Best Island for Snorkeling on our Southern Caribbean Itinerary

[Kim in CA]

I tried posting this question on the Snorkeling/Diving forum, but I didn’t get too much feedback, so I am trying this.

 

We will be sailing on the Summit on April 14th. Our ports of call will be: St. Croix, St. Kitts, Dominica, Grenada and St. Thomas. I love to snorkel, but most of my snorkeling experience has been in Hawaii. Of the islands we will be visiting, if we were to plan on making snorkeling the priority on two islands, which should we choose? We are not opposed to renting a car for private exploration when do-able, nor do we mind paying for a tour guide or private taxi driver if it is not a large “cattle call” group.

 

Maybe a better way to ask my question would be: Has anyone had an exceptional snorkeling experience on any of the islands on our itinerary?

 

I should say that my husband has his heart set on chartering a boat through Swashbucklin’ Tours in St. Thomas to do some in shore fishing, so I guess that island is off the snorkeling list.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Kim

[gdpups]

Just did that itinerary last month on the Summit. From St. Croix we went to Buck Island, very highly recommended. It's a national park/monument and from what I recall they said fishing is not allowed within a certain radius of the island.

 

On Dominica we spent the day with Levi (Bumping Tours) and part of the day was snorkeling at Champagne Reef. Fun and very different experience with the bubbles that rise up from the bottom. He also takes you to a gorge that you swim through and that was one of the highlights of our cruise.

 

On Grenada the group I was with did the Lobster cruise, which included snorkeling. The snorkeling was just Ok, didn't see too much, but that was a fun day. My husband wanted to go on the two person boats and ended up snorkeling at the same spot we did, but he had a blast on the boats.

[carolslc]

I'm on this itinerary in January and I love to snorkel and have done a lot of research, but haven't actually done it yet. :-)

 

We're doing Buck Island in St. Croix, The Bumpiing Tour in Dominica including Champagne Reef snorkeling, and going to St. John for snorkeling at Trunk Bay while at St. Thomas.

[kelmac]

I tried posting this question on the Snorkeling/Diving forum, but I didn’t get too much feedback, so I am trying this.

 

We will be sailing on the Summit on April 14th. Our ports of call will be: St. Croix, St. Kitts, Dominica, Grenada and St. Thomas. I love to snorkel, but most of my snorkeling experience has been in Hawaii. Of the islands we will be visiting, if we were to plan on making snorkeling the priority on two islands, which should we choose? We are not opposed to renting a car for private exploration when do-able, nor do we mind paying for a tour guide or private taxi driver if it is not a large “cattle call” group.

 

Maybe a better way to ask my question would be: Has anyone had an exceptional snorkeling experience on any of the islands on our itinerary?

 

I should say that my husband has his heart set on chartering a boat through Swashbucklin’ Tours in St. Thomas to do some in shore fishing, so I guess that island is off the snorkeling list.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Kim

 

Hi Kim,

 

We snorkel all over the Caribbean! In Dominica, walk off the ship and check with a taxi guy and have them drive you up to Champaign Reef (about a 15 minute ride). It's a bit gravelly, but take the trail to the end and enter the water there. They call it Champaign Reef because there are bubbles coming out of the reef; once there keep heading out and it gets even better. You will see a few small boats in the area taking groups out to snorkel. May cost a few dollars to snorkel in the area. Make a deal with the taxi driver before you leave, he will come back and pick you up. Not expensive. Less than two hours should do it.

 

The Island of St Johns is just off the coast of St Thomas -- great snorkeling near that Island. Maybe your Tour in St Thomas will include that?

Grenada not much in the way of snorkeling. You could go see the underwater art there?

 

Never snorkeled in St Croix, however we did boat over to Buck Island from Tortola, which is in the same area. St Kitts you need a catamaran to get to the good areas.

 

PS -- we bring our own snorkel gear so we can hit the road and do things on our own.

 

Good Luck!

Kel:)

Edited December 12, 2013 by kelmac

[OCruisers]

I tried posting this question on the Snorkeling/Diving forum, but I didn’t get too much feedback, so I am trying this.

 

We will be sailing on the Summit on April 14th. Our ports of call will be: St. Croix, St. Kitts, Dominica, Grenada and St. Thomas. I love to snorkel, but most of my snorkeling experience has been in Hawaii.

Kim

 

Your itinerary is more Eastern than Southern ... certainly not deep Southern.

