Aruba, curacau, or st thomas for snorkeling

[vrs]

we're going on a southern cruise and stopping at Aruba Curacao st Thomas and Dominica...

Dominica we're doing the rain forest and not sure for the other three... st Thomas is our last stop so we were thinking of doing our own thing and taking it easy... so that leaves us with Aruba and Curacao... which one would you recommend snorkeling at? any company? or go out on your own? any advice would be great!

and if you have any other shore excursions that you enjoyed at any of these islands that we shouldn't miss... please let me know!

thank you

[dirvin0500]

There are several threads in this board about those very stops (one of which I put there a few weeks ago). If you do a search on "Aruba, Curacao, Dominica, St Thomas", I'm sure you'll see some answers.

I also am researching through Scubaboard.com

[TRESE]

In Aruba, we rented a jeep right outside the cruise port. It was like $100 for the day. We drove completely around the island, stopping at "Baby Beach". The snorkeling there was awesome!!!!! Its a protected cove but you can go out of it through a small opening on the left of the cove. It was great!!!! In St. Thomas, we always go to Coki Beach. They have "Coral World" right next to the beach. If you pay to go into Coral World, you can tour that and go in and out all day long. There are bathrooms, showers, lockers, food, sharks, turtles, birds, iguanas...etc....and at Coki Beach, the snorkeling is great. The reef is right off shore. You see fish the minute your feet hit the water. One time, a dolphin swam up and started playing with the snorkelers. Bring cereal from the ship, the fish will be everywhere!!! We do these excursions on our own...not thru the ship.

[jsteinberg]

google "the dive bus" ...for curacao

 

i havent personally used them but I am going to when i go there next yr, they are highly recommended on these boards

[Stevesan]

Snorkeling is good at both Aruba and Curacao. The former requires boat snorkeling, but it's easy to book an independent and it's a short ride. the reefs and gardens are near shore.

Do not book the ship snorkel. It's a real cattle boat. I saw Red Sail load 125 people on a Catamaran!:eek: There are other identical reports on the Aruba boards.

Pirates Of the Caribbean or MI Dushi are both good, even when booked thru the cruise ship. their boat's are full, but not overcrowded, and the crews are excellent.

 

Curacao has excellent shore entries. Try Curacao-actief for a guided trip. Small groups, they pick up just outside the gate.

 

http://www.curacao-actief.com/index.php?id=1196

[w&k]

If you are stopping in Curacao, you absolutely have to get wet with Suzy and Mark at The Dive Bus. Both the diving and snorkeling is world-class, and they are a whole lot of fun.

 

I can heartily recommend the guided snorkeling tour - the folks that have done it say it's really worthwhile. They know every nook and cranny of Pierbaai reef, and can point out all of the really cool stuff.

 

The Dive Bus shares a roof with a great locals seafood restaurant. I can't get past the fresh red snapper to anything else on the menu. The beer is cold, cheap and plentiful.

 

Watch out... Suzy takes blackmail pictures and posts them on their website. :)

 

Hopefully, we'll be back in the fall.

 

http://www.the-dive-bus.com

 

Wendy

[cruisecouple88]

We used the Dive Bus for scuba diving in Curacao - it was fantastic. Very nice and professionally run. I would think snorkeling would be just as nice. In Aruba we used Unique sports. It was okay, but the water was so murky. We lost 2 of our divers just going down to 40 ft. So I'm sure snorkeling would be a bust if the water clarity was not good.

Our favorite place to snorkel so far is St. Thomas. We have been snorkeling twice there - we went to Christmas cove and St. John's during one visit and to Turtle cove the other visit. You see tons of fish, stingrays, turtles, barracuda, puffer fish, and many more.

[Stevesan]

We used the Dive Bus for scuba diving in Curacao - it was fantastic. Very nice and professionally run. I would think snorkeling would be just as nice. In Aruba we used Unique sports. It was okay, but the water was so murky. We lost 2 of our divers just going down to 40 ft. So I'm sure snorkeling would be a bust if the water clarity was not good.

 

Our favorite place to snorkel so far is St. Thomas. We have been snorkeling twice there - we went to Christmas cove and St. John's during one visit and to Turtle cove the other visit. You see tons of fish, stingrays, turtles, barracuda, puffer fish, and many more.

 

With Rumbaba's Capt Bobby?

[terkatz56]

Thanks dirvin0500 for the scuba site, helping me with all kinds of info for snorkeling.

[TxAllieGrl]

We snorkeled in Curacao - it was INCREDIBLE! We saw so many fish, I saw several eels, and lots of coral. We did 2 sites: the tugboat, and then another reef, both from the shore.

 

We did this with Actief, and I enjoyed working with them. Super professional, delightful guide, and we beat the big groups to the tugboat site.

 

One thing to note: the shore was VERY rocky. Definitely take some sort of water shoe to wear with your flippers.

[JordanRHughes]

Thanks for all the input.

 

I was hoping someone might have pictures of the undersea activities in this area.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Jordan.

[w&k]

Here's a link to my photos. You will notice that there are lots of albums from The Dive Bus... and other folks repeat as well.

 

And another set will be added this fall. ;)

 

Wendy

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/wendyandkeith

[BroncosFan2010]

Here's a link to my photos. You will notice that there are lots of albums from The Dive Bus... and other folks repeat as well.

 

And another set will be added this fall. ;)

 

Wendy

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/wendyandkeith

 

Awesome pictures! I can't want to snorkel with the Dive Bus in August!