What's the Best Place to Snorkel in the Caribbean? Survey II

[travelite]

We have been to all the places mentioned and though it has been 6-7 years Tobago Key trumps them all, IMO.. The only problem I encountered in 2 visits were the weather conditions needed to be right.

If you went 400 miles further the snorkeling around the Blue Hole is the best off the east coast.

 

I did not include Tobago because it wasn't listed. That is definitely a great place.....especially like the snorkeling around Blue Waters Inn right off the beach. Off Little Tobago, watch for dangerous currents.

[YYJValerie]

Ambergis Cay... I may have spelled that wrong... has been my all time favorite thus far. We took a puddle jumper from where we docked to Ambergis where we met our boat on the beach across the street from the little airport. The cruise line warned us that we wouldn't have time, but I honestly believe that was just to discourage us from booking with an outside company. We had plenty of time. The reef was some of the best we have ever seen. My husband is an avid diver and has been all over the caribbean -- he can't wait to go back.

 

Georgetown Grand Cayman is a close second. Just get off the ship, hang a left onto the main street and take a little walk down to the blue dive shop on the right -- can't remember the name. You can rent equipment if you don't have your own. My husband did a tank dive while I snorkeled above -- incredible. And so easy -- you're literally in front of the cruise ship (a very safe distance away of course) -- yet you feel like you are in another world. Did I say incredible?

[livingthedream]

Just got back from St. Thomas and had one of the best snorkeling trips ever. Booked ourselves online. Simplicity Charters. Great crew and fabulous snorkeling. They took us (a max of 6 people on the boat allowed and that is great in itself :) to a very remote beach on St. John. It was spectacular. Literally thousands of schooling fish, every tropical variety you can imagine, Hawksbill turtles, barracuda, living coral. If anyone is looking for a memorable experience, get in touch with Charlie of Simplicity. He worked around our schedule in order to get us back to the ship on time. Heaven on earth. They know all the best spots to go and they pride themselves on bringing you where there are not crowds so you have the place to yourself. Fabulous time.

[travelite]

Just got back from St. Thomas and had one of the best snorkeling trips ever. Booked ourselves online. Simplicity Charters. Great crew and fabulous snorkeling. They took us (a max of 6 people on the boat allowed and that is great in itself :) to a very remote beach on St. John. It was spectacular. Literally thousands of schooling fish, every tropical variety you can imagine, Hawksbill turtles, barracuda, living coral. If anyone is looking for a memorable experience, get in touch with Charlie of Simplicity. He worked around our schedule in order to get us back to the ship on time. Heaven on earth. They know all the best spots to go and they pride themselves on bringing you where there are not crowds so you have the place to yourself. Fabulous time.

Did you have to form your own snorkeling group of approx. 6, or did Simplicity Charters work with individual bookings to form a tour? There are only 2 of us, and no one on our Roll Call has shown interest in snorkeling at any of our ports. We don't want a drink and party sail, just really good snorkeling.

[loves2cruz]

Bonaire without a doubt. I see where Bonaire and St.Johns are a tie at the moment.

 

I am betting most that voted for St. Johns never snorkeled at Bonaire. :)

 

When you snorkeled in Bonaire did you go to Klein Bonaire or snorkel off shore on the main island? Trying to figure out which would be better? If you went to Klein Bonaire did you take a water taxi over or did you do a boat excursion?

 

Thanks

[markstudy]

When you snorkeled in Bonaire did you go to Klein Bonaire or snorkel off shore on the main island? Trying to figure out which would be better? If you went to Klein Bonaire did you take a water taxi over or did you do a boat excursion?Thanks

 

I did both in Bonaire. Took the ships water taxi in the morning over to Klein Bonaire... it was fantastic. Only complaint I ever heard was that the wind and waves pick up in the afternoons.... so go early. (they buy up all the water taxis so its a bit tricky to get one on your own... can be done, but not worth the extra effort. nothing on Klein it is snorkel only and they just dumped us off and then picked us up 3 or 4 hour later. It was perfect, no groups or guides just do your own thing)

 

Then I took a private guide (Renee' snorkel trips) and did some snorkeling right off the beach of the main island. Very nice day. I just wish I had enough time to also try the 3rd option- a sail boat "Woodwind" to do the drift dive (but I didn't want to be in deep 12-15 feet water)... so I stuck with 4-8 feet deep water and shore diving all day. I would have done all 3 trips if time allowed.

 

if you click on the link in my signature, you can see my entire trip in photos. :D

[livingthedream]

Travelite--Did you have to form your own snorkeling group of approx. 6, or did Simplicity Charters work with individual bookings to form a tour? There are only 2 of us, and no one on our Roll Call has shown interest in snorkeling at any of our ports. We don't want a drink and party sail, just really good snorkeling.

