Goff's Caye snorkeling _ anyone???

[Texas_firefighter]

Has anyone booked this excursion recently? Are there beach chairs and umbrellas for those in your group that do not want to snorkle? What about "refreshments"?

[marshhawk]

I just booked this excursion. But had done a lot of research, there was a great thread started about 3 years ago with the following info, and from what I have read since then I hope I can answer your question. The caye is the size of a football field, very small. There are port a potties w/o toilet paper:eek:(bring your own), There are no chairs, bring your beach towels that cruise provides. There is a small shack that sells burgers and beer and pop, they bring them to the island every day. In the event of rough seas/bad weather, they will take you somewhere else to snorkel, and the island has about 4 trees on it for shade. (not much) you take a boat to the island, it takes 25 minutes, there is a short dock on the island where you can walk in to the beach, and snorkel from the beach, or stay on the boat and snorkel from the boat. (About 30 feet offshore) You are there for two hours, and then back on the boat to back on the ship. Sounds like a great snorkeling start for beginners (from beach) and for the more advanced from the boat. I will be doing this in February, and will do a complete report upon my return. Hope you have fun, And remember, this caye is rustic. to say the least, primitave.

[Texas_firefighter]

Thank you for the response. I'll look forward to your report.

[vn123]

Did you book the excursion through cruise line or independent tours? I'm not sure if NCF offers any excursion to this Caye.

[bklsmom]

My daughter and I did this excursion a few years ago. To be totally honest with you, it was one of the worst excursions I've ever done. Snorkeling was ok, and had it not been for the snorkeling, I would have felt like we totally wasted our money, and there was NOTHING we liked about the caye. The beach????? no beach, just rocks. Laying on the towel was very uncomfortable because of the rocks. There is once shelter with a picnic table under it, but all the locals were using it to sell their souvineers. If you are looking for a place to relax as well as snorkel, this may not be the excursion for you. We were very disappointed, since we were sooooo looking forward to it, as it sounded like such a nice place...but Belize has much better snorkeling and caye's to enjoy. Try Bannister Island, or Caye Caulker...Both are worlds away from Goffs Caye. I love Belize, one of my all time favorite ports, but will never again doBoppinion. I just want you all to get the best possible experience from Belize, and Goffs Caye is not it!

[Cruise-Crazy]

I thought the Goff's Cay excursion was pretty nice. I did it back in 2006 and plan on going again next week. At the time there were plenty of places to relax under a tree and just chill out with a beer. I did the snorkeling before we got to the island. Actually we got off the boat about a 1/2 mile from the island and snorkeled the rest of the way in.

 

I have pictures of the island on my website, just scroll down to Legend 2006

[agagal313]

Did this in Dec 2008. Snorkeling is disappointing. Beach nearly non-existent.

 

Bannister key is better as far as beach time is concerned.

 

You can find pictures of both on the net.

 

Enjoy cruising.

[m and m's]

Cruise-crazy Did you do the Goffs Cay again in Nov 09? What did you think of the snorkeling now? Any fellow cruisers have comments on snorkeling with beach break or Sergeant's Cay ? Thanks, Mary

[marshhawk]

]I was at Goff's Caye two weeks ago(and wish I was still there) Hubby who had scubad in Cozumel the day before told me he thought the reef was dead here, but I still saw lots of fish and live coral. It was very windy the day we went out. There are no beach chairs! The isllnd is basically a triangle with a dock attached. I think the dock was longer than the island itself. If you take the snorkel trip you all line up in the right side of the triangle, and head into the water swimming towards the reef north northeast, the dock is on that side too. Then the top part of the triangle is rocky, and the bottom part of the triangle is sandy. After the snorkle we ate a lobster and chicken kabob that someone was selling from a BBQ grill, and then we went back into the water at the sandy area, and snorkled around on our own,it was much calmer on this side of the island. There was a local artisan out there selling wooden bowls. And the out house is a permanant building on the far side of the island. Didn't need it thank the Lord

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