Labadee/Samana

[parasailor]

I would appreciate any suggestions for snorkeling or scuba diving on these 2 RCL stops.

Thanks

[The Flying Pirate]

Labadee has an airplane sunk off of Barefoot beach and they also offer a snorkeling excursion that takes you out in a boat to a snorkeling area. I haven't been back since they built the pier but I have heard that it stirs up the water quite a bit when they dock.

 

Samana is beautiful and the best snorkeling we found was off the beach at Cayo Leventado. (The beach where all the ships tours go) There is a small reef in about 10 feet of water and the visibility was excellent. There were a ton of starfish all over the sand bottom and if you carefully explore the reef area we found several seahorses.

 

Both I found were not very well suited for scuba diving. I am an avid diver and bring my own gear with on every cruise and while the snorkeling was good the diving wasn't in either place (unless you really like diving in 10' of water)

 

If you are in Samana during humpback season, they do have tours that take you out to snorkel with the whales. We were told that they don't allow you to scuba with the whales but from the pictures I have seen that doesn't seem like a problem. (Whale "season" is usually mid-January thru early March)

[The Flying Pirate]

I have a couple of pictures of snorkeling in Samana, I will find a couple and post them.

[The Flying Pirate]

 

Here is a Trumpet Fish on the reef at Cayo Leventado off Samana.

[The Flying Pirate]

 

Here is one of the Seahorses we spotted snorkeling off Cayo Leventado, in Samana. D.R.

[The Flying Pirate]

Here is a picture of the Starfish off the beach at Cayo Leventado, Samana, DR. There were tons of these starfish, I am posting a picture with me in it to give you an idea of the scale of how big the Starfish are.

 

[The Flying Pirate]

Here is a view of the beach at Cayo Leventado, you can see the ship at anchor off in Samana Bay. The beach curves around the island and is excellent for snorkeling.

 

[The Flying Pirate]

Here is a view of the beach from the tender approaching the island of Cayo Leventado, in Samana, D.R. This is the beach we snorkeled from and where the underwater pictures posted above were taken.

 

[parasailor]

Thanks very much!

 

Any thoughts on scuba vs. snorkleing on St martin, Antigua and St Kitts?

[Russ Lomas]

I snorkled at Cayo Leventado a few years back and really enjoyed it. Consistently in about 10 feet of water. You can go out a LONG way without it really getting deeper than 10-15' but the boats were whipping by far out and did not appear to look for swimmers/snorklers.

 

If you do snorkle here (a fantastic resort and great snorkling), go around to the left side of the beach area when facing the ocean. The right side got much deeper and seemed to have a fair amount of garbage dumped on the bottom (unless they have cleaned it up since I visited). The left side was pristine with NO garbage at all, lots of fish, tons of starfish, sea urchins on the bottom, seahorses, not much coral, but plenty of sea grasses.

[parasailor]

Thanks! That is where I will go