Best way to snorkel in Belize?

[MERED1TH]

I'm sailing RCCL Explorer 8/29/04. After reading every review I am still at a loss for what to do in Belize. I have 2 children with me 10 and 6, both good swimmers and can snorkle, we will not consider cave tubing at this point.

Heres my question, is it reasonabale to get off the ship and find a snorkel tour like in other ports? I really would rather not book in advance if possible, I am nervous about tender times and what not. I hate being stessed while on vacation.

Any insights from those who have been there recently would be helpful.

As a last resort I am considering the ship tour "Barrier Reef Snorkel & Beach at Rendezvous Caye" Is there someting similar I can book privately?

[Shaken_Bake]

Hi Meredith,

We just returned from our stop in Belize via Enchantment. The absolute highlight of my trip was my snorkeling excursion in Belize to Shark Ray Alley! I felt like I was swimming in a tropical aquarium! Beautiful, beautiful location.

I'm usually one to do shore excursions on my own, for flexibility, expense and adventure reasons, but it would be a different story if I had two young children in tow. I'm sure you could make the arrangements, but the addition of having to tender into Belize City puts a different spin on your flexibility. If you're all about not stressing, then I think I'd might spend the extra money and take one of the ship's excursions. That way, you'll never have to worry about missing the tender or not hooking up with the tour operator. It's a long ride out to the snorkeling areas, as well.

I ended up doing the ship's excursion because my husband went scuba diving and we weren't able to get a local dive shop to commit to a trip that included both of us. At the last minute, I ran up to the excursions desk and got on the Shark Ray Alley trip, without really knowing what was included. I'm not sure if there's a minimum age limit, but everyone must wear a life preserver and salt water is very buoyant and the current/waves were minimal. If they can go snorkeling, your children (and you) will have a trip they'll remember all their lives!

[joy21]

We also did the Shark and Stingray Alley tour. The tour boat picked us up at the ship and brought us back to the ship. We did not have to us the tender boats. The snorkling was wonderful. Got to swim with nurse sharks and rays. Then swam a short distance to the reef--beautiful. We were taken to San Pedro for a lunch which was included in the tour price. :D

[MERED1TH]

Thanks for the reply. My 6 yo is to young for the Shark Ray Alley Tour offered by the ship. I think the Min age was 8 or 10. My DH and I may leave the kids and go by ourselves. We just took them snorkeling in Barbados, St. Lucia and St. Thomas so no guilt here. This is our second cruise this summer so I am trying to save where I can. Oh well.

[simkoreb]

Since you guys have been on the ship's shark ray alley tour, is it really crowded? I would love to book it, but I've seen how crowded some ship tours get. What was it like and what did they charge???
Thanks!

[Shaken_Bake]

I'd say it was crowded, but not overwhelmingly so. I think there were about 20 participants and four crew members in a fairly small craft. I have no idea what kind of boat it was; we sat on benches that ran along each side. The captain and steering wheel/controls were on a small platform in the middle. The front 1/3 of the boat was covered, the rest was open. You certainly couldn't walk around while the boat was in motion given the tight space and sometimes rocky motion. It zipped along at a pretty high speed and the wind kept us cool (it was overcast, so sitting outside wasn't uncomfortable). My butt did get a little tired of sitting on a hard bench, especially when we returned non-stop to the ship at the end of the day, a trip which took over an hour. But it sure is beautiful to be out on the blue, blue water, speeding past islands and mangroves...

I believe the price was $88.00 for the excursion. That included snorkeling equipment (although I brought my own), lunch at a restaurant at Ambergris Caye (it was OK, I was hungry!), with a few hours to wander around and very nice crew members from an outfit called Cruise Options. Since I'd never done anything like this, I really, really enjoyed it and would recommend it for someone who wants to see incredible fish and coral up close and have an enjoyable day trip.

[cruisemates2]

Can anyone please tell us about the snorkel trip offered by Carnival. We will also have younger ones with us in November. Our two grandchildren will be with us and one is five and the other is seven. They swim and snorkel well in our pool, but, we are unsure about the snorkel trip offered. I have read that you can snorkel from a boat or from shore on the trip offered through Carnival. Has anyone done this excursion? Thank you for any information you can give us.

[DEL67]

Meredith:

You really should take a tour (either ship's or private) because getting to a snorkel location in Belize is not simple. To my knowledge, there is no place to snorkel near Belize City. If you do not want to take a ship's tour or prearrange a private one, you basically have 2 choices. You can take a tender ashore and negotiate with one of vendors there; however, they usually do not leave until they have filled their boat so you may have a wait. You could also take a water taxi to Caye Caulder and then take a snorkel trip from there. I was on a boat where a family had done the latter, but I do not know if they had prearranged the snorkeling. In addition, timing could be an issue because the water taxi has a limited schedule and you do not want to mss the ship!.

[DEL67]

Meredith:

You really should take a tour (either ship's or private) because getting to a snorkel location in Belize is not simple. To my knowledge, there is no place to snorkel near Belize City. If you do not want to take a ship's tour or prearrange a private one, you basically have 2 choices. You can take a tender ashore and negotiate with one of vendors there; however, they usually do not leave until they have filled their boat so you may have a wait. You could also take a water taxi to Caye Caulder and then take a snorkel trip from there. I was on a boat where a family had done the latter, but I do not know if they had prearranged the snorkeling. Ina ddition, timing could be an issue because the water taxi has a limited schedule and you do not want to mss the ship!.

