the condo we always had a floatation devise close by so that he could rest on it if he got tired.

 

I hope this helps!

[Capt_BJ]

When DD was 8 we lived in Miami and had a pool. She spent a lot of time learning to be comfortable with the mask, fins and snorkel in the pool and kept asking me "dad, I want to go snorkeling in the ocean and see fish." Mom and I were and are avid divers and she wanted to join the club....

 

So I took a day off from work and we did a father daughter bonding thing, drove to Key Largo and headed out with the Pennecamp Park snorkel tour. I was THRILLED.....

 

Things went well for about 10 minutes in the water and then DD saw a Barracuda about 3 foot long :eek: and then demonstrated the most amazing walking on water explosion back to the boat I've ever seen. It appears she just didn't realize that there were fish bigger than her......or that had teeth.....

[flatman]

Bet you didn't expect to see me here on this thread? My wife is excited about sunset house, but wants to research seven mile beach too..She wants to snorkel in shallow water first, to gain her confidence, then maybe off to the 30 or 40 foot depths...Is seven mile beach a good place for that? We're thinking we could do both places..

[jean-lynd]

flatman, Have you thought about practicing in the pool? You could definitely do this just about anywhere along 7 mile beach. We just spent a week at the Lacovia on 7 mile beach. While it was a beautiful sandy beach we were still able to find small areas of coral that had fish and sea urchins and we also saw a stingray. If you just want to practice I would walk along 7 mile beach and look for dark patches in the water. We almost always found some form of sealife at these spots. It is about 2 miles from Lacovia to Georgetown and I walked almost all of the way to town. There was one section at Crescent Point that I could not get through because it was rocky and I did not have any shoes but you could walk up the street and then cut through to the beach at Crescent Point and walk, snorkel and explore for as long as you want. Then when you are ready you could catch a cab from one of the hotels or restaurants back to sunset house for the rest of the day.

 

I hope this helps!

 

Enjoy!

[Capt_BJ]

Bet you didn't expect to see me here on this thread? My wife is excited about sunset house, but wants to research seven mile beach too..She wants to snorkel in shallow water first, to gain her confidence, then maybe off to the 30 or 40 foot depths...Is seven mile beach a good place for that? We're thinking we could do both places..

 

Not surprised, but impressed....OK here's the deal.

 

South of Georgetown the reef comes close to shore...actually it IS the shore. What we now call Iron Shore is the dead reef, risen up and became the land. The reef is what you walk on. Jump in the water south of Geo'twn and you are hitting the reef...the coral...right there. And depth increases fairly fast. Eden or Sunset...about the same.

 

head north of town, to Seven Mile beach area and the reef is now a couple of miles off shore. 7 mile is GREAT....but if you snorkel 7 mile, you may see some fish but the reef is a mile or more off shore. A typical dive shop boat trip is to "the wall" off 7 mile beach...a mile or more off 7 mile beach, and the wall's top will be 70 feet depth or more; to get 'the wall effect' you dive to 100 feet. Or in other words....not snorkel territory.

 

30 or 40 feet depth off 7 mile...you'll see sand. maybe some fish...but mostly sand.

 

Off Sunset....30 feet deep = a vibrant reef. But little sand b4 you get there.

 

Could u do both? Sure!

 

all in all, your spousal unit may be WAY better off with a tour to Sting Ray City. (no frequent reader here expected ME to say that) this time. Shallow depths and big creatures that will, after the fact, increase her confidence for next time.

 

BUT hate to see you miss wonderful libations at My Bar :D

[flatman]

Hi jean-lynd, and Capt. BJ, Thanks for replying, here's the deal, I love learning about these differant places that we have a chance to see, we are very excited about this trip coming up cuz we are going to do Grand Cayman on our own with no pre-booked excursion. We are not experienced snorkelers and we still think we would freak if we couldn't touch the bottom...It sounds like every place is either 30 feet deep or very soon to be 30 feet deep...I take what your telling me is seven mile beach is really no differant than sunset house..Hey, don't get me wrong, we are going there, and we will have a great time. We will find a way to practice in shallow water first, and then we will decide if we want to try to do the depths when we get there.. I too don't want to miss the libations at ' my bar '.. We saw a picture of it, and it reminds us of the ' tiki hut bar ' at Fort Myers beach at the lighthouse motel..What a great place to visit..Anyway, here's another senario, we're stopping at Cozumel before GC and thinking about taking the El Cid snorkel and day pass excursion, and hoping there that we can practice our snorkeling there..have either of you done this before...? Sounds like a good day to me..Whatever we're going to GC and definitely going to see sunset house and my bar, maybe seven mile beach too..Thank you for your help so far..