 

Sorry for the late reply. No they take care of everything. When we contacted them, it was the same, just us two. They got the other four lined up and went according to OUR schedule as we contacted them first. It was great. You will have the time of your lives. Just give Charlie an email. He was our captain and you can find the info on their website. I believe it is simplicity charters. We found them through Trip Advisor. Please tell them Sharon and Doug from Florida sent you :)

[reklawr]

Great Pictures - Markstudy! :)

I'll be in Bonaire in April 2011. I'm looking forward to some great shore diving!:D

[butterflyfish]

I voted for Roatan (Tabayana Beach) but then I remembered I went to Ambergis Caye in Belize and that takes the top spot from Roatan for me. My third choice would be Caneel Bay/Honeymoon Beach in St. John. Oh, and I forgot about Grand Turk (it was cloudy the day I was there, but it seems like it has the potential to be great snorkeling from what I saw).

 

There's so many to choose from!

[cruisingforsix]

We got back from a western caribbean cruise and snorkeled in Belize, Roatan ,Cozumel and Grand Cayman and they were all wonderful trips. There was something unique about each one.

[Turtles06]

We got back from a western caribbean cruise and snorkeled in Belize, Roatan ,Cozumel and Grand Cayman and they were all wonderful trips. There was something unique about each one.

 

Glad you had such a great time! Can you please tell us where you snorkeled in Belize, Roatan and Cozumel?

 

Those three ports (plus Costa Maya) are on our western Carib. cruise next year. We do want to get in some good snorkeling, but are also thinking about spending our day in Belize seeing Mayan ruins. So we are trying to weigh the variouis snorkeling options in these various ports. (And yes, I'm doing my homework on the Ports of Call boards as well, but all advice about snorkeling at these specific ports is much appreciated! TIA! :))

[Cruise-daddy1]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a snorkling guide for Grand Turk? We will be there on Feb 12,2011

 

Roger D.

[travelite]

We got back from a western caribbean cruise and snorkeled in Belize, Roatan ,Cozumel and Grand Cayman and they were all wonderful trips. There was something unique about each one.

I leave Jan. 30 and will stop at all these spots in addition to a few others. It would be greatly appreciated it you could post for each port the location of the individual areas you snorkeled. Did you use a tour company or dive master/co.? How did you get to the spots? Where there any areas where you snorkeled from the beach? I have snorkeled Belize, Roatan, and Cozumel but never as a cruise ship passenger. I want to make the best use of my time in the water given only one short day in port. Only having excellent information in advance, and planning well, is it possible to make full use of the day. We bring our own gear so independent arrangements will work for us where available. We tend not to take ship snorkel tours because of crowds in the water. If you took a ship tour that was exceptional, please post details. I have also heard for Belize taking the ship's snorkel tour avoids the need to be tendered to the port first thus saving time getting to the reef.....is this true?

[minidriver]

Well, it's not on your survey list, but I vote for St. Lucia, between the pitons. Absolutely glorious. It's a protected reef and there are so many fish, the coral is quite nice, and the water is crystal clear and warm. Loved it so much that I blew up a bunch of underwater pics and have then hanging in my office. Everyone who comes in just drools with envy.

[travelite]

Well, it's not on your survey list, but I vote for St. Lucia, between the pitons. Absolutely glorious. It's a protected reef and there are so many fish, the coral is quite nice, and the water is crystal clear and warm. Loved it so much that I blew up a bunch of underwater pics and have then hanging in my office. Everyone who comes in just drools with envy.

I had hoped to do that in early Dec., but it didn't happen.....roads closed following the hurricane. Even if the roads were open, the sea was extremely rough with very strong currents all around the island.

[minidriver]

I had hoped to do that in early Dec., but it didn't happen.....roads closed following the hurricane. Even if the roads were open, the sea was extremely rough with very strong currents all around the island.

 

 

Oh, that's a shame. Well worth going back. The road to Soufriere is horrifying even under the best of circumstances . . . good thing they closed it. Wow.

[cruisingforsix]

I leave Jan. 30 and will stop at all these spots in addition to a few others. It would be greatly appreciated it you could post for each port the location of the individual areas you snorkeled. Did you use a tour company or dive master/co.? How did you get to the spots? Where there any areas where you snorkeled from the beach? I have snorkeled Belize, Roatan, and Cozumel but never as a cruise ship passenger. I want to make the best use of my time in the water given only one short day in port. Only having excellent information in advance, and planning well, is it possible to make full use of the day. We bring our own gear so independent arrangements will work for us where available. We tend not to take ship snorkel tours because of crowds in the water. If you took a ship tour that was exceptional, please post details. I have also heard for Belize taking the ship's snorkel tour avoids the need to be tendered to the port first thus saving time getting to the reef.....is this true?

We did not use the ships tour for any of our excursions. they were all by boat not form the beach. In roatan we went with upachaya, probably the most expensive but a fabulous snorkel. it is a wellness center started by an american couple but the snorkel was done with a couple of guys from the area. they were excellent. in cozumel we went through mayan paradise who subcontracts to a wonderful guy named Jordon who has his own business so i dont know if you could save som money by contacting him directly ,although it was not that much to begin with. his company is cozumelseahorse. another great snorkel. this was the 3rd time to Belize first time snorkeling. i had contacted a gentleman named Mario Verde on caye caulker for a snorkel excursion. it can take awhile to get in touch with him but it is so worth the 45 min water taxi ride to caye caulker or you can see about going to ambergris caye but it is farther away so make sure you have enough time. the ship does offer some of those tours ithink so if you are afraid of missing the ship you could do that. the nice thing was with the exception of grand cayman we had private tours with just the four of us. we did sotos in grand cayman. we were not happy about waiting for the guy to try and get more people and then found out that they paid less than we did and we booked in advance. also the guy who drove the van and the boat had zero personality and was borderline rude. on the upside we had one of the smaller groups at stingray city and people from other tours were trying to come over to ours. we are leaving for the eastern caribbean in a couple of weeks . its going to be hard to top the wesrten caribbean .and we lucked out with weather because we got in between two hurricanes and had the most beautiful weather not one drop of rain.

