Snorkeling from the shoreline

[Carol28]

We will be on the Koningsdam on November 21. It stops at Bridgetown in Barbados, Fort-de-France in Martinique, Castries in St. Lucia among other places.  We prefer to snorkel from the beach and do not have our own equipment.  Is there a beach on one of these islands that offers this and would be a good place to enjoy the beach, too?

[CruiserBruce]

I would be researching this on the Ports boards. Lots of info there.

[iflyrc5]

1 hour ago, Carol28 said:

We will be on the Koningsdam on November 21. It stops at Bridgetown in Barbados, Fort-de-France in Martinique, Castries in St. Lucia among other places.  We prefer to snorkel from the beach and do not have our own equipment.  Is there a beach on one of these islands that offers this and would be a good place to enjoy the beach, too?

In Barbados the closest beach area is Carlisle Bay ($5 taxi ride) but there is not really anything to see snorkeling unless you swim out to the wreck which is about 200 yards out from the beach. I have not seen anyone renting snorkel equipment at this beach.  It is a nice beach with several bars that rent chairs but just a flat sandy bottom.    http://sailcalabaza.com  has a great snorkel tour in Barbados we have done multiple times and we will be on the Calabaza again in Jan 2019.

 

There is not much of a beach at Martinique and no place to rent gear.  HAL offers a snorkel trip with 2 stops - we have done this one - it is OK but the second time there were lots of small Jelly fish in the water at one stop.

 

At St Lucia there is no beach near by.   A few years ago we did a trip to a park area about 30 minutes from the port - the snorkeling was not that good and I don't remember a place to rent gear.    http://spencerambrose.com/  Spencer offers several excellent snorkel tours that we have taken and will be with him again in Jan 2019.

 

In Bonaire there is excellent snorkeling off the shore at the Plaza Resort that is a 15 minutes walk from the ship and they rent equipment.

 

Sorry I could not help more with snorkeling from the shore.

[Carol28]

29 minutes ago, iflyrc5 said:

In Barbados the closest beach area is Carlisle Bay ($5 taxi ride) but there is not really anything to see snorkeling unless you swim out to the wreck which is about 200 yards out from the beach. I have not seen anyone renting snorkel equipment at this beach.  It is a nice beach with several bars that rent chairs but just a flat sandy bottom.    http://sailcalabaza.com  has a great snorkel tour in Barbados we have done multiple times and we will be on the Calabaza again in Jan 2019.

 

There is not much of a beach at Martinique and no place to rent gear.  HAL offers a snorkel trip with 2 stops - we have done this one - it is OK but the second time there were lots of small Jelly fish in the water at one stop.

 

At St Lucia there is no beach near by.   A few years ago we did a trip to a park area about 30 minutes from the port - the snorkeling was not that good and I don't remember a place to rent gear.    http://spencerambrose.com/  Spencer offers several excellent snorkel tours that we have taken and will be with him again in Jan 2019.

 

In Bonaire there is excellent snorkeling off the shore at the Plaza Resort that is a 15 minutes walk from the ship and they rent equipment.

 

Sorry I could not help more with snorkeling from the shore.

Are you kidding me? This was a terrific response! I'm going to ask you about the other ports. Thank you so much!

 

[Carol28]

Are you kidding me? This was a terrific response! I'm going to ask you about the other ports. Thank you so much! How about Philipsburgin St. Maarten, St. Thomas, or Half Moon Cay? And thank you again!

[CruiserBruce]

12 hours ago, Carol28 said:

Are you kidding me? This was a terrific response! I'm going to ask you about the other ports. Thank you so much! How about Philipsburgin St. Maarten, St. Thomas, or Half Moon Cay? And thank you again!

 

If you look on the Private Islands board, you will see snorkeling is not really all that good at Half Moon Cay, as there is not much coral there. But if you are an experienced snorkeler, you can try the area south of the tender docking area.

[G&G]

14 hours ago, Carol28 said:

Are you kidding me? This was a terrific response! I'm going to ask you about the other ports. Thank you so much! How about Philipsburgin St. Maarten, St. Thomas, or Half Moon Cay? And thank you again!

 

St Thomas: prior to Hurricanes in 2017, Coki Beach & Sapphire Beach were good snorkeling spots. Lindquist Beach was ok but beautiful. Heard these beaches were badly damaged.

St Maarten: Never found great snorkeling even from boats

Bonaire: Take water taxi to Bonaire. If booked through ship snorkeling equipment available. Best place in Caribbean to snorkel; drift snorkel along reef. Last April there were 1000's of fish along reef plus a turtle and a lost barracuda 

[Hlitner]

On Barbados we will somtimes Snorkel off the left side of Accra/ Rockley Beach.  It is not the best on earth, but if conditions are nice you will see some interesting fish and squid. On St Lucia and Martinique we

have never found a good snorkel beach

 

Hank

[canadianbear]

17 hours ago, Carol28 said:

Are you kidding me? This was a terrific response! I'm going to ask you about the other ports. Thank you so much! How about Philipsburgin St. Maarten, St. Thomas, or Half Moon Cay? And thank you again!

 

We pack our snorkel & fins as it comes in handy.  In Half Moon Cay I’m not sure about renting equipment but maybe phone HAL and ask?  We have done their stingray snorkel which they provide the equipment.

