Snorkeling

[CBouquet]

We would like to snorkel when we get to Grand Cayman. Can anyone recommend the best shore excursion? Stingrays are nice, but I think we would rather see fish and coral.

[jaga04]

If you want to snorkel, but not see the stingrays, I recommend going to Eden Rock, which you can get to from the shore. When you get off the tender, walk to the right to the Eden Rock Dive Center---~5 minute walk. They have lockers, equipment rentals, a ladder down. You do have to swim out a bit, but it's very nice.

[yhdmommy]

We've done the Reef & Wreck excursion - it's pretty cool.

[SnowBird Cruzer]

I'm curious for more details on the Reef and Wreck snorkeling, YHDmommy.

Can you expand on what was so cool about it?

 

What kind of fish did you see on the reef?

How was the wreck? Were the sights there good too?

 

We snorkeled at a wreck in Aruba, and it was really neat to see a shipwreck that way, but there weren't many fish. It certainly wasn't an artificial reef.

 

I'll be cruising in February so I'm starting to try to get my shore excursions in line.

 

Thanks for any help!!!

[Lionesss]

We too did the Reef and wreck adventure when sailing on Mariner of the Seas.

We booked thru RCI

Leisurely walked too the dock less than 10 min.

Once on board about 30 in our group,boat took off quickly out in the water.........got a heads up inservice for safety for those who needed it...........having snorkeled before we just jumped right in.

About 45 min later went to the sunken ship site.

Swam and snorkled their about 45 min.

 

Quik nice tour.

Took disposable camera.

Great pictutes.

Last time on Freedom did Snuba.

It was a little disappointing.

Glad we did it once, probably wont do again.

Safe travels.

[SnowBird Cruzer]

Thanks Lionesss

 

Did you see lots of fish? Anything else like turtles or rays?

[Lionesss]

Yes, awesome views of fish.

If I can detach the husband from the tv (NY game) I will post.

No turtles.

EELS. Tons and I mean tons of tropical fish, if you take dry cat food in a zippy bag, they really like you and you get better pictures.

We liked this excursion because it wasn't all day, nor painful it was just enough and we could shop.

Safe travels.

Sue and crew

[Islandbear]

Enjoy the fish, but please don't feed reef fish. It is very bad for the coral environment.:(

[yhdmommy]

There were thesevery large fish (tarpons) that were awesome. There were also lots of tropical/colorful fish both around the reef and wreck. We also took underwater camera and got some great pictures.

 

You can see your ship at all times since the excursion is right from the tender dock. But it is amazing what you see that close to the shore/dock.

[SnowBird Cruzer]

Thank you Lionesss and yhdmommy. I appreciate it very much.

 

My nephew is a scuba diver and he's given me some advice on an underwater camera, but not as expensive as his $2K unit. I've tried the disposables and I'm just not satisfied with their pictures. So if I can see lots of fish, I'd be more willing to get a better camera.

 

And tarpon? That would be awesome.

 

And no cat food for me. Thanks for the reminder Islandbear!

[Islandbear]

....

And no cat food for me. Thanks for the reminder Islandbear!

 

 

A clean reef, is a happy reef!:D

[stevecw]

Can you tell me what kind of boat is used? Does it have any covered areas for shade, restrooms? Do they have snacks or drinks available?

 

How long will it take to tender back to the ship towards the end of the day (need to make sure I have time to get to town after snorkeling)?

[KBD1516]

If you want to snorkel, but not see the stingrays, I recommend going to Eden Rock, which you can get to from the shore. When you get off the tender, walk to the right to the Eden Rock Dive Center---~5 minute walk. They have lockers, equipment rentals, a ladder down. You do have to swim out a bit, but it's very nice.

 

The best snorkling is near the dock. R You can rent gear near by at lots of dive shops right around the dock and go in from the shore easily in 5 minutes. Most shops charge about $15 for snorkle equipment. turn right to go to Eden rock - always tarpon there -- and turn left to go to a small sandy area where the local vendors sell fish. Shipwreck is out by the bouys (between the shore and the ships). Nice water and fish.

[Lionesss]

OK

Busted I will behave.........

No catfood, makes a happy reef....

Safe travels.

Sue and crew

[nw2this]

How is snorkeling at Coral Garden compared to Eden Rock, Rum Point, etc.

[punkin35]

If you are looking for a great underwater camera for a reasonable price, try the Olympus! It is great. I am on my 2nd one. Only on my 2nd because I realized I forgot it on the way to our cruise in July, so I stopped at Sam's and bought another one. I gave the 1st one to my daughter.

