Grand -Western Caribbean snorkeling tips

[kywildcatfanone]

Hi folks,

 

Just curious about this. My wife and I have never been snorkeling and are going on the Grand in March. A local merchant has snorkeling equipment for sale, and I was thinking about purchasing it and bringing it on the trip. At the various stops in Costa Mayo, Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel can you go snorkeling "on your own", without a tour trip. Maybe a better way to ask is whether at these stops you are close enough to beaches with snorkeling opportunities not to have to go on a tour. Conversely, if you were to take a tour at one of these stops, which ones?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Mike

[Cindy]

Hi folks,

 

Just curious about this. My wife and I have never been snorkeling and are going on the Grand in March. A local merchant has snorkeling equipment for sale, and I was thinking about purchasing it and bringing it on the trip. At the various stops in Costa Mayo, Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel can you go snorkeling "on your own", without a tour trip. Maybe a better way to ask is whether at these stops you are close enough to beaches with snorkeling opportunities not to have to go on a tour. Conversely, if you were to take a tour at one of these stops, which ones?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Mike

 

You have limited snorkeling opportunities from shore on this itinerary. Probably the one place where you could snorkel from the beach is in Cozumel. Even in Cozumel the shallow reef areas sustained a lot of damage from Wilma, and I'm not sure how much they've recovered. If you wanted to try that you could go to Chankanaab Park or one of the big beaches.

You can swim off the beach in Costa Maya if you go into Majuahaul, but I think the reef would be too far out to see anything without being on a dive boat.

Belize is a tender port, and there's no place to swim at the port. Ships anchor outside the barrier reef. We've done two different snorkel excursions in Belize and they were both very good. Rendezvous Caye is a TINY island surrounded by a shallow reef. The "Rays & Reef" trip to Caye Caulker is great if you want to experience swimming with stingrays and nurse sharks. I've also heard good things about Geoff's Caye.

In Cozumel, the New Waves snorkeling excursion to Palancar Reef is outstanding. The reef is deep enough that it wasn't badly damaged by the hurricane. We enjoyed the snorkeling so much that we're doing the same trip this March.

We haven't been to Roatan yet, but we've heard the snorkeling is great. Again, I'm not sure how much actual snorkeling you could do without being on an excursion.

We take our own equipment with us when we cruise. If you're on an excursion equipment is included, but we prefer to use our own...better fit, cleaner, etc.

Have fun!

[kftw]

I snorkeled off the beach in Roatan at Half Moon Bay. Belize is the only place where you would have to take an excursion by boat to snorkel. The other 3 ports will be fine for off the shore snorkeling.

[kywildcatfanone]

Thanks for the tips! Any others, bring them on.

[Luvsnorkeling]

In Costa Maya, just go into town and look for the signs posted at the beach area. We took a boat (not fancy, mind you) out to the reef (which is visible from shore). For $15 each, we had a private snorkel trip for two with a local man. He showed us where to get in the water, which direction to swim and patiently waited in the boat for something like an hour until we were ready to go back to shore. The reef there was pretty good and fish plentiful.

 

In Cozumel, don't bother with Chankanaab. It is expensive and crowded, and the reef there is dead (we've been to Cozumel several times). Take a taxi to Dzul Ha. The drivers all know where it is. It is closer than Chankanaab, and the reef is in much better condition. Be on the lookout for the resident barracuda--at first, a bit ominous looking. He likes to follow you around, but he's just curious and is harmless. You can grab a snack on shore at Dzul Ha as well.

 

Can't comment on the other two places as we've never been to either. Enjoy!

[kywildcatfanone]

In Costa Maya, just go into town and look for the signs posted at the beach area. We took a boat (not fancy, mind you) out to the reef (which is visible from shore). For $15 each, we had a private snorkel trip for two with a local man. He showed us where to get in the water, which direction to swim and patiently waited in the boat for something like an hour until we were ready to go back to shore. The reef there was pretty good and fish plentiful.

 

In Cozumel, don't bother with Chankanaab. It is expensive and crowded, and the reef there is dead (we've been to Cozumel several times). Take a taxi to Dzul Ha. The drivers all know where it is. It is closer than Chankanaab, and the reef is in much better condition. Be on the lookout for the resident barracuda--at first, a bit ominous looking. He likes to follow you around, but he's just curious and is harmless. You can grab a snack on shore at Dzul Ha as well.

 

Can't comment on the other two places as we've never been to either. Enjoy!

 

Great info! Thanks so much!

[lhspears]

Contact Grumpy and Happy (a married couple from Canada) in Belize. They're great!!!!! They'll arrange for you to fly to San Pedro (a 15 minute flight), meet you at the airstrip and take you on a private snorkel trip to the reef for about 3 hours or so. My family did this last year and it was well worth the $$$. My son was uncomfortable at first so Lorne (Happy) stayed with him the entire time. Sadly the March 10 cruise, however, is only in belize for 6 hours and that's not enough time for this excursion or we'd be doing it again this year. If your going a different week the ship is in Belize much longer. They have a website Grumpyandhappy.