Best Islands to snorkel at

[Illinoisvacationeer]

We have been to Cozumel, Grand Turk and Grand Cayman and Nassua. We are looking for other places to go.

Cozumel would ahve been great if the weather would ahve been better, not so windy and waves so choppy!

[Stevesan]

We have been to Cozumel, Grand Turk and Grand Cayman and Nassua. We are looking for other places to go.

Cozumel would ahve been great if the weather would ahve been better, not so windy and waves so choppy!

 

If you want to return to W. Caribbean itinerary, add Roatan to the list and return to Cozumel with better weather.

Both are world class. Eagle Ray Divers at Coz offers excellent service, but book the full day tour, not the half.

http://www.eagleraydivers.com/

 

E/S Caribbean have a slew of excellent snorkel ports.

Among the ABCs, Bonaire stands out.

 

Belize is very good, with a large reef circling a number of small islands.

 

Antigua and Tortola both feature good snorkeling and very good operators.

Try Patouche for Tortola and Adventure Antigua, aka Eli's Eco Tour.

 

http://www.patouche.com/

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

 

 

Now it's your turn to share. Tell me about snorkeling at Grand Turk, please.

[shelling4life]

Hi, I came across this thread, and need help in suggestions for a good cruise that offers islands of good snorkeling. For us, it is the main reason we will take a cruise. We love snorkeling and only get the opportunity when we go to florida once in a while...since we live in Minnesota. So, we need big time suggestions on locations to snorkel and your ship info as well would be appreciated.

Thanks

[fvandewouwer]

one of our favorite spots during cruising was grand cayman ( cruise with RCC Freedom of the seas ) not only the trip with the stingrays but the reef,it is the second largest in the world and there the snorkeling was great.

Hawaii was even better, lots of turtles and now and then a harmless shark.

 

We also started cruising searching for islands that has good snorkeling, it was also for us the main reason but now,after some cruises and a lot of car. islands we found out that there is no better snorkeling and diving as in Egypte " the Red Sea."

 

nothing can compare with that.

 

have a great evening

[scubaran]

Grand Turk is a great place to snorkel. The reefs are well protected and alive with all forms of fish (I'm scuba diving there in Feb.). The water can get a bit deep (25ft.) for novices but the water's always been dead calm, and the reefs are just off shore (though you really need a boat to get out far enough). It's also my understanding that the reef faired much better than the island during the last hurricane.

 

I also like Grand Cayman, St. Thomas/St. John, Tortola and Belize for snorkeling/diving.

 

Randall

[5waldos]

but now,after some cruises and a lot of car. islands we found out that there is no better snorkeling and diving as in Egypte " the Red Sea."

 

nothing can compare with that.

 

have a great evening

 

You might want to try Palau in Micronesia. The water is crystal clear and warm, and the snorkeling and diving some of the best in the world, if not the best. But it is a long way and hard to get to. But brilliant underwater and beautiful above.

[mlbcruiser]

If you go w/Eagleray, be sure to ask them about their boat. While really nice people, we were w/them about 3 yrs. ago after I'd read great things about them on here. Well, my dh is an experienced diver and I am an experienced snorkeler. They allowed both on the same trip, trying to accommodate too many different degrees of skill in each activity. They had some very novice divers on board.

 

First, our boat was VERY slow, but I liked it since it had a sundeck area on top. We had to stop and p/up 2 people at a resort, and it took away a fair amt. of time to do this. When we got to what was supposed to be Palancar Reef (my dh had dived Palancar before, but it was not in that area), the divers got off. Then 3 snorkelers (incl. myself) w/a local crew member who could not speak English (I do speak a little Spanish, but the other people did not.) At first we saw the divers down below. Then we began snorkeling, face down, of course. The boat moved a bit away from us. Next thing we know, it's going pretty far, and we saw the divers getting back on, and the boat left the area. After about 1 hr. in the water, the waves began swelling and becoming choppy, making it a bit difficult to snorkel. Besides that, there were boats passing by us at rather high speeds not too far away. And we were getting cold. The wife of the other snorkeler suddenly became very agitated and began to hyperventilate and began almost screaming to get the boat. There was another tour boat about 100 yards or so from us, which our guide started to swim to for help. Then a man came by in a panga boat and our guide waved him over and asked him to call our boat. He did, and in 10 min. or less our boat picked us up.

 

I heard a few of the divers complaining that it was too rough for them. My dh told me later that the reason they left the first site was because the current was too strong for the newbie divers.

