Pigeon Point Beach AND Buccoo Reef Snorkeling – On Our Own – DIY Trip Report

[SG65CB]

Tobago:

 

You can book beach-break excursions to Pigeon Point Beach, and you can book snorkeling excursions to Buccoo Reef, but we managed to do both without booking an excursion in advance.

 

Buccoo Reef is near Pigeon Point. There are glass-bottom boat operators at Pigeon Point Beach who will take you to Buccoo Reef. (If you book an official snorkeling excursion from the ship they take you to a pier to catch the snorkel boat, east of Pigeon Point.) 

When we got off the ship we went through the cruise terminal and found the board that lists taxi prices. The board says “Pigeon Point $25 one way” and I thought this was going to be an expensive day for our party of five. But after talking to a taxi dispatcher it turns out that is the price per taxi, not per person. $50 round trip total for five people is more than reasonable. The taxi driver takes you to the beach, waits for you, then brings you back to the ship. You pay when you get back to the ship. 

It was about a 20 minute drive to Pigeon Point. There is an entrance gate where we stopped and paid $15 in entry fees (total for five people) and were given wrist bands to wear. Then the driver took us to a parking lot. It was 10:00 a.m. and we asked to return to the ship at 2:00 p.m. and the driver said OK. 

As we exited the taxi we were approached by a guy selling a glass-bottom boat snorkeling excursion. The taxi driver indicated to us this is legit and we should do it, so we bought tickets. (Our taxi driver the day before in Trinidad also told us about the boats from Pigeon Point and said we should do it so we were open to this.) The price was $40 per person and it turned out to be well worth the cost. There is a pier at the beach and the boat would leave at 11:00. We were instructed to meet at 10:45. It is a two-hour excursion so make plans with your taxi driver accordingly. 

We took some time to walk down the beach to the far end. If you are worried about finding tickets for the snorkel trip don’t worry, we were approached by half a dozen people selling tickets. Normally I don’t like being approached by beach vendors but they were friendly and actually had a good product. 

We went back to the pier at 10:45 to board our boat. Several boats went out. Some were larger than others but all offered the same excursion. The boats are made from wood and look a little rickety, but they get the job done and the water is not that deep anyway, and we are all swimmers with snorkel gear. First was a boat ride to the reef, then we were drifting over the reef to observe through the glass bottom while the captain/guide identified fish and coral for us. Next they secured the boats and we were free to get out and snorkel the reef for about half an hour. After that they took us to the “Nylon Pool” which is a shallow area about a quarter mile from shore. The bottom is soft sand-like ground up coral. We were able to get out and wade around the boat for awhile before leaving and heading back to Pigeon Point. The Buccoo-only excursions stopped at “No Man’s Land” which is a place on shore selling food, drink, and souvenirs. We didn’t stop there but there are plenty of places for that at Pigeon Point Beach.

Back at Pigeon Point Beach we bought some drinks ($3 Carib) and snacks and hung out at the picnic tables. You can rent lounge chairs for $5 and umbrellas for $5. At 2:00 we found our taxi driver and headed back to the ship. We were back before 2:30. All-aboard time was 4:30 so there was plenty of time to spare. 

Some photos: 
 

Entry fee sign (roughly 7:1 foreign exchange, 20TT is about $3):

 

 

A larger boat:

 

 

A smaller boat:

 

 

Inside the boat:

 

 

Coral:

 

 

Fish:

 

 

More coral and fish:

 

Edited March 3 by SG65CB