Rendezvous Cay vs. Bannister Island

[mikel24m]

Tabyana and Bananarama are the same stretch of water.......just different names and further down the beach a bit.

 

Tabyana is one of our favorite spots in all of our travels - the one reason we chose the Dream was to go back to our favorite Island

 

There must be more than one Tabyana beaches

 

we did the monkeys birds and pirates through the ship and that tabyana beach was not the Banarama beach.It was like two different islands

 

West bay Banarama was the most beautiful beach and ocean and Tabyana that we were at was hard to explain like brackish water.Kind of like river water you cant see anything in the water

[dst]

There must be more than one Tabyana beaches

 

we did the monkeys birds and pirates through the ship and that tabyana beach was not the Banarama beach.It was like two different islands

 

West bay Banarama was the most beautiful beach and ocean and Tabyana that we were at was hard to explain like brackish water.Kind of like river water you cant see anything in the water

 

 

There is only one Tabyana and you can walk from Bananarama over to Tabyana - are you certain you are thinking of Tabyana? Tabyana is beautiful

 

[dst]

We are doing the Canopy Tour & Tabyana Beach tour through Carnival. It gets over at 2:45. I'm thinking I would like to stay longer at Tabyana. Is that do-able? The ship doesn't leave until 6:00. Doesn't Carnival have buses going back and forth? Would we be able to get a ride on one of them? Or a taxi?

 

 

Tabyana is a distance form the ship - I do not believe that Carnival has busses that run back and forth. Catching a taxi is doable but risky if no taxi's are around.....there usually is. I would say the trip from Tabyana back to the ship is about 30-40 minutes (hard to say as we never drive straight back we take a few detours) As long as you head back to the ship no later than 4:30 I think you would be OK

[mikel24m]

There is only one Tabyana and you can walk from Bananarama over to Tabyana - are you certain you are thinking of Tabyana? Tabyana is beautiful

 

 

That picture looks like west bay beach.But for sure not the same Tabyana beach that Carnivals excursion Monkeys ,pirates and birds goes to. For some reason I think Carnival has its own version of Tabyana

[chauncy's wife]

There's only 1 Tabyana that I'm aware of & it's on West Bay. Carnival had buses running every 30 mins when I was there 2 weeks ago. We ate lunch at Banarama & it's only a few resorts down from Tabyana.

 

kona_wahine, I think that if the Canopy tour ends at 2:45, that's going to leave maybe 1 1/2 to 2 hrs at Tabyana & that's just not enough time IMO to experience West Bay. When the last bus leaves, they'll be taking you kicking & screaming because you will not want to leave. If it were me, I'd do Tabyana only because the beach & the snorkeling were AMAZING!!!!! I cannot emphasize that enough. But thats just me:D

[mikel24m]

There's only 1 Tabyana that I'm aware of & it's on West Bay. Carnival had buses running every 30 mins when I was there 2 weeks ago. We ate lunch at Banarama & it's only a few resorts down from Tabyana.

 

kona_wahine' date=' I think that if the Canopy tour ends at 2:45, that's going to leave maybe 1 1/2 to 2 hrs at Tabyana & that's just not enough time IMO to experience West Bay. When the last bus leaves, they'll be taking you kicking & screaming because you will not want to leave. If it were me, I'd do Tabyana only because the beach & the snorkeling were AMAZING!!!!! I cannot emphasize that enough. But thats just me:D[/quote']

 

do you know if there is a park there? Was there alittle snack bar and concrete pool?

 

The first time we were there the water was Brackish and Carnival advertised it as Tabyana and its definately not the same water that we saw when we went this last time to Banarama

[kona_wahine]

There's only 1 Tabyana that I'm aware of & it's on West Bay. Carnival had buses running every 30 mins when I was there 2 weeks ago. We ate lunch at Banarama & it's only a few resorts down from Tabyana.

