Snorkeling at Cayo Levantado, Dominican Republic?

[comcox]

We will have a full day at Cayo Levantado off Samana, Dominican Republic. Oceania is offering a couple of sailing excursions with snorkeling. Has anyone snorkeled in this area? Is it possible to snorkel from the beach? Any info. would be helpful.

[HarryTravels]

Tamara' I checked it out with several people that vacationed in the area and someone that lived 80 miles away and the answer is it is marginal. That why I did not charter a boat there to snorkel. I probabably will stay on the ship because the last thing I will be interested in is lying on a beach and saying "no thank you" to hawkers, so I heear from someone on the forum mentioned awile ago.

[heydn62]

Was there in April, 2009 - snorkeled from the beach. Not a lot of fish and no reef to speak of. There were several different kinds of starfish though, and that made it worth the time for me.

 

[AlbertaCruisers]

We were there on the NCL excursion in November 2009. There is a reef structure it is off the middle of the beach. If you are standing on the beach looking out at the water, walk to the middle (the beach is kind of an L shape), and out from the middle, still kind of to the left, we found a reef type area. We saw reef squid, trumpet fish, brain coral and some other interesting fish, etc. It wasn't the best snorkeling, but it was a nice day.

[marinerq]

Are there tenders available direct from ship to Cayo Levantado or you have to buy a tour?

[AlbertaCruisers]

Are there tenders available direct from ship to Cayo Levantado or you have to buy a tour?

 

It was tenders directly from the ship, but you did have to by the beach day tour. We bought the tour through NCL. They call it a "private island", and it doesn't appear there was any other way to get there.