 

On yours St. Croix and St. Thomas (going to St. John from there) have very decent snorkeling. :)

 

Still a nice itinerary. Have fun! :D

 

LuLu

~~~~

[Lsimon]

St. Croix, St. Kitts, Dominica, Grenada and St. Thomas.

 

St. Croix - had great snorkeling their on an excursion to Buck Island. They say the reef was nearly destroyed several years back but I thought it was very good in any event.

 

St. Kitts, we've done several Catamaran excursions that stopped at sh*tten Bay (Cruise critic blocks out the name if I put it in without the asterisk but that is the name). The snorkeling there is mixed. Doesn't seem great at first but if you spend some time really looking you'll find some great sights. I've seen lobsters and octopus in addition to nice looking tropical fish.

 

Dominca - never snorkeled there

 

St. Thomas - best snorkeling, and best day, we've had there was on private day sail excursions. Look for recommendations on the St. Thomas forum or google St. Thomas Day Sail and you find several small operators. Our favorite has been the Rumbaba.

 

I'd pick St. Thomas #1 as the overall day sail was great, St. Croix as runner up for best snorkeling. And then St. Kitts. Never been snorkeling in Dominica.

[jagoffee]

We have experienced great snorkeling at Buck Island in St. Croix while on a land vacation and St. Thomas/St. John. We have never snorkeled in Grenada or Dominica. We love the tubing I. Dominica.

[jhans24]

Champagne reef is mediocre snorkeling. You just have the novelty of bubbles coming up from the ocean floor.

[camarodrivenrs]

Deleted---Ooops you are not going to Bonaire

Edited December 13, 2013 by camarodrivenrs

[Baybear]

We are taking the same cruise as you in February. Cannot vouch for any snorkeling except St. Thomas/St. Johns, but Celebrity offers a snorkeling tour of Trunk Bay on St. Johns that we took and it was exceptional snorkeling with a protected outcropping you swim along with beaucoup varieties of fish and very colorful, varied coral. There's a guy in a kayak making sure no one stands up and steps on coral, so even though it's a popular place for cruisers they do a good job of protecting it. I got yelled at once, and never again as I stayed buoyant afterwards! We like to go "on our own" because it costs less than ship tours, but in this case we took Celebrity's tour because in order to get to St. John's you have to take a car/taxi to a dock and then take water transportation to St. Johns, and then take another bus/taxi to Trunk Bay and we didn't want to "get left" with all the logistics of doing that by ourselves. But if you're adventurous and want to save $$ you can do it yourself.

 

The other responses here echo what I've been hearing about the "Southern Caribbean" (Celebrity calls this a "Southern Caribbean Cruise"). i.e.: The snorkeling is not very good compared to Cozumel or Hawaii. But St. Johns is definitely on a par with those places!

Edited December 13, 2013 by Baybear
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[AlbertaCruisers]

Champagne reef is mediocre snorkeling. You just have the novelty of bubbles coming up from the ocean floor.

 

Agreed, but the reef which is out from the bubble part is actually very health and amazing. We saw a few puffers, an eel and lots of the usual cool fish. I recommend Champagne reef, but make sure after you see the bubbles to swim out to the reef as well!!

[shipfriend_max]

Hi everyone,

 

I have the same questions for the other itinerary on CELEBRITY SUMMIT - our itinerary includes barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten and St. Thomas.

Any tips from your side concerning best snorkel areas on the islands?

 

help would be appreciated, thank you! :)

[Lsimon]

Hi everyone,

 

I have the same questions for the other itinerary on CELEBRITY SUMMIT - our itinerary includes barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten and St. Thomas.

Any tips from your side concerning best snorkel areas on the islands?

 

help would be appreciated, thank you! :)

 

St. Lucia - if you want to snorkel here you're going to have to go on an excursion as all the decent snorkeling spots are distant from the port. The closest is probably Ti Kaye resort where some excursions stop off shore. I know you can get a day pass there and take a taxi or water taxi there arraigned through the resort. There are also some snorkeling excursions, ships and private, that go to the southern beaches near Anse Chastinet (Contact Scuba St. Lucia for excursions there) or the beach between the Pitons where a lot of private excursions stop.

 

 

Antigua - we've been there twice. Once took a private excursion called Creole Cruises Lobster Lunch Cruise which went to a small out island with a nice beach and nearby reef for decent snorkeling. Second time went to a beach which was beautiful but no snorkeling.

 

St. Maarten - Heard of snorkeling there but never done it. Doesn't have a good reputation for snorkeling.

 

St Thomas - see above.

 

I tend to like day sails for snorkeling the most with exceptions on a couple islands you don't mention. So of the above I'd pick St. Thomas or Antigua day sail excursions I've mentioned in this, and my prior, post.

 

If this is your first trip to St. Lucia I'd highly recommend one of the full island tours with one of the guides with good reviews in the Cruise Critic St. Lucia forum. These normally go in large vans (small busses) and make several scenic stops with the last one typically being the beach between the Pitons for snorkeling. We too one with Cosol years ago but there are other tour operators with good recommendations as well.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Lsimon

