Where to beach snorkle on Half Moon Cay

[J.P.]

Still have my suntan from a day at Half Moon Cay. We rented snorkeling equiptment from the beach hut... rent ahead of time as they ran out before we even got there... just so happened they had some sets turned in early and let us rent them. Walk down the beach to the other end, it's a 2 mile/ 30 minute walk... beautiful walk though! Just take this into account if you're pushing the "All aboard" time which is typically 30 minutes before sailing. At the north end the beach ends onto rocks. Stop there and drop your bags. Directly in front of you about 30 feet out is a non-living coral rock outcropping with lots of little reef fish making it home. No invertebrates there, just fish like Sargent majors, tangs and blennies. Just beyond that 100 feet out is a dark ridge with waves breaking over it. Now that's Finding Nemo! Snorkle out there and it's beautiful! It's too shallow to support large corals, but what's there is brightly colored and just under the surface, so the sunlight's colors are beautiful... lots of oranges/blues/greens/yellows. There are tons of invertebrates, small corals such as brain/staghorn/fire/etc, urchins, tube worms, algaes, etc. And the fish! Not many big ones, but TONS of small ones. If you can, take a small zip-lock with bread in it to feed the fish... they will swarm! Just pack the zip-lock out so a sea-turtle doesn't mistake it for a jelly-fish! And don't touch a thing out there... there is fire coral everywhere... fire as in hot-lava! When you've had enough of "Finding Nemo", swim north over to the rocks. Swim around the ledge and you'll find yourself in what I call "The Blue Lagoon". 10-20 feet deep still water with sand bottom (hence the blue coloration) with big fish hanging around near the rocks and some half-intact old pier pilings. My time was up and I had to return to the ship, otherwise I would have continued up the ledge. When we went in 12/2014, the water temp was mid 70's, air was mid-70's, there were minimal surface disturbance (i.e. Glassy conditions) and the water was swimming pool clear. It was just beautiful and I look foward to going again!

Edited December 21, 2014 by J.P.

[msgardner87]

J.P, I can't thank you enough for this info. I have been looking everywhere for where to snorkel at HMC without paying for the excursion.

 

Mike

[msgardner87]

This is not in the private Oasis area is it?

[CruiserBruce]

This is not in the private Oasis area is it?

 

The Oasis is south of the Water Sports Hut, less than 10 minutes walk. The OP is advising 30 minutes walk north, which puts it past the horse stables/riding area.

[debsjc]

I snorkelled the same area a few years back, and it was great. Just a word of caution though, it was quite choppy. I'm a strong swimmer, and was fine, but it wouldn't be a spot I would recommend for beginner snorkelers. Also I came across a couple of large barracuda, that seem to like to swim straight at me, which was a little scary!

[El Pistoffo]

Excellent info. I too was looking all over the net for HMC self-snorkeling info.

 

Looking at google maps, the end of the beach is quite a ways off. Anything or anybody else out there? I imagine that there isn't any access to beverages and such out that way. My wife may not be thrilled. :(

 

Since my wife and I are planning on scuba diving at a few ports on our cruise (unfortunately no scuba excursions at HMC) we will have snorkel gear with us and use that.

 

If by chance we choose the snorkel excursion (my wife may not want to do that long walk) would they allow us to use our own gear?

 

Thx