 

Since we have our own stuff we enjoy snorkeling at Half Moon Cay looking for the resident octopus!  It’s definitely not a great snorkel there but we find it fun.  

 

In St Thomas we chose to do the HAL excursion Shipwreck & Turtle Cove as we had not been there before.  

 

Sorry I can’t be a better help either.  You might try posting under the snorkel/dive section too though and also browse through the port section which is where I find a lot of info.

[PSR]

6 hours ago, canadianbear said:

 

 

 

...Since we have our own stuff we enjoy snorkeling at Half Moon Cay looking for the resident octopus!  It’s definitely not a great snorkel there but we find it fun... 

 

 

 

We snorkeled in HMC many years ago and had our own stuff, also not sure if HAL rents gear. Wanted to add, though, that HMC is a good place to snorkel from the beach, especially for beginners. At that time there was not much to see, they had just put in some undersea devices to attract fish, but not much was going on to look at; it did help us learn to use our gear.

Edited November 10, 2018 by PSR

[canadianbear]

Just now, PSR said:

 

We snorkled in HMC many years ago and had our own stuff, also not sure if HAL rents gear. Wanted to add, though, that HMC is a good place to snorkel from the beach, especially for beginners. At that time there was not much to see, they had just put in some undersea devices to attract fish, but not much was going on to look at; it did help us learn to use our gear.

Exactly-one of my upcoming cruises a friend is coming (instead of hubby) and she’s never snorkeled but an excellent swimmer.  Our first stop is HMC which will give her a chance to practice as she bought snorkel equipment to bring.  We also booked a shore snorkel in Curaçao so she doesn’t have to worry about a boat etc.  I don’t want to scare her!

 

There certainly aren’t many pretty fish at HMC but it’s fun to be in the water and snorkel around the rock area.

[POA1]

Unless it's changed, they do have snorkel gear at Half Moon Cay. It used to come with the cabanas or you could rent it. Check with the little booth you pass on your way through the plaza. 

[fishin' musician]

DW and I travel with snorkel and masks (leaving the fins at home).   You may want to consider this as it opens options.  In Martinique there is a ferry across the bay to the better beaches.  Snorkeling is OK.  Bonaire, as suggested, is world class.  I suggest the short walk to the water taxi to Klein Island (a national marine reserve I believe).  The snorkeling here is incredible, but the island is deserted, meaning deserted... no facilities of any variety.

[iflyrc5]

On 11/9/2018 at 6:53 PM, Carol28 said:

Are you kidding me? This was a terrific response! I'm going to ask you about the other ports. Thank you so much! How about Philipsburgin St. Maarten, St. Thomas, or Half Moon Cay? And thank you again!

We have not tried any snorkeling at St Maarten.  We have done several tours with "Bernard Tours" in St Maarten but no snorkeling.  The beach we visited on the French side was destroyed during the hurricane and was not much for snorkeling before that.  There is a beach area along Philipsburg but I have not seen anyone with snorkel gear.  You might want to contact Bernard and ask him about snorkeling at St Maarten.

 

In St Thomas we have snorkeled at Coki beach in the past (we have our own equipment but there were folks renting equipment).  You want to go along the rocks on the right side (facing the water).  This beach does fill up with lots of people and not sure what it looks like since the hurricane.  We have done a HAL snorkel trip in St Thomas that we OK.  They offered 2 different tours.  The Ship Wreck and Turtle Cove tour picked you up in their boat at the pier and has 2 snorkel stops.  The other was  CHAMPAGNE CATAMARAN SAIL, SNORKEL & BEACH which was a ride in a open air truck to a boat.  We liked the Ship Wreck tour the best.

 

At HMC the only real snorkeling is along the rocks to the left (facing the water) and around some reef balls that HAL put about 50 yards to the right of the rocks.

 

  

[sprockie]

I would recommend buying your own mask at the very least.  If you're novice snorkellers like we are, we don't need spectacular snorkelling sites at all the ports - we're quite entertained with the ocean life at Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk or any other beach we go to.  I don't even bother with a snorkel, but my boys do.  We never wear fins.  

[Hlitner]

As to St Maarten, DW and I have spent time on that island and checked-out many of its beaches for snorkeling.  Dawn Beach is probably the best option, but only if the sea conditions are near perfect (not much wind) which is not likely during the winter months.  There is a small somewhat isolated beach on Happy Bay (on the French side) which actually had some OK snorkeling along the right side (near the shoreside rocks.  But there are no rentals at Happy Bay and you do need to hike in through a wooded area (not sure what is left after last year's hurricane) from another nearby beach.  For any kind of decent snorkeling on St Maarten one really needs to book a boat tour that goes to a decent off-shore reef.

 

We posted elsewhere that there is at least one option in Barbados which is Accra/Rockley Beach.  The snorkeling there is just fair (at best) and means working along the left side of the beach (near the rocks).  I think one of the small beach vendors might rent some snorkel equipment, but we would not recommend renting (the quality of what you get is questionable and you do not know who used that equipment before you).  My recommendation is to buy your own snorkel equipment before your cruise.  There are many terrific online sites and one can even get prescription masks (for those who wear glasses or contacts) which is a nice small investment that gives you rewards on all future trips.

 

On St Lucia it is possible to snorkel off a small beach near the Pitons, but we do not recall any equipment rentals.  I would mention that we once did this and were underwhelmed with the snorkel area....so never bothered to repeat the experience on future trips.  

 

Hank