Snorkeling in Antiqua (from shore or otherwise)

[lawtyger]

My wife and I love to snorkel and usually snorkel all of the ports on the western caribbean (Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Belize, Roatan) and on the eastern caribbean snorkeled St. Martin and St. John. But, many of the ports on our recently booked southern caribbean cruise are new to us.

 

Web searches of Antigua have uncovered some EXTREMELY attractive beach, rock, reef formations that have us wanting to jump in and snorkel now.

 

We are hoping to hear from experienced snorkelers who understand how non damaged reef, rock, structure (as opposed to sandy bottom) is true snorkeling joy (like Roatan at Tabyana or any of the Grand Cayman reefs).

 

Does anyone know if there is snorkeling accessible from shore on your own (via walking from the peir or taxi or bus). If not, any private excursion experiences you can share will be appreciated.

[Miss Vickie]

My wife and I love to snorkel and usually snorkel all of the ports on the western caribbean (Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Belize, Roatan) and on the eastern caribbean snorkeled St. Martin and St. John. But, many of the ports on our recently booked southern caribbean cruise are new to us.

 

Web searches of Antigua have uncovered some EXTREMELY attractive beach, rock, reef formations that have us wanting to jump in and snorkel now.

 

We are hoping to hear from experienced snorkelers who understand how non damaged reef, rock, structure (as opposed to sandy bottom) is true snorkeling joy (like Roatan at Tabyana or any of the Grand Cayman reefs).

 

Does anyone know if there is snorkeling accessible from shore on your own (via walking from the peir or taxi or bus). If not, any private excursion experiences you can share will be appreciated.

 

We're very experienced snorkelers, the carry your own gear, search of out of the way, non-ship excursion places kind of snorkelers. Which ship/itinerary are you doing?

 

Antigua isn't quite as good as some of the other places you've been too (esp. Roatan and GC). We're big fans of Eli Fuller's tours. The Eco Tour has you snorkeling Cades Reef, climbing Hells Gate (or snorkeling in the area, if you prefer - your choice, a trip to Bird Island, a great home made lunch while at Bird Island, a trip through the mangroves and past many of the off-shore islands in Antigua's North Sound, in a very comfortable boat. The Xtreme Circumnav tour, in a big, high-powered off shore power boat, goes around the island, as its name suggests. It has stops to swim with the stingrays, at Green Island, you tour English Harbor by water, snorkel at the Pillars of Hercules and visit an out-of-the-way, quiet but beautiful beach, where they break out the afternoon refreshments. That same great lunch is served at Green Island. We've done Eli's tours 5 times (so far), and he recently told me we no longer hold the record, meaning there's someone who gets to do his tours even more often than we do, which makes me jealous! His website is www.adventureantigua.com

[Stevesan]

Another vote for Eli's Eco Tour.

I snorkeled with them last February and previously with much better weather conditions.:

 

Antigua: Full Day snorkel with Eli’s Eco Tour:

http://www.adventureantigua.com/tour.html

Today’s boat Captain is J.D., not Eli. Tony was our narrator and snorkel guide. Tony proves to be a good replacement for Eli. A very windy day, 25 knots, makes for a rough ride to the North Shore. First stop is Bird Island beach for a short hike and/or snorkel lesson. There were two more stops, the last at Hell’s Gate. The weather and seas are too rough to snorkel over the reef to the Atantic side, so I just snorkeled between boat and reef. Nice coral and reef, but sand covers most of it and few fish venture out. Lunch is served on board. There are other options here including a climb to the top of Hell’s Gate via the island cave, which most choose to do. Good or bad weather, Eli’s is the best snorkel excursion in the Caribbean.