snorkeling goffs caye vs. bannister island/ snorkel tour

[jamin jul]

:confused:we cant decide to snorkel goffs caye or coral breeze excursion to bannister island/ snorkel- also- is there a bar/ restrooms on goffs caye? i think carnival does an excusion there- but it has not come up in the excursion list yet. we go in april. any advice?

[new2cruse]

We chose Goff's caye because you can snorkle from the beach or the boat. My daughter doesn't want to be stuck waiting on the boat if she doesn't like snorkling. And the Caye has port-a-potties and a snack bar, by what I've been reading. If you do a search on the posts, someone has a picture of it. It looks small but beautiful! And we're bookin thru Carnival.

[beachbum81]

My wife and I went snorkeling on Goffs Caye through Carnival the year before last. It is a really small place, but beautiful. We went off the boat, and even though there were really rough seas it wasn't bad at all. There were several children (probably 8-10yrs old) and they had no problems, so tell your daughter to go for it. And nothing really says "Gilligan's Island" more than watching a port-a-potty pull up to an island on a dingy.

[Snorkel2Much]

:confused:we cant decide to snorkel goffs caye or coral breeze excursion to bannister island/ snorkel- also- is there a bar/ restrooms on goffs caye? i think carnival does an excusion there- but it has not come up in the excursion list yet. we go in april. any advice?

We went to Goff's Dec 30th, 2008 on the Carnival Glory. I snorkeled from the boat, Mrs. S2M and Miss S2M went directly to the island. We all thoroughly enjoyed the visit and would book it again given the chance. Just keep in mind, the island is small...... and ..........."rustic". Mrs & Miss S2M were NOT thrilled with the Porta-potty, but got over it quickly. After we returned to the ship I had time to shower, change and catch a tender to the mainland. 45 minutes for a beer and pick up a few souvenirs, then back to the ship. The tender ride is not short. Our excursion boat picked us up directly at the ship, I would check to see if coral breeze's offering does the same, as that could add up to quite a bit of your day just getting to/from Bannister.

[Ron_L]

We went to Goff's Dec 30th, 2008 on the Carnival Glory.

 

How was the snorkeling? I read on another site that the coral around the Caye had been damaged and the snorkeling had deteriorated. Also, did you do any snorkeling from shore?

[dvan68]

We just did the Goff's Caye excursion on the Valor. We did not have an option of going off of the boat. They led everyone in from the shore, and the boat followed along in case anyone got tired. I was pretty surprised - they had 3 guides in the water with everyone so that you can stretch out and not be caught up in a large group. They were very knowledgeable and friendly, and pointed out other areas to go to. I highly recommend this tour.

[Snorkel2Much]

How was the snorkeling? I read on another site that the coral around the Caye had been damaged and the snorkeling had deteriorated. Also, did you do any snorkeling from shore?

I snorkeled from shore after snorkeling back to the island from the boat. The snorkeling was great, a lot of coral varieties, a lot of fish varieties.

[crusin4funtimes]

We just did the Goff's Caye excursion on the Valor. We did not have an option of going off of the boat. They led everyone in from the shore, and the boat followed along in case anyone got tired. I was pretty surprised - they had 3 guides in the water with everyone so that you can stretch out and not be caught up in a large group. They were very knowledgeable and friendly, and pointed out other areas to go to. I highly recommend this tour.

 

 

Ok I know this is an old thread but I am trying to get as much info about Goff's Caye for our upcoming trip, our children who are 11 and 9 years old have never snorkled before and they want to try it... but only if the boat lets you off at the Island....does anyone who has gone recently know if they still give you that option? It says on carnival site that they do so my guess is we would just have to let them know we don't want to swim to shore.;)

 

Any information would be helpful, also to anyone who has been there are there kids?:)

[mousecrazy]

I went to Goff's Caye in February with my DD(12) and DS(8). On our tour, we were let out on the island for a quick stop after the 30 min boat ride to the island. We were then given instructions on the dock before boarding for the very quick boat ride to the snorkel spot. (we had the option to stay on the island, but no one did). We all got off the boat and snorkeled for about 45 minutes.

 

My DS was a little overwhelmed with the experience. And, he had a reaction to the latex mask and ended up going back to the boat with one of the guides. He is a strong swimmer, but had never snorkeled before. The jump into the water was a little chaotic and the kids equipment wasn't great. We would love to do it again, but we would bring our own snorkel and mask next time. This was a tour through ecotoursbelize.com. I had never snorkeled before and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

 

If your kids are confident in the water, they would most likely enjoy going out to the reef (there is more to see..we saw a very large barracuda). However, there is a lot to see from shore too. These pictures are from the shore. Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to know about the island.

[crusin4funtimes]

I went to Goff's Caye in February with my DD(12) and DS(8). On our tour, we were let out on the island for a quick stop after the 30 min boat ride to the island. We were then given instructions on the dock before boarding for the very quick boat ride to the snorkel spot. (we had the option to stay on the island, but no one did). We all got off the boat and snorkeled for about 45 minutes.

 

My DS was a little overwhelmed with the experience. And, he had a reaction to the latex mask and ended up going back to the boat with one of the guides. He is a strong swimmer, but had never snorkeled before. The jump into the water was a little chaotic and the kids equipment wasn't great. We would love to do it again, but we would bring our own snorkel and mask next time. This was a tour through ecotoursbelize.com. I had never snorkeled before and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

 

If your kids are confident in the water, they would most likely enjoy going out to the reef (there is more to see..we saw a very large barracuda). However, there is a lot to see from shore too. These pictures are from the shore. Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to know about the island.

 

Thank you for the reply:) Both of our children love to swim but have never snorkled so I think we will just go from the beach if this is is tour we end up doing...we keep going back and forth between this and the ruins:D Sorry your son had a reaction to the latex.