Snorkeling in Belize and Cozumel

[LisaRae]

We are going on the Carnival Glory in October and we will stop in Belize and Cozumel. We love to snorkel and we had a great snorkel in Grand Cayman, but not so good a snorkel in Antigua. I think the big difference was that we snorkelled from the shore in Antigua rather than off the boat as we did in Grand Cayman. I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight into the best places to snorkel in Belize and Cozumel. The ship offers excursions to the following in Belize: Sergeant's Cay Snorkel Adventure, Goff's Caye Snorkeling, Barrier Reef Snorkel At Rendezvous Caye, Horseshoe Reef Snorkel Combo At Caye Caulker: and the following in Cozumel: Island Adventure Snorkel Villablanca Reef, Catamaran Sail, Snorkel & Beach Party, and an Unlimited Snorkel (don't know where.) Any suggestions? I really can't tell if any of these is from the shore or from the boat. I'm going to try to see if the Carnival customer service knows, but I doubt it.

 

Thanks for your help.

LisaRae

[JrMafia90]

Horseshoe Reef Snorkel Combo At Caye Caulker

 

I would go with that.

 

Caye Caulker was so beautiful, you will love it. I don't think they offer the Shark/Ray Alley snorkel anymore, because that's what I did and it went to Caye Caulker. You will love Caye Caulker.

[OCruisers]

LisaRae .... We've been interested in your question as well. On the Ports of Call Board under Belize there's a good thread about ...

 

The Barrier Reef Snorkel & Rendezvous Key Beach Break (or just Click Here)

 

It certainly sounds great! Someone on that thread posted a photo of Rendezvous Key which I printed and have hanging over my desk! :D

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[cruise pup]

Cozumel has great snorkeling from both boats and from the shore. The 2 good beaches for snorkeling are Chankanaab (a state park where you pay an admission fee which I think is now $12. per person). You walk into the water on some rugged steps and you're right in the reef and there are tons of fish there. Chankanaab also has other features, such as a sea lion show, a garden with replicas of Mayan ruins and other things which I didn't get a chance to explore. The other beach is Dzul-Ha. I haven't been there but I understand it's great. There's no admission charge. You also walk steps into the water. I understand you need to make sure your feet are protected on the bottom as there are sea urchins with sharp needles in the water.

 

I've also done the Fury catamaran which goes to a reef off Chankanaab. After snorkeling you go to a terrific beach where you get unlimited beers and maragritas. There's also food for sale. The party continues on the cat as you sail back to your ship. Only problem with this was it seemed to go real fast.

[Jenna1983]

I did Goff's Caye snorkel excursion and it was great! We first dropped people off at the caye and then went out in the middle of the Carib. sea for over an hour. It was awesome. I know on our Travelog DVD they followed people in Belize snorkeling, but it seemed as if they just snorkeled off the caye. I hated going back to Goff's caye because it was awesome like out in the middle of the sea was. They were really nice too. I even got to hold the life ring while the tour guide swam down to find someone's camera! LOL talk about feeling important as I was the "keep your eye on the life ring because that's where it's OK"

[staylor]

I agree with JrMafia90- Caye Caulker was awesome! Carnival was no longer offering the Shark/Ray Alley tour when we cruised in Feb so we booked with an independent operator. It was an awesome tour!

 

Check out this thread!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=136893

 

Here is a pic of Caye Caulker:

[zydecocruiser]

We are going on the Carnival Glory in October and we will stop in Belize and Cozumel. We love to snorkel and we had a great snorkel in Grand Cayman, but not so good a snorkel in Antigua. I think the big difference was that we snorkelled from the shore in Antigua rather than off the boat as we did in Grand Cayman. I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight into the best places to snorkel in Belize and Cozumel. The ship offers excursions to the following in Belize: Sergeant's Cay Snorkel Adventure, Goff's Caye Snorkeling, Barrier Reef Snorkel At Rendezvous Caye, Horseshoe Reef Snorkel Combo At Caye Caulker: and the following in Cozumel: Island Adventure Snorkel Villablanca Reef, Catamaran Sail, Snorkel & Beach Party, and an Unlimited Snorkel (don't know where.) Any suggestions? I really can't tell if any of these is from the shore or from the boat. I'm going to try to see if the Carnival customer service knows, but I doubt it.

 

Thanks for your help.

