Tabyana or Coral Cay for Snorkeling?

[vstrom]

Which of these beaches are better?

 

Are there any spa treatments available at either?

 

Should we book thru the cruise line or do it ourselves as there are 6 of us?

[luvmy2doxs]

We just got back today from the Grand Princess and stopped in Roatan last Tuesday. We booked Coral Cay Beach and Snorkel for only $56 each through the ship (which we thought was reasonable compared to excursions elsewhere). We had a group of 8 of us and we absolutely loved it. It was the most relaxing day and the beach was not crowded at all. I bet there was only 100 or so people on the beach that day. The beach was beautiful. We got there at about 9:30 and signed up for the 10:15 snorkel. We went to the pier and took a guided snorkel tour out for about 45 minutes. We had to follow the guide because there was so much coral! It was unbelievable. We are fairly new to snorkeling but WOW, it was great. But you did have to be careful, one time I ended up next to this big coral and almost floated into it. Just had to keep an eye out on what you were doing. We went out to where it dropped off and was deep and beautiful. The water got a little rough as we went out farther, so our guide brought us back in.

 

Once we got back to the beach, we just relaxed. There were nice restrooms and a band playing. They had a restaurant, so we ordered some food and drinks. We even took our equipment and snorkeled some from the beach area and one of our couples went back out on the pier and did some more on their own before we left. The last bus left back to the pier at about 2PM. There were some women giving massages and they were a nature park so we saw some sharks and turtles they had in an area at the other end of the beach. I would say this was our best day of the whole cruise.

 

We got back in plenty of time to do some shopping, but we didn't go far from the pier only about 1 block. Bought some pottery and a beautiful carved bowl.