Snorkle with turtles Barbados with HAL?

[Dennis75]

Did anyone do the HAL excursion snorkle with turtles in Barbados? Can you tell me your experience and at witch beach?

Or can you book this sort of excursion with local operaotors in the cruiseharbour of Bridgetown?

[Nauga146]

You may get a better response on the "Ports of Call" section. We used Silver Moon in Barbados and it was the highlight of our trip. They fill up quickly though as they don't overcrowd their boats. Haven't done the HAL excursion. Good Luck and enjoy!

[Cruisinetta]

I have done this excursion and found it to be just ok. When a turtle is spotted, everyone goes in the same direction. You might get your mask knocked off. Also, there was a little girl who screamed beyond loud. She was scared to death of the turtles. There were not that many turtles. Then they took us to a beach where we did what we wanted. That was really nice.

[Lizzie1213]

We took an excursion with Calabaza tours in 2010. They were wonderful I highly reccomend them

[tcook052]

You may get a better response on the "Ports of Call" section.

 

Agree.

[Moonlight Beach]

Like Nauga 146, we used Silver Moon and was not disappointed. There were only 12 passengers onboard...nice lunch, drinks :D. I think we were the ony passengers from crusise ships. We could see the ship's excursion sailing, and were glad we chose Silver Moon with much fewer onboard. I highly recommend Silver Moon. you will definitely get more opinions in the Ports of Call forum.

[mountainmare]

We also went with Silver Moon--not as many people, great one on one with the turtles.

[iflyrc5]

We took an excursion with Calabaza tours in 2010. They were wonderful I highly reccomend them

 

We used Calabaza in Jan 2010 - outstanding folks and only 10 of us on the boat:D:D. Will do it again with them the next time we are there.

[B&J1]

We just used Calabaza last week...it was great & only 6 of us on borad!!

[RetiredMustang]

HAL has two excursions that include swimming with the turtles. One includes lunch and is more expensive. We have done both. Years ago, we took the one that did the turtle swim and beach visit. The water was murky, but we still we able to see the turtles. In 2010, we heard from other cruisers that the water clarity comes and goes, so we booked the one that included lunch.

 

Here is what I posted in a live-blog I did at the time:

 

"... On a previous trip to Barbados, we had done an excursion that allowed us to snorkel with sea turtles, which we enjoyed very much, but the water had been pretty murky and the large graceful creatures could only be seen up close. Talking to fellow pasengers several days earlier, we learned that the water clarity comes and goes and they had found it quite clear. So, we bought tickets for the 5-star catamaran tour that included snorkeling with the turtles, a reef snorkel at another location, and lunch.

　

To get to the bus for our tour, we walked to the cruise terminal and out the other side. Barbados has actually organized it quite well, with bus "gates" and a large holding area with seats for people to wait. The terminal itself has, of course, lots of shops. We surrendered our tickets and boarded a smallish bus, and were driven about a mile to a dock that would have been pretty easy walking distance from the Noordam, but across the container storage area, so we presume they bused us for safety/security reasons.

　

We boarded a large catamaran and sailed up the west coast of Barbados to an area off the beach, where guides got into the water with some fish scraps to feed the turtles. We donned snorkle gear and jumped in. The water was not crystal clear, but more so than on our previous trip, so we were able to see the turtles quite clearly. There were a total of five different ones that I spotted, including one very large one five or six feet across the shell and head. They were swimming for the fish, surfacing to breathe and deftly avoiding our arms and legs as we tread water or floated. We had all been warned not to try to touch them, and were not allowed fins as those may have inadvertantly injured the turtles, and we all were conscientious about it, but if you don't see a turtle coming up behind you, you may swing an arm and contact one. But, the turtles were quite quick and almost always avoided any contact at all, even though they were very, very close at times. What a great experience!

　

After about 45 minutes, we re-boarded the catamaran and sailed further up the coast. The crew fixed tables around the bar area and brought out a buffet lunch that turned out to be quite good, actually. There was fried flying fish (a new one for me, with an interesting flavor), rice and lentils with some spice in the dish, a baked tagliatelle and cheese dish, barbeque chicken, rolls and salad. The bar would serve just about any soft drink you wanted. A while later, we arrived at a section of the beach where the catamaran anchored. Those who wanted to wade to the beach could do so, and those who wanted to snorkel could do so as well, or both, or neither as you preferred. DW and I again donned gear and snorkeled the reef area. The water was still pretty clear, and we were able to see lots of fish, primarily sergeant majors, parrotfish and lots of wrasses of various types."

 

Hope this helps,

Dave

[Randyk47]

We did the HAL turtle excursion in Barbados just this past March. As I understood it they had sent out a scout earlier to locate a group of turtles. We sped along the coast until we caught up with scout who had found about a dozen turtles of various sizes. The water was OK, not crystal clean but not murky either. We had probably 25-30 minutes with the turtles when the captain said the scout boat had found whales so we go back on the boat and raced off to see the whales. It was a mother and calf and quite honestly was more interesting than the turtles. Bottom line I was disappointed in the turtle part and probably would not do it again. Maybe there are better ports or tour operators for turtles.

[kelmac]

My wife and I have our own snorkel equipment and we just took a taxi over to the "Blue Monkey" bar. This beach area is where many of the excursions come to see the turtles -- we just rented a couple of beach chairs and you could swim out and see the turtles without the crowd. Not that great a snorkel area, except for the turtles.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[melanie99]

Did anyone do the HAL excursion snorkle with turtles in Barbados? Can you tell me your experience and at witch beach?

Or can you book this sort of excursion with local operaotors in the cruiseharbour of Bridgetown?

 

We did swim with turtles, on a tour with the catamaran It is expensive and may be 3 hours

The other year we took a cab to "the Blue Monkey"that is a restaurant on the beach and you can take the small local boats to the turtles than you have a great day on the beach

(the restaurant will be closed but than the cabdriver know were to put you of )

They offer chairs and drinks on the beach

My sun is on the Amsterdam the 27 th of Dec. Regards from the Netherlands Melanie

[BlackJack2]

My wife and I have our own snorkel equipment and we just took a taxi over to the "Blue Monkey" bar. This beach area is where many of the excursions come to see the turtles -- we just rented a couple of beach chairs and you could swim out and see the turtles without the crowd. Not that great a snorkel area, except for the turtles.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

 

How much is the taxi from the ship to the Blue Monkey Bar?

[kelmac]

How much is the taxi from the ship to the Blue Monkey Bar?

 

Seems like it was $15 one way, but that was almost three years ago.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[ShipSurfer]

When in Barbados i went with the Jolly Roger and we did snorkelling with turtles! They provided us with proper Tusa stuff to not like the cheap crap masks you would usually expect. This is where i found them - http://www.barbadosblackpearl-jollyroger1.com