[pugsbest]

Cruisemates2,

I'm pretty sure your grandkids are too young for the Carnival snorkelling excursion, but Coral Breezes takes young children. There is info on their website [url]http://www.coralbreezelimited.com/content3.php?nav=nav3&cid=sigtours[/url]

[MERED1TH]

Is Coralbreeze the only snorkel tour operator in Belize? Does anyone know who RCCL uses?

[cruisemates2]

Thank you for all the information. Our grandchildren would love to snorkel, but, it sounds like they may not get to because we would rather take a ship tour. Again, thank you for the information.

[coccodog]

we went on there tour last year it was very nice, the dive site was very rough and was hard to snorkel in. we went to caulker caye for lunch and we got a golf cart it was real nice also..

[snadfamily]

We used Coral Breeze last year and contacted them again as we did another Western Caribbean cruise this year. We were there last week. To answer the question of the "best way to snorkel in Belize", this is it in my opinion. They take care of everything. You don't have to worry about times, water taxis, finding a snorkel company, or lunch. They meet you right at the village where the tenders drop off and bring you back in plenty of time. They go to Caye Caulker (island), Shark Ray Alley and Coral Gardens for snorkeling, and lunch is at a restaurant on the island. The people we spoke to who did the ships tour were on smaller boats and the ride to their location was an hour or so each way. Our ride was about 35 minutes each way.
As far as price, they are much less than the ship's tour and from my experience, a better tour. More for less...hmmm, works for me. These guys really do a nice tour.

[bankofdad]

We traveled to Belize aboard CCL's Paradise in March/03. I had my daughter (6 at the time) and son (9 at the time) with us, both swim well, and my son loves to snorkel.

We took the Goff's Caye Snorkeling excursion. We left the ship on a high speed boat that carried about 30-40 passengers to a Caye about 30-40 minutes away.

Once you got to the caye, you had the option to swim/snorkel off of the beach (nice clean sandy beach). The reef began only about 20 yards off shore, with an abundance of coral and marine life (swam within 10 feet a a six foot long great baracuda). The water didn't begin to deepen from the shore for 20-30 feet, and the surf was very gentle. You could also stay on the boat, and they would take you to other spots right around the Caye.

MY kids loved it. My daughter played on the beach, my wife soaked her feet in the water, and my son and I snorkeled.

They also had a grill run by locals under a pavillion. I didn't trust the food, but the soft drinks and beer were cold and reasonably priced.

Hope this helps!

[cruisemates2]

Thank you for the information about your snorkel excursion with your family. We have young grandchildren and we may do this excursion with them. Did you book through Carnival, and if so, do you remember the cost per person?
Again, thank you for your help.

[bankofdad]

Hi Curisemates2,

We did book this excursion through the ship. I don't recall the cost, and my bill doesn't itemize it (I ordered shore excusions for Roaton and Grand Caymen at the same time).

At the time, this was our first cruise, and I had never been to Belize. Traveling with young children, I was willing to pay a few extra dollars to keep it simple, safe, and convenient. For us, it was just what we were hoping for and we were very pleased.

Hope you have a good time!

[cruisemates2]

You make several great points. Sounds like it is just what we are looking for also. Thank you so much!

[rardenboy]

We have done Carnival's Goff's Caye tour twice now and had a good time on both occasions. It is a very cool place to go. I can email you some pictures if you would like. Just let me know. (Haven't had time to post them yet.)

Rardenboy

A panoramic picture from May 2004.

[cindybythebeach]

Keep in mind that if the seas are rough the tendering process is slowed down temendously. In rough seas Royal Caribbean tenders people with Royal Caribbean excursions first. When we went in June it was over 2 1/2 hours before they began tendering anyone else and most people, including us, missed their private tours. I'm going again in September and am booking a ship's tour this time.

[Coolcruise02]

Does anyone have a copy of the water taxi schedule? Thanks

[luvrumpunch]

The question:
Best way to snorkel in Belize?

The Answer:
Coral Breeze

We did this tour last week and it was awesome. They are very accommodating as our large group had many different wants and needs. They took us all together, fed us all together, but all our different activities were separated. Bottom line, a fun day was had by all.
This is the best way to snorkel in Belize (our opinion of course)
[url]www.coralbreezelimited.com[/url]

[txsmiles]

[quote name='cindybythebeach']Keep in mind that if the seas are rough the tendering process is slowed down temendously. In rough seas Royal Caribbean tenders people with Royal Caribbean excursions first. When we went in June it was over 2 1/2 hours before they began tendering anyone else and most people, including us, missed their private tours. I'm going again in September and am booking a ship's tour this time.[/QUOTE]
What happens if you miss your private tour because of the tendering process? Do you loose all of your money, too?:(

[cindybythebeach]

With Coral Breeze we got a 100% refund. Their standard policy is a full refund if the ship has to miss the port, but they were aware of the tendering situation. They also helped us arrange for a replacement tour of cave tubing which was fun, just not exactly what we had wanted to do.

Cindy

[cubsr#1]

Considering either Goff's Caye or shark/Ray Alley - my question is I also want a couple of hours of shopping time- can I do this with the Shark/Ray tour on Ambergris Caye - it's listed as a 7 hour tour and that's just about the time we're alotted in port.