[cruisingforsix]

We did St .Lucia last jan. but can't compare that to the snorkeling we did in cozumel, belize and roatan. Ithink St.Lucia is one of the most beautiful islands and i would definitely snorkel there again.

[cruisingforsix]

Travelite i hope you get this in time to make some tours if you haven't already. i have been on here sporadically with the holidays etc. one of our friends that we cruise with saw it and asked meif i answered you and i said i just had didn't see it before. Mario may be the only one that is hard to reach but i do think you have other options on either Ambergris Caye or Caye Caulker. We have also done the Lamanai ruins which are awesome. i would try to get a smaller group for that if possible. if it 's to crowded it is more rushed and you don't get to see everything .

[BlueC5Kitten]

Do you think Bonaire would have more votes, if more ships went there?

This poll is really measuring the best place to snorkel that you've been to?

Still a great post. And I'm looking forward to reading all the great feedback.

But, since it was harder finding a cruise that went to Bonaire, I'm guessing

most people have never been, so its lower vote total reflects that more than

the actual reef conditions.

 

I took these photos with-in 15 feet of a nice sandy beach. Its amazing how much coral

Bonaire has in such shallow water, at Klein Marine Park.

 

 

 

 

Great Stoplight Parrot - Terminal Phase photo!!! :cool:

 

I agree...Klein Bonaire is incredible...both for diving and snorkeling. I also agree that if more ships went there, it might have a better rating. Per reef.org, the Top 10 Sites for Species Richness for the "Tropical Western Atlantic" are:

• Bari Reef, Bonaire
  
• Tori's Reef, Bonaire
  
• Something Special, Bonaire
  
• Front Porch, Bonaire
  
• Commercial Pier Reefs, Key Biscayne
  
• The Invisibles, Bonaire
  
• Green/Yellow Submarine, Bonaire
  
• Red Slave, Bonaire
  
• Blue Heron Bridge, Key Biscayne
  
• Molasses Reef, Key Largo
  

Sounds like pretty compelling evidence, to me!

[Putterdude]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a snorkling guide for Grand Turk? We will be there on Feb 12,2011

 

Roger D.

 

Try Blue Water Divers, we had a great time with them last year.:)

[Floridajames]

Glad you had such a great time! Can you please tell us where you snorkeled in Belize, Roatan and Cozumel?

 

Those three ports (plus Costa Maya) are on our western Carib. cruise next year. We do want to get in some good snorkeling, but are also thinking about spending our day in Belize seeing Mayan ruins. So we are trying to weigh the variouis snorkeling options in these various ports. (And yes, I'm doing my homework on the Ports of Call boards as well, but all advice about snorkeling at these specific ports is much appreciated! TIA! :))

 

My LW and I did the Western Swing last June and are returning in May.

In Belize I am pulled between snorkeling the second largest barrier reef or checking out the Mayan ruins myself. I absolutely despise "gang snorkeling", better known as snorkel excursions. If I snorkel it will be Goff's Caye.

At Grand Cayman we walked up to Callies Wreck and made our way back to Hamburger Reef. You can't get much cheaper than that and the snorkeling at Hamburger reef was pretty good.

At Cozumel we always go to Chankanaab Park (sp?). Skip the excursion and take a cab. Nice place to soak up some sun, swim in the pool, and tour the gardens. You can snorkel there but it's not super good. Hint: Take along a bit of fish food and enjoy the "Caribbean Pirahna" experience anywhere. The Sgt. Majors will swarm (I know.. I'll catch some flack for that.)

Roatan is my favorite in the Caribbean. Go to Bananaramas and walk as far west as you can (150 yds or so) and you will see these neat cliffs jutting out and a huge rock formation just off the beach. The reef is huge with all these cuts and trails through it. We saw all kinds of fish, coral, lobsters, and the like.

Hope this is of some help. Enjoy yourself. :cool: :rolleyes:

[nirmd01]

Best place in all the world is the Maldives. We have snorkelled in various places all around the world & keep returning to the Maldives as nowhere else comes close regarding variety of fish & the thrill of frequent shark & turtle encounters. We have also swam with mantas on 3 different holidays there.

[Islandbear]

Hint: Take along a bit of fish food and enjoy the "Caribbean Pirahna" experience anywhere. The Sgt. Majors will swarm (I know.. I'll catch some flack for that.)

 

Consider yourself Flacked! Don't feed fish, you're not their mother!:mad:

 

Now get back to snorkeling.