 

kona_wahine' date=' I think that if the Canopy tour ends at 2:45, that's going to leave maybe 1 1/2 to 2 hrs at Tabyana & that's just not enough time IMO to experience West Bay. When the last bus leaves, they'll be taking you kicking & screaming because you will not want to leave. If it were me, I'd do Tabyana only because the beach & the snorkeling were AMAZING!!!!! I cannot emphasize that enough. But thats just me:D[/quote']

 

The tour does the zip line first then gets you to Tabyana for 1 to 1.5 hours. So that would be another 1 to 2 hours for a total of around 3. I'm sure when I get there I'll never want to leave! :D

[chauncy's wife]

do you know if there is a park there? Was there alittle snack bar and concrete pool?

 

The first time we were there the water was Brackish and Carnival advertised it as Tabyana and its definately not the same water that we saw when we went this last time to Banarama

 

 

There is no park, no concrete pool but there is a snack bar / restaurant.

[mikel24m]

There is no park' date=' no concrete pool but there is a snack bar / restaurant.[/quote']

 

Thanks ..I think we were at a different beach

[mitsugirly]

Not to Bannister , but those small islands near by. You'd have to kayak over there and then sit real still, look for bubbles, and wait for one to surface.

 

We were discussing how you "might" see a manatee and you suggested the above. Then you posted a picture below that...is there suppose to be a manatee in that picture? I was just wondering the significance to the picture was.

[CENTEX CRUISER]

You won't find any brackish water at Tabyana....

[Kentucky60]

OK' date=' as promised, here's my review on Rendezvous. The excursion is contracted out to Wonder Tours which I was not that impressed with. They did not interact with us very much & it would have been nice if they would have been more informative about the island, Belize, etc. They weren't terrible by any means, but I would have liked more interaction. We left the ship at 8:30 am & the semi-submarine excursion was on the same boat. It took about 30-45 mins to get the island. The boat dropped us off & took the semi-sub tour to their destination. There were 5 or 6 big palapas w/ 3 six foot benches under each one. We hurried to one to put our stuff down so we would have shade later. We were given our gear & divided into 2 groups; advanced & beginners. The beginners entered the water from the front of the island & the advanced entered from the side & snorkeled out & around the back of the island & re-entered from the beach 180 degrees from where we entered. There were 2 guides in the water & 2 in kayaks. There were about 20 of us. The snorkeling was just OK for me. There was plenty to see but not alot of fish & the coral lacked any color but brown. I was a bit disappointed. Also, I had people bumping into me constantly & fins hitting me. My DH was smart & he stayed at the very front w/ the first guide & he didn't have this problem. We snorkeling for about 45 mins & then went back to the beach where they handed out beach mats. By the time we got out of the water, the semi-sub tour was back & enjoying the beach. They had 3 or 4 glass bottom kayas for use. The island itself was about 1/2 acre & it was beautiful. There were 5 palm trees on the island but the main shade was the palapas. They had a snack shack where you could purchase drinks & prepackaged snacks & also hot dogs. We stayed on the island another hour or so before heading back to the ship. The tour was 45 mins late getting back. I spoke to someone who took the Seargeant's Cay excursion & their experience with the snorkeling was disappointing to them also. After going to Roatan, I'm not sure any snorkeling will ever live up to that. If you want this excursion mainly for the beach, it would be a good tour; if you're going for the snorkeling...eehhh. I'd be happy to answer any questions if you have any.[/quote']

 

Does the boat dock so you can walk out to the beach or do you have to enter the water? Also I wanted to with my husband to watch him and just stay on the beach will the guides have a problem with this if I pay the full price.

[chauncy's wife]

Does the boat dock so you can walk out to the beach or do you have to enter the water? Also I wanted to with my husband to watch him and just stay on the beach will the guides have a problem with this if I pay the full price.

 

Yes, the boat does dock & I would think they would let you sit on the beach while your husband snorkels or at least it seemed like they would.

[kona_wahine]

This is the one we ended up choosing. We just liked the idea of the tiny bit of land. I'm not going to expect much from the snorkeling, but can add it to my list of snorkel spots. :D