 

Anyway, we were running a bit late and several people wanted to get off and get back to the port. Our boat was SLOW. Others in the area went much faster. Our Capt. (the guy who owns the co.), was responsible and let us off at a resort, telling us they would expect us to buy food or something for being dropped at the property. But no one had time! We all just hoofed it to the front by the road and hailed passing cabs. We got back to our ship about 45 min. ahead of time. But the other people were on a different ship, so?? And, to be fair, Eagle Ray did reduce our fee, but then, too, we had to pay for a cab. Still, they were certainly honorable. You should just make sure of what type of group you will be with and how fast their boats now go!

[Bethany Beach]

I don't know if the link at the bottom of this will actually go to my earlier post, (I've never tried to cut/paste a link). Anyway, we, too, are experienced snorkelers and only vacation in the Caribbean for that purpose. I know that great snorkeling can be found in other parts of the world - but travelling there is not going to happen for us - so we do our best to try to locate new snorkeling spots in the Carib. We prefer land vacations, but we took a Celebrity S. Carib cruise last year with the sole purpose of visiting islands to which we have never been hoping to find some new snorkeling places for possible future land vacations. Since we had only been to one of the islands before (Tortola), we opted for a ship sponsored snorkeling excursion in each port. What a mistake. Even though I searched extensively through CC I had difficulty finding private (of small group) snorkeling tours. Not being familiar with these ports, we didn't feel comfortable just going off on our own. I also couldn't find specific information about specific ship excursions on CC so when I returned home I decided to post this on the Celebrity page to hopefully help others with their decisions. All but one of our ship excursions was pretty much a waste of time. One caveat - people who have not had much snorkeling experience often really love the same sites that we think are pretty bad. So, snorkeling can often be a matter of where you have been in the past.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=741274&highlight=

[Azure Moon]

Hubby and I have enjoyed our snorkeling excursions in Roatan, Hawaii, and St. Johns.

[CruiseQueen13]

We have snorkeled in many places - the best were Bermuda, Cayman, Barbados. We also tried a Snuba dive it was fantastic! We will repeat for sure. We took the tour in St. Thomas - not thru cruiseline - VIsnuba.com (Frank). Utterly amazing experience!

[ScubaLarry54]

Roatan is by far in my opinion one of the best. Eagleray is an exciting and great time. Crystal clear water and great wildlife. Where in Illinois are you from?

[jessie073]

Grand Turk is a great place to snorkel. The reefs are well protected and alive with all forms of fish (I'm scuba diving there in Feb.). The water can get a bit deep (25ft.) for novices but the water's always been dead calm, and the reefs are just off shore (though you really need a boat to get out far enough). It's also my understanding that the reef faired much better than the island during the last hurricane.

 

I also like Grand Cayman, St. Thomas/St. John, Tortola and Belize for snorkeling/diving.

 

Randall

 

Of all the Caribbean places we've snorkeled - Tabayana Beach in Roatan is BY FAR the best we've seen! Some other great spots: Just snorkled the wrecks and turtles in Barbados which was amazing. Jalousie Beach in St. Lucia was great, also Chamagne Reef in Dominica. We've snorkeling with Eagle Ray in Cozumel, but Cozumel seems to have had a lot of reef damage from the hurricanes. Grand Cayman also has some great snorkeling right from shore (cemetery Reef, Eden Rock).

 

serene56 - we're going to Grand Turk in March for the first time, we are experienced snorkelers. Can you tell me about the snorkeling from shore.

 

Thank you. :)

[lauriedun]

We have snorkeled in many places - the best were Bermuda, Cayman, Barbados. We also tried a Snuba dive it was fantastic! We will repeat for sure. We took the tour in St. Thomas - not thru cruiseline - VIsnuba.com (Frank). Utterly amazing experience!

 

Where did you snorkel in Barbados?

[TheVegasMan]

My first snorkeling experience was in Grand Cayman and I immediately fell in love with all the fish. I was staying at the Indies Suites (I hear it is now a residence for med students), the lagoon across the street was quite often occupied by a pair of Eagle Rays. There was also lots of fish and urchins to look at.

 

I have also snorkeled and dove at St. Croix, Hawaii, Cozumel, Playa Del Carmen and St. Martin. Haunama Bay in Hawaii is great for snorkeling, but can be quite crowded.

 

Near the Antilla on Aruba the snorkeling was real good, I was able to see 10 or so eels in a 15 minute span.

 

Pre-Wilma the snorkeling along the shore of the Coral Princess was incredible, the coral is coming back slowly and the last time I was there (2006) there were quite a few fish there.

