Good snorkeling?

[BiXLL]

CC helped us really enjoy our first snorkeling experience on our first cruise. The best was Mia Key at Roatan, and we thank all who guided us that way.

 

We are planning our next cruise and are wondering which itinerary would have the best snorkeling. We are debating between Ocho rRios/Grand Caymen, and St. Maartin/St Thomas.

 

What are your suggestions?

[lilybay]

Was Mia Key on your own or a tour? I tend to like doing things on my own because the large groups of people is disruptive.

[theump]

Was Mia Key on your own or a tour? I tend to like doing things on my own because the large groups of people is disruptive.

 

 

Maya Key is only avaiable through cruiise lines. Can not go on your own.

[Middleager]

We are debating between Ocho rRios/Grand Caymen, and St. Maartin/St Thomas.

 

What are your suggestions?

 

Forget Ocho Rios. No good snorkeling or diving there. Instead you can enjoy the Dunns River Falls. Also buy some Blue Mountain coffee there.

 

Cayman has the Stingray City snorkeling. It's not really snorkeling as they don't let you wear fins, but have you stand at waist/chest high water and play with stingrays. At the second stop, usually Coral Gardens, it's a bit better. Can also go shore snorkeling free at Eden Rock -- a few hundred yards south of the cruise terminal. Easy to walk to, easy entry, and pretty good snorkeling.

 

St. Thomas also has pretty good snorkeling/diving. We enjoyed Coki Beach, nice easy shore snorkeling, and can enjoy the beach there.

[Stevesan]

CC helped us really enjoy our first snorkeling experience on our first cruise. The best was Mia Key at Roatan, and we thank all who guided us that way.

 

We are planning our next cruise and are wondering which itinerary would have the best snorkeling. We are debating between Ocho rRios/Grand Caymen, and St. Maartin/St Thomas.

 

What are your suggestions?

 

Nearly all Grand Caymen snorkel trips include a stop at "Stingray City".

Captain Marvin offers a three stop that includes the barrier reef and coral garden, too.

 

https://www.captainmarvins.com/three-stop-stingray-snorkel-tours

[Capt_BJ]

Nearly all Grand Cayman snorkel trips include a stop at "Stingray City".

 

not true ... well let's change that to not 100% accurate

 

Stingray city is on the north side of the island and many stingray city trips will offer a second snorkeling site on the north side

 

but b4 'stingray city' became an attraction (relatively new IMO but I've been a Cayman frequent visitor since the earlt 80's) virtually all the snorkel trips went to sites on the west side (Seven Mile, Eden Rock, Sunset House . . .) or depending on weather the South side; and those trips and places still exist.

 

A trip to the north side involves a drive across the island to get on a boat in the north sound (it would take too long to boat around from the tender landings. You can get on a west side snorkel boat and be wet in a few minutes .... or just WALK to the site (Eden or Sunset or others)

 

for OP two comments

 

- work took me to Ocho many times and I dove since I was there. Having dove MANY places many times I can say that unless Ocho has improved SIGNIFICANTLY since my last visit - forget about it. On the Other hand .... Cayman presents the best opportunities of all your places.

 

- that said, I can have a GREAT time at site X today, and conditions might make your experience tomorrow suck . . . . you should not judge site quality on "the one time I was there 5 years ago". Having dove many times and many places since the late 70's when I got certified, and having a job that took me to diving places throughout the Carb' for 25 years, I've returned to Grand Cayman and Sunset House / Sunset reef on my own dime over and over again; as recently as a few months ago with dd

Edited February 16, 2014 by Capt_BJ

[Stevesan]

Nearly all Grand Cayman snorkel trips include a stop at "Stingray City".

 

not true ... well let's change that to not 100% accurate

 

 

Thus the escape word "nearly".:p

[jaasb0808]

If you stop in St. Thomas, I would recommend taking the water ferry over to St. John for the day. There is tons of great snorkeling there. Here is a blog I loved detailing all the great snorkeling on St. John:

 

http://blog.sunplay.com/category/st-john-2/

 

They also have a section on Grand Cayman, comparing the two might be helpful for you.

 

http://blog.sunplay.com/category/grand-cayman/

Edited February 17, 2014 by jaasb0808

[evandbob]

Cayman. Try the dual stop tours that combine sting ray city with either the barrier reef or coral gardens. Remember the "barrier reef" stop can vary according to conditions. Most of all, enjoy!

On the other side of the island, closer to the ship and before 7 mile beach there is a sunken ship that was dragged away from a pier and imploded in maybe 30 to 40 ft of water. It's split apart like a rib cage. Nearby, one of the restaurants makes a daily show of feeding some tarpon, and these 3 to 5 ft creatures are usually in the area.

Edited February 19, 2014 by evandbob