[travellover39]

Hi everyone,

 

I have the same questions for the other itinerary on CELEBRITY SUMMIT - our itinerary includes barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten and St. Thomas.

Any tips from your side concerning best snorkel areas on the islands?

 

help would be appreciated, thank you! :)

 

Aside of the tip for snorkeling on St John (no S), Sapphire Beach Resort on St Thomas has very nice snorkeling, right off shore.Just google search ST Thomas beaches. You don't have to stay there to use the beach. Secret Harbour Resort also has off shore snorkeling. Also you don't have to stay there. Coki Beach is also great for snorkeling.

 

Hope this helps.:)

[ellasnan]

Champagne reef is mediocre snorkeling. You just have the novelty of bubbles coming up from the ocean floor.

 

Been to Champagne twice. The first time it was excellent one go the best we have seen. Two years later it was not as good (just bubbles). We were told it was due to a dry season and the nutrients hadn't been washed off the hillside into the water for the fish! It is very hard to get into the water. I would suggest a boat trip there if you are doing it!

[cruisinsusin]

Hi everyone,

 

I have the same questions for the other itinerary on CELEBRITY SUMMIT - our itinerary includes barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten and St. Thomas.

Any tips from your side concerning best snorkel areas on the islands?

 

help would be appreciated, thank you! :)

 

We had one of our best snorkel days in Barbados with Silver Moon charters. Good snorkeling and really nice catamaran with either 12 or 24 guests.

Second the comments about Sapphire Beach in St Thomas- pretty good snorkeling right off the beach!

[Snorkel Dawg]

Champagne reef is mediocre snorkeling. You just have the novelty of bubbles coming up from the ocean floor.

 

 

 

 

 

Agreed. IMO overrated.

 

Grenada-There is decent snorkeling from Magazine Beach

 

 

St.Thomas-I like Secret Harbor for snorkeling from the beach also

 

St. Kitts-Did a great snorkel Tour with Royston

[Ron_L]

We just got back from this itinerary.

 

St. Croix - Too windy and rainy to snorkel. All of the Buck Island excursions were cancelled. I've heard mixed review about Buck from recent visitors, however. One of our plans was to go to Cane Bay to snorkel off shore. Cane Bay Divers has a desk at the port (it was on the porch of one of the shops when we were there) and they can arrange transportation to their dive shop and you can snorkel off of the shore from there. The young lady at the desk said that it is about a 200 foot swim off shore to the reef.

 

St. Kitts - We went to Sh*tten Bay with Blue Water Safaris. Great day on a very nice cat with a great crew. The snorkeling was good with a lot of fish and some unique stuff but not a lot of coral.

 

Dominica - Champagne Reef with Levi Baron of Bumpiing Tours. Getting in and out of the water was tricky but not all that bad. Levi took us out to the outer reef. The bubbles were cool, but the outer reef is where all of the coral and fish are. It was beautiful the day that we were there and Levi dove down to show us feather worms, flounders, puffers, a moray and a few other things.

 

Grenada - I've read of decent off shore snorkeling at Magazine Beach by the Aquarium restaurant but we didn't make it there.

 

St. Thomas - Nice off shore snorkeling at Sapphire beach on St. Thomas. Also, Trunk Bay on St. John is OK to good. there are lots of better places to snorkel on St. John, but unless you have a full day in port it may be tough to get to some of them and have much time to spend. Cinnamon Bay is just past Trunk Bay and has lots of sea grass that turtles like to hang out in and some good snorkeling near the rocks at the ends of the beach.

[luvs2fly]

I tried posting this question on the Snorkeling/Diving forum, but I didn’t get too much feedback, so I am trying this.

 

We will be sailing on the Summit on April 14th. Our ports of call will be: St. Croix, St. Kitts, Dominica, Grenada and St. Thomas. I love to snorkel, but most of my snorkeling experience has been in Hawaii. Of the islands we will be visiting, if we were to plan on making snorkeling the priority on two islands, which should we choose? We are not opposed to renting a car for private exploration when do-able, nor do we mind paying for a tour guide or private taxi driver if it is not a large “cattle call” group.

 

Maybe a better way to ask my question would be: Has anyone had an exceptional snorkeling experience on any of the islands on our itinerary?

 

I should say that my husband has his heart set on chartering a boat through Swashbucklin’ Tours in St. Thomas to do some in shore fishing, so I guess that island is off the snorkeling list.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Kim

 

My husband and I did this cruise last year! We did an excursion through the ship for every port! My favorite excursion was in Grenada we did the one where you power own little boat. We stopped to snorkel at this really cool place with a bunch of under water statues. The snorkel equipment was exceptionally clean and the guides were great. There were a lot of fish but I'm partial to Hawaii myself. They have a lot of fire coral around St. Kitts so be careful. We also did the catamaran tour to St. John's, fish were scarce and the snorkel equipment was old and smelly. The guides were terrible. Your husbands tour sounds like fun. We did land tours on the other ones. Hope this helps!