LisaRae

 

In Cozumel the Island Adventure is from a boat and the Unlimited is from the shore.

 

Belize is a tendering port, so you might want to look at Carnival's offerings because it will save you the hassle of having to deal with tender tickets.

 

If you will consider non-ship tours, here are some I've done in Cozumel:

{Mayan Paradise's website seems to be out to lunch, but they are still around}

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=103072

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=158000

 

And some from Eagle Ray:

http://pak04.pictures.aol.com/NASApp/ygp/EmailLanding.ygp?event=DirectView&shareInfo=esv4e%2b9w77l3UZqDEHTU3nXTFxazsxKHd88kIGmdEnhWGd%2bBXiXp6w%3d%3d&pageName=AlbumViewFromEmails&locale=en_US

[LostFan#1]

We just got off Elation and loved the snorkeling at Dzul Ha and at Goff's Caye. Others in our group loved the snuba at Chankanaab (Cozumel) and the snorkeling/ray alley with Coral Breeze in Belize. I am posting lengthy reviews on the Cozumel and Belize boards, and both are also included in my 6-19-05 Elation review posted just a few minutes ago.

 

Debbie

[kreeves1112]

Dzul Ha in Cozumel is a great place to snorkel, and is the place some of the Catamaran snorkel tours bring their groups. However, it is not a pretty beach. Chankanaab is a beautiful park with so so snorkeling. You may want to stop at Dzul Ha and snorkel for a couple of hours then go to Chankanaab. If you snorkel Chankanaab be sure you look for the statues of Jesus and the virgin Mary.

[nursejewels]

We went on a snorkel excursion on a trimaran we booked online through cozumelcruiseexcursions.com in Cozumel. http://cozumelcruiseexcursions.com/CatamaranSailingSnorkeling.htm

We took a taxi to Palm Beach which was great, and got to use all their facilities free and even got free cocktails as part of the deal! When we got there, we were the only ones at the beach, and the 4 of us ended up being the only ones to go out on the trimaran, so we got a private chartered tour for $45 per person! It was great! And they took us to 2 locations along the shore toward the cruise ship terminals, which might have been easy to just go out to from the shore nearer the port, but I'm telling you, there was a huge current so that our boat had to drop us in the water and go down south to pick us up further down the coast, so I can't imagine going in from a shore and getting caught up in that current which pushes you south. At some times, when we were trying to get back to our boat, it was like you were swimming in place, not moving, trying to swim against the current! We had to have a tow rope thrown to us to get back, and this was a calm day just off the shore maybe 200 yards at the most! It was fun, but I would be scared to go out alone off the shore in Cozumel too far, and I am a strong swimmer! We got to enjoy the beach at Palm beach club afterwards as long as we wanted, and they waited on us on the beach! Great food and drinks, nice chairs and umbrellas, water trampolines and inflatable iceburgs. If you want a great beach AND good snorkeling, I suggest them highly. Free beverages (alcoholic & non) and snacks on the boat too!! Very fun day!

[rusticfurnituremaker]

Nursejewels: Thanks for your post. We have chartered this trimaran for our family of 10 June 25 from the Freedom of the Seas. Do you remember the name of the trimaran? Thanks

Amy

[nursejewels]

Amy...good thing I had this post subscribed to, or I never would have known you asked me a question! It's been a LONG time now, but I do remember the names of the men who took us out on the trimaran...Angel & Jose. I do not remember the name of the boat, but it was the only trimaran there on that beach. I think this is a pretty small operation. But smaller can be better, especially when you get such personal attention, and having the boat to ourselves was awesome! I hope the snorkeling is good for you, as I hear there was some damage from hurricaine Katrina. I think the snorkeling from the boat wil probably be better than the snorkeling from land though. Still, the best snorkeling I have seen was in Grand Cayman, but I am not very experienced thus far...have only been to Coz, GC, and the Riviera Maya areas. Have a wonderful time, take lots of underwater cameras! I 'd love to hear back from you about how the trip went! Tell Angel & Jose we said "HOWDY!"

Julie

[Another Cruise]

I haven't tried to do this before, hope it works. There is a great post on the Princess boards with the best snorkeling pictures I have seen. They were taken in Belize and Cozumel. Try this link and start looking on page 3 of the post. I don't know if it will answer you questions, but it sure will make you wish you were there!

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=269752