It takes great underwater pictures and video with sound. I use it for everything now.. with a card, around $120. Great deal!:D

 

Thank you Lionesss and yhdmommy. I appreciate it very much.

 

My nephew is a scuba diver and he's given me some advice on an underwater camera, but not as expensive as his $2K unit. I've tried the disposables and I'm just not satisfied with their pictures. So if I can see lots of fish, I'd be more willing to get a better camera.

 

And tarpon? That would be awesome.

 

And no cat food for me. Thanks for the reminder Islandbear!

[coscab]

The best snorkling is near the dock. R You can rent gear near by at lots of dive shops right around the dock and go in from the shore easily in 5 minutes. Most shops charge about $15 for snorkle equipment. turn right to go to Eden rock - always tarpon there -- and turn left to go to a small sandy area where the local vendors sell fish. Shipwreck is out by the bouys (between the shore and the ships). Nice water and fish.

 

I read an old post about Sunset house being a good place to snorkel, anyone been there recently, is it right near where the ship docks?

[kdooley]

We spent a week in Cayman this summer and did just about all the snorkel spots. Sunset House was too deep for snorkelers, unless you stayed along the rocky shore, but very good for divers, and is few miles from the tender area (need to take a taxi). It does have a great outdoor patio for lunch. Also went to Cemetary Beach, this site out near the turtle farm (don't know the name), Smith's Cove (great swimming) and Eden Rock.

 

The best snorkeling that we found, as others have mentioned, was at Eden Rock. We went on a day when no ships were in port, so we had the whole reef to ourselves and it was awesome! We saw lots of Tarpon (when you are getting in, by the shore), all types of reef fish, stingrays and best of all a turtle.

 

We did do some regular snorkeling out by the stingray sandbar, on the reef that surrounds it, that was really nice. We saw a school of hundreds of these blue fish swimming in formation! We have a Kodak waterproof camera (to 10 feet) that captured the whole thing.

[Islandbear]

OK

Busted I will behave.........

 

No catfood, makes a happy reef....

 

Safe travels.

 

Sue and crew

big hug! the best reefs are natural ones!

[SnowBird Cruzer]

Thanks Punkin35.

I'll check that one out.

[Lineaway]

Ok, I gotta ask, even though I don't like the fish swarming over me so I wasn't planing on feeding them. But... how does feeding the fish hurt anything? We have been on several tours and the tour guides threw frozen peas out and some other stuff.

[TurtleTagger]

Fish get accustomed to eating food provided by humans and stop eating the algae (one of their natural foods) that grows on the coral. The coral suffocates due to the now unchecked algae growth and dies. Once the coral begins to die, the reef structure begins to deteriorate. Once the reef structure collapses it can no longer provide food for any of the inhabitants and they die or move on to "greener pastures". What you have left is a dead reef. :(

[Islandbear]

Thanks for asking. The main problem with fish feeding is that if you feed the fish they don't eat the algae. They are lazy. They will gladly fill thier bellys with bread, instead of little scraps of algae and plankton. If they don't eat the algae, the algae covers the coral. If the algae, covers the coral, it dies! :(

 

Another problem is that fish can not digest starch, so bread, peas, cat food etc. turns in to fat. This leads to big bloated fish with faded coloration. Smaller fish can die or become too weak to breed, from malnutrition. They eat and eat and get no "real food". (It would be better to feed squid or shrimp, like they do at stingray city.) Plankton which is the base of the natural food chain can die off very quickly due to fish feeding. This is why you tend to see 5-6 species of big agressive fish like sargent majors and parrot fish, exclusively at beaches with fish feeding.

 

Other problems include cloudy water conditions, an increase in aggresive species and biting, a decrease in diversity especially invertabrates like anemones.

 

A healthy reef should have thousands of diferent types of life, all living in balance.:D

[ryansmom]

We've done the Reef & Wreck excursion - it's pretty cool.

 

Which "wreck" are you referring to? We've done 2 there....

 

Not sure what line the OP is sailing?

 

On CCL, we did the Cali wreck. IMO, waste of time/money.

 

On RCI, we did the catamaran w/ Kittiwake wreck and reef snorkel. THAT was great! (review in trip report....link in sig)

 

I ask because I don't think CCL offers Kittiwake and RCI doesn't offer the Cali.

[Ms_Flo]

Thanks for asking.

And thank you Islandbear for answering. And thank you TurtleTagger as well.

I was very curious about this. I'm glad that I've been educated before my first cruise.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER! (Had to say that--excited about the School House Rock play this weekend. ;) )

Thanks again!