[jessie073]

Vegas Man - where did you snorkel in St. Marteen.

Also, have you snorkeled in Grand Turk?

 

Thanks! :)

[TheVegasMan]

Jessie,

 

In St. Maarten I snorkeled off the beach in front of the Pelican and Flamingo resorts. It was ok, nothing fabulous. We went on the Prickly Pear catmaran snorkel with Aqua mania and that was fun. I don't remember if we saw a lot of fish or not.

 

If you dive, take the ferry from St. Maarten to Saba and dive there. I went with Saba Deep and had a great day or diving. Myself our divemaster and one couple.

 

I did snorkel when we were in Grand Turk, had a taxi driver take us to some beach where the "Snorkeling was da best mon" it sucked. I was out in the water for an hour and all I saw was seagrass and conch shells. I ended up snorkeling right under the pier where the ship was docked and saw a few fish there. The people that went on the ship's scuba excursion said it was awesome, they saw turtles, rays and one shark.

 

Based on my failing memory and the following map, I think I snorkeled at Pillory or West Road Beach.

[jessie073]

Thanks for the info Vegas Man - last time we were in St. Marteen we snorkeled at Dawn Beach. The snorkeling was decent there - but it was a little rough the day we were there. We are definitely planning on trying this again this trip but are looking to check out a couple other spots as well.

 

In Grand Turk - did it look like there was any decnet snorkeling near the ship or any farther down the beach? the aerial shots I saw looked like there were some dark areas just down the beach from the dock but I wasn't sure. I've read some reviews about a "drop off" but have not been able to figure out where this is or how you get there.

[TheVegasMan]

Wish I had more information for you. I have heard that the snorkeling off of Caicos is much better. Unfortunately I do not know of any ferry service between the two islands. I would guess any snorkel excursion offered through the ship is going to take you to the better snorkeling site(s).

[DEwoman]

Both the US and British Virgin Islands have beautiful snorkeling. You can get to St. John from St. Thomas on the ferry. There is off shore snorkeling there. Taxis run frequently at the dock. I would say to go to Trunk Bay. There is a nice reef trail and beautiful beach. Of course, there are great snorkel trips all over the islands there, too.

[daved07_jd]

Grand Turk is a great place to snorkel. The reefs are well protected and alive with all forms of fish (I'm scuba diving there in Feb.). The water can get a bit deep (25ft.) for novices but the water's always been dead calm, and the reefs are just off shore (though you really need a boat to get out far enough). It's also my understanding that the reef faired much better than the island during the last hurricane.

 

I also like Grand Cayman, St. Thomas/St. John, Tortola and Belize for snorkeling/diving.

 

Randall

 

When are you going in Feb and with what cruise ship? I am going on the Carnival Destiny Feb 23rd cruise. Do you do ship excursion or land-based trip? Since this is my first cruise, I decided not to play it safe and use the ship excursion.

I haven't had the chance to dive since Mexico two years ago and Hawaii a couple of years before that. Living in Kansas doesn't give you much of a chance to dive with more than 5ft visibility. I am SOOOO looking forward to this trip!!

[seb]

Done lots of diving...If it's the Caribbean your at, I think S. Caribbean is hard to beat.

 

St. Lucia : Superman's Drift Dive spot near the Pitons is tremendous

 

Barbados: Lots of different shipwrecks and nice reef dives

 

St. John/St. Thomas: Lots of great dive spots

[Snorkel Dawg]

My fav snorkeling spots: (so far)

 

St. Lucia-Jalousie Beach amazing between pitons

Barbados-Thriller Tour- turtles, shipwrecks,"the aquarium" reef

Cozumel-Playa Panancar reef

Grand Caymen-Stingray City & various reefs

[jessie073]

Where did you snorkel in Barbados?

 

Lauriedun - we snorkeled with Thriller Tours in Barbardo - they took us to swim with the sea turtles, then to a reef, and then to snorkel over 2 wrecks - which was amazing! We ended with a stop at a beautiful beach. I would definitley recommend this tour.

[Snorkel Dawg]

Lauriedun - we snorkeled with Thriller Tours in Barbardo - they took us to swim with the sea turtles, then to a reef, and then to snorkel over 2 wrecks - which was amazing! We ended with a stop at a beautiful beach. I would definitley recommend this tour.

 

 

 

 

Don't forget the Banks Beers!

[jessie073]

Don't forget the Banks Beers!

 

Snorkel Dawg - What are the "Banks Beers"?