[bookbabe]

It sounds like every place is either 30 feet deep or very soon to be 30 feet deep...I take what your telling me is seven mile beach is really no differant than sunset house..Hey, don't get me wrong, we are going there, and we will have a great time. We will find a way to practice in shallow water first, and then we will decide if we want to try to do the depths when we get there..

 

Not really. If you want to practice in shallow water first, then choose one of the spots along Seven Mile Beach. It's much further out before it gets to be 30 ft deep. You won't see as much, but you can practice snorkeling.

 

The easiest way to compare the two areas is to look at the pictures.

 

Royal Palms is a typical area of Seven Mile Beach, although not the area with the best snorkeling. Their webcam is here: http://www.reefgrill.com/

 

Sunset House (where My Bar is) has a photo gallery on their website:

http://www.sunsethouse.com/ Eden Rock and the other spots on that side of the cruise terminal have a very similar shoreline to what's in the Sunset House pics.

 

If you want good snorkeling close to shore, choose one of the spots to the right as you exit the cruise terminal. If you want shallow water where you can practice and you're not worried seeing too much in the water, hop a taxi and head to one of the sections of Seven Mile Beach (I think Cemetary Beach has okay snorkeling, but there's no real facilities there).

 

Another idea that might be a good compromise - one of the spots to the right (can't remember which one at the moment) has a shallow pool area carved into the shoreline where newer snorkelers can practice before heading out into the deeper water. Drew? John? Either of you remember which place that is?

[bookbabe]

sorry...computer glitch...double post

[jean-lynd]

flatman - bookbabe is right. The water is very shallow when you first enter along 7 mile beach and would be a great place to practice but you will not see much there because it is sandy. Definitely check out the webcam at http://www.reefgrill.com. It would be an excellent spot to practice and the taxi should be $4/person. We were staying in a condo about a mile north of there and we snorkeled from the beach almost every day. There was not a lot to see but we did see fish, sea urchins and a stingray not very far from shore at all. Just look for dark spots in the water these are usually rocks and or coral that the fish will hang around. My 9 year old grandson snorkeled with us and loved it.

 

I hope this helps.

[flatman]

Okay BookBabe, and jean-lynd, you surely are being comforting with your info about shallow water spots for us to practice...I myself am willing to try the deep waters, but my DW wants more confidence, and I can't blame her for that..Capt. BJ told me about the pool dug out of the shoreline too, and it was there at sunset house...I thought that was pretty cool..I will definetely try that out...Thanks to you all for your help, now I know for sure we'll be just fine...

 

Jim and Dianna

[flatman]

Now I have one more question: Does Royal Palms require a reservation? It's really a beautiful place...Again thanks..

 

Jim and Dianna

[bookbabe]

Now I have one more question: Does Royal Palms require a reservation? It's really a beautiful place...Again thanks..

Jim and Dianna

 

Nope...no charge for showers/restrooms/beach, no reservations needed. You just show up, and then rent/pay for what you use (chairs, umbrellas, watersports, food, drinks, etc.) as you use it.

[jean-lynd]

flatman - I did post all of the rental/activity prices for the Reef Grill on this board so if you check out that post you will know if you want to bother with any of that.

 

I hope this helps!

 

Enjoy!

[flatman]

Boy BookBabe, and jean-lynd you are right on...So informative and comforting..I found your price list and thats not bad at all.. Free showers, bathrooms, and beach is cool too..So, first seven mile beach to royal palms, practice a little snorkeling, enjoy the reefgrill and bar for a drink, then back to sunset house..Start out at the pool, then when we feel confident enough we head out to the good stuff...Back to 'my bar' for another libation, and who knows, sign up for scuba lessons...lol..

Ya'll ready for yet another question? I've heard a lot of bad stories about Jamaica...We're almost convinced to stay on the ship instead of going ashore..I really don't care much about their waterfall, nor would either of us like to be attacked by the locals trying to sell us something or just ripping us off..Is there anything worth while to see or do there? Have ya'll been there?

Thanks again, you've been really great..

[jean-lynd]

flatman - I went to Jamaica on my first cruise. We did the falls and enjoyed that but I have no desire to go back there. Maybe it was because it was my daughter and I traveling alone but I felt uneasy the whole time we were there.

 

I hope this helps!

[flatman]

Ya know, we just love the ship and days at sea as much as anything...I'm pretty sure we are just going to find our good time somewhere else...