Turtle Excursion in the Southern Caribbean

[DrSeuss]

I am booked with cameron Reid in bardados to go in about 2 weeks and will let you know.

[bsb4273]

We will be sailing on Serenade of the Seas in September for a southern itinerary, including Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Marteen, and St. Croix. Has anyone participated in any form of sea turtle excursion in any of these islands? We would appreicate any feedback, positive or negative.

[GarrenS]

In Barbados, we used Silver Moon. They limited the amount of people on the excursion to 12, which allowed for a nice interaction with the turtles, and got you there prior to the hordes from the ship tour.

here's a link

 

http://silvermoonbarbados.com/

 

Enjoy your trip!

Garren

[Blue Wave]

Shasha is also a small group catamaran in Barbados. We had a good time with the turtles, the lunch was great, and you avoid the crowds.

If you are real large or mobility disabled you may want something bigger. If reasonably fit it is a great trip.

[D&L Thomas]

I completely recommend Silver Moon in Barbados! We went on the smaller of their boats, I think it was just 12 people. Honestly it was one of the most wonderful days ever. The staff is attentive and friendly, the food and beverages tasty and plentiful. One of the crew members got in the water with some fish, and soon the turtles were all around us. It felt like a day from "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous." I give them a 12 out of 10.

[DaytonGirl]

I completely recommend Silver Moon in Barbados! We went on the smaller of their boats, I think it was just 12 people. Honestly it was one of the most wonderful days ever. The staff is attentive and friendly, the food and beverages tasty and plentiful. One of the crew members got in the water with some fish, and soon the turtles were all around us. It felt like a day from "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous." I give them a 12 out of 10.

 

I concur. I've sailed with them twice and it's worth every penny.

[Sheffie]

In Barbados, we used Silver Moon. They limited the amount of people on the excursion to 12, which allowed for a nice interaction with the turtles, and got you there prior to the hordes from the ship tour.

here's a link

 

http://silvermoonbarbados.com/

 

Enjoy your trip!

Garren

 

We loved this excursion so much that we did it twice! Great excursion; wonderful lunch; fabulous crew!

 

I would do them again in a heartbeat.

[ahawco]

So HAPPY to hear all the great reviews of Silvermoon!! We are doing the 12 person all day trip on our cruise in August and I can't wait!! I am sure it is going to be one of the highlights of our entire trip!

 

Just a question, did anyone tip on board and how much?

 

Also do they still do piña coladas and carrot cake? I hear both are amazing!

[V n C]

Really, all of the catamarans are great. We always do Calabaza now after trying several boats (We go down for two weeks almost every year). They also limit to a max of 12 people, fabulous food served on real china, drinks in glasses, etc. We were their in Febuary and went out with them three times. Each time we saw tons of turtles (at least 15+ per trip). Best food of all the catamaran cruises we've done down there. Wonderful crew. They also give you a CD with the songs they play while on the trip, and Gina will email you the recipies for everything she made on the trip. Tell them Vance & Colleen said hi if you email them.

 

http://www.calabazasailingcruises.com/

[Gonzo70]

I highy recommend El Tigre (http://www.eltigrecruises.com/) in Barabdos. They provided one of my favorite all time excursions. The crew was so helpful and friendly and the snorkelling with the turtles experience was amazing. They even have an option of a longer excursion that also includes lunch and open bar on the catamaran after the snorkelling portion. Next time I am in Barbados, I will definitely go with them again.

[wolv4life]

Really, all of the catamarans are great. We always do Calabaza now after trying several boats (We go down for two weeks almost every year). They also limit to a max of 12 people, fabulous food served on real china, drinks in glasses, etc. We were their in Febuary and went out with them three times. Each time we saw tons of turtles (at least 15+ per trip). Best food of all the catamaran cruises we've done down there. Wonderful crew. They also give you a CD with the songs they play while on the trip, and Gina will email you the recipies for everything she made on the trip. Tell them Vance & Colleen said hi if you email them.

 

http://www.calabazasailingcruises.com/

 

I was on Calabaza two weeks ago and it was outstanding. Probably our favorite excursion of our B2B cruise.

[Sheffie]

So HAPPY to hear all the great reviews of Silvermoon!! We are doing the 12 person all day trip on our cruise in August and I can't wait!! I am sure it is going to be one of the highlights of our entire trip!

 

Just a question, did anyone tip on board and how much?

 

Also do they still do piña coladas and carrot cake? I hear both are amazing!

 

 

Last time we went with them was 2 years ago, so I don't remember the carrot cake. I think we had pina coladas.

 

We tipped; I think we gave them $20 for the 2 of us.

[butterfly2]

We went on Silver Moon two years ago and it was outstanding. It was in the top five excursions we have done in 10 7 day cruises.

[63galaxie]

Swimming with turtles is great. We did this in Barbados by taking a bus to the beach and swimming out to the turtles when the cruise-sponsored excursion boats showed up. It cost us $1.25 each way for the bus. The beach was free.

 

However, another very personal and unique experience can be found in St. Thomas. Take a taxi to Coral World. You can reserve (in advance) a personal turtle experience. They have a turtle encounter which is conducted by a marine biologist. They have an enclosed area in the ocean (like a very large jacuzzi made out of stone which buttresses up to a stone wall) with houses two enormous turtles. You walk down a few giant stone steps into the enclosure with the guide who gives you a full session/lesson on turtles. Basically, the four of us lined up against the wall and the turtles swam by/next to us. Very cool! Just Google Coral World. It's a beautiful setting, and there are several other things to see in this small but lovely place. You can also swim with a Sea Lion (we didn't do this). Any age can do this. We had a 41 y.o, a 52 y.o., a 68 y.o. and a 12 y.o.

[greenscooter]

We took a local guide Quami in Barbados. There were only 7 of us. We went all over the island (except one parish). We stopped at some beautiful beaches (Accra - Miami - Crane Beach), stopped for views from cherry hill point, ate flying fish for lunch at a local restaurant, spent some time taking beautiful pictures at Bathsheba/Cattlewash. Then, went to Sandy Beach (next to Sandy Bay Beach Resort) and swam until it was time to board our catamaran to snorkel with the turtles. It was an unforgetful experience. We got to snorkel at another site also (not planned; but, the catamaran offered to drop 3 of the people off at their hotel as a favor to our guide instead of him having to drive all the way back across the island) so, we were very happy about that. The price included lunch and all drinks and was a lot less than the cruise tour offered. We even had time to stop at the Earthenworks Pottery shop and buy a few items to bring home. It was a memorable day for us. :)

[printingchick]

In Barbados, the catamarans anchor to feed the turtles at Payne's Bay Beach. You can swim right out to them from the beach.

 

We ended up signing on for a ship wreck/turtle snorking excursion right there at the beach. (The sales people there are VERY pushy!!!) There were only about 10 of us on the little boat and it dropped us right next to the catamaran excursions so we could go over and see and touch the sea turtles. I'm rather surprised the cats allow them to do this, but maybe there isn't anything they can do about it. As I said, you could just swim right out there from the beach without booking anything at all.

 

Years ago, on a previous visit to Barbados, we signed up for a catamaran and turtle excursion that missed the turtle stop entirely because the water was too choppy. The catamaran trip was great and they served a terrific lunch on board, but the water was too choppy and cloudy for snorkeling and we didn't even try to go see the turtles.