Southern Cruise Snorkeling choices

[mominlaw]

Novice snorkelers looking for best beach or tour for snorkeling on Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten or St. Croix. Hope to snorkel on at least two islands - which ones?

[Host Star]

st. Lucia for one... Barbados would be the second... St. Marten hasn't been wonderful and I have never done St. Croix

[cruisin 07]

Agree with St Lucia, I dove there but lot of companies that will take you out snorkeling. Barbados I went on a day catamaran trip to swim with the turtles. Pick one that limits pax. Most 2 snorkel stops, lunch and free booze. Really enjoyed this.

[Lsimon]

St. Lucia has some decent spots that are hard to get to so you really need to do a tour - areas far south of Castries near the Pitons. We've not done a lot of snorkeling there and 2 of the 3 times we did the snorkeling was fair to poor due to the weather and currents.

 

We really enjoyed buck island at St. Croix - here are photos of a recent trip: http://simon-pics.smugmug.com/Cruises/Caribbean-March-15-2010/St-Croix-Big-Beards-Buck/11693611_2jVeD#825047986_YDFTF

 

We also like Barbados but would recommend one of the nicer day-sails like Silver Moon for the whole experience as pretty much all of the snorkeling/turtle excursions go to the same 2 spots so the difference is the boat and what you do before and after. The spots themselves are Ok but pretty crowded. But we LOVE the overall experience on the Silver Moon in Barbados.

[texswamper]

We have been snorkeling in all but St. Croix, but I highly recommend Anse Chastenat on St. Lucia. It's down near the Pitons and a protected marine park. It's about an hour by taxi on a winding mountain road, but beautiful to see the island. That would be an all day excursion. I've also been down there by boat twice and if the weather is good, it's a beautiful trip down the coast as well.

 

The other islands have only ok snorkeling, but I can definitely endorse the Silvermoon catamaran. We chose the boat with a limit of 12 passengers and had a fantastic day of food, fun and snorkeling. :)

[mominlaw]

Thanks for all the great tips. Definitely want to do the Silvermoon trip! Larry and Sue Simon's pictures are absolutely wonderful. Thanks for sharing!

[greenscooter]

St. Maarten -- Baie Rouge has good snorkeling and a small cave you can swim through, chairs for rent ($10), and is a uncrowded beach; but, it may be expensive to take a taxi here (rental car may do very well and you can see a lot of the island). Otherwise, I recommend you take either the Lambada or Tango cruise to Anguilla (goes out of Pelican Bay Marina). The beaches are gorgeous (blinding white sand), the snorkel stops (2) are excellent. The trip also includes lunch at Roy's Bar and Grill on Anguilla. One on my most memorable days on St. Maarten and I spent 2 weeks there. Cannot recommend Pinel Island anymore-- The enviromentalists have roped off the reef and it's not worth the trek over there.

Barbados -- snorkeling with the turtles is a very memorable experience.

St. Lucia -- Anse Chastenat at the base of the Pitons (ok snorkeling).

[greenscooter]

I forgot to mention: There is a cruise ship snorkeling excursion that goes to Little Bay. The water taxi takes you from Philipsburg to the area where the Divi Resort is. The beaches are quite pretty here and you can hike up to the old fort for some breathtaking views of the island. Sounds perfect for novice snorkelers. Check out the SXM website for cruise ship visitors. But, it depends on whether your ship docks in Marigot or Philipsburg (recommend taxi to Baie Rouge if Marigot is your port of call).