Coral Breeze Shark/Ray Alley tour with lunch

[Dannzzigg]

A small part of my total cruise review...

 

Belize

It’s a toss-up to decide which I enjoyed more, Belize or Cozumel. In Belize, we booked the Stingray/Shark Alley tour with Coral Breeze. We got to shore early enough to do some shopping and met up with them a little before our scheduled time. I’m guessing that there were somewhere between 15-20 people aboard. The boat was The Coral Breeze, a fully covered speedboat with plenty of room for everyone. The crew was very friendly and informative, sharing information about Belize, the stingrays we would be swimming with as well as the nurse sharks. Two people that I feel deserve recognition for their part are Monique, who was the person we met up with on shore, and the guide himself, who I can only remember his last name, Ash, because it was tattooed on his leg. The guide, I guess I’ll just call him Ash, told us about the history of Belize, the culture, the weather, anything we wanted to ask. He was funny, personable and very friendly.

After about a 30 minute ride, we stopped at Caye Caulker for them to pick up some equipment and to drop off our lunch orders. We were back underway shortly, and after about 5 minutes more were at our first stop. Let me say this: Even though you know they are harmless, when you look into the water below you and see 10-15 black sharks swimming about, a sudden shiver travels down your spine. The nurse sharks know where the food is, as well as the rays, and not long after the captain dropped some food into the water, they were everywhere. The captain warned that the sharks were shy, and would swim off once we started to get into the water and he advised us to get as many pictures as we could while still in the boat. We did, and as he said, once we jumped in, the sharks started to swim off. The stingrays, however, are not so shy. The stingrays of Belize are much larger, travel in larger groups, and are more playful than those in Grand Cayman. Where the largest ray I saw in Grand Cayman probably measured about 4 ft across, there were some off the shore of Caye Caulker that were easily 6-7 ft wide. They also were everywhere. I actually had to wait a few minutes for a clear spot in the water to jump in, there were so many rays swimming about.

Once in the water, it was surreal. We were literally right in the middle of a swarming mass of very large stingrays. They swam under us, around us and between our legs. They brushed up against us, pushed our feet out from under us, and occasionally tried to swim right over us. It was absolutely awesome. And during it all, right on the outskirts of the commotion lurked the dark shapes of the nurse sharks, patiently waiting for the calm to return.

I separated myself from the mass of stingrays and slowly swam towards the last place I had seen the sharks. They were somewhat uneasy at my presence, but when I simply stopped swimming and just floated nearby, they remained where they were for me to marvel at them. Eventually I decided to swim towards them, and all of them but one swam off out of my reach. The one that remained was about 7ft long, gliding very slowly along the sea floor. I was actually able to swim up above it and run my hands along its sides while it swam with me for a few feet. Then, with a flick of its tail, it was gone.

I could go on and on and on and on about how much I enjoyed this excursion, but there was more to it than swimming with the rays and the sharks.

After about 30 minutes in the water with the sharks and rays, we moved a little further from shore to the coral reef. Here we snorkeled in something resembling a line along a ‘path’ by following the guide as he led us over various coral formations, and around the taller ones where we might possibly damage the coral or ourselves. This was all very nice, but it didn’t compare to swimming with sharks to me.

Once we had our fill of snorkeling, we were brought to Caye Caulker for lunch and some shopping time. Lunch was at a small restaurant called, I believe, The Rainbow. One word of advice: Get the Chicken Burrito. It was delicious. Huge and delicious.

The shopping was all right, I guess. Shopping just isn’t my thing, but Barbara seemed to enjoy herself. She picked up a few trinkets of some kind or another, but we bought so many things throughout the cruise, that I can hardly remember what was bought where.

After about 1 ½ hour on the Island, we hopped back aboard the Coral Breeze and made it back to the pier at Belize City with about 45 minutes to spare before the last tender.

I cannot recommend this tour highly enough. It was very well organized and they delivered on every promise that they made. The communication with Coral Breeze before the trip was timely and informative. The crew was exceptional, and the snorkeling was simply awesome. I just can't say enough how much I enjoyed doing this, and I can't wait to do it again!

[teacup754]

Thanks for the great review. we are booked with Coralbreeze in December and am really looking forward to it. One question for you please. I'm not the most athletic person on the planet..No physical limitations(except I'm 50+)

Is this a really strenous activity? Or can you just float around and still see all the stuff? Do they provide life jackets? thanks

[jean-lynd]

Teacup - They do provide vests. I was 50 when we did this excursion in Feb and I didn't have any trouble with it. You do have to do some swimming when you are at the coral reef because the boat drops you off on one side of the reef and picks you up on the other side. We loved this excursion but ours wasn't as good as the OP. The sharks were not "home" when we were there. I just don't want people to be upset if they do not see the sharks because this is not a zoo and they do come and go. I hope this helps!

[Dannzzigg]

Thanks for the great review. we are booked with Coralbreeze in December and am really looking forward to it. One question for you please. I'm not the most athletic person on the planet..No physical limitations(except I'm 50+)

Is this a really strenous activity? Or can you just float around and still see all the stuff? Do they provide life jackets? thanks

 

I would say that it should be no problem. My mother-in-law is 55, severley asthmatic and has a limited range of physical activities she can participate in. With all of that, she had an absolute blast. Lifevests are provided, so if you want to just float and relax, you certainly can. The snorkeling is done through the reef in a chain that stopped frequently to allow stragglers to catch up, providing a break for all involved. During those breaks, our guide was also taking time to explain some of the varioues coral formations and what some of the fish we were seeing were.

 

As far as the sharks, I've read other reviews saying that they weren't around when people took their tours, so it seems that we did indeed luck out. Trust me though, the experience of snorkeling with the stingrays alone would have been worth the price. If you get to see the sharks, it's just icing on the cake.

[teacup754]

thank for letting me know i won't embarrass myself.. i'm exercising to build stamina to keep up with my kids(ages 17 and 21) as this is the first vacation we've taken in a longgggggg time(hubby was laid off a while back)so we're going all out on this one....

[FlorenceItaly]

Coral Breeze, do they have a website to make reservations. Just found out the Rhapsody is stopping here on our cruise next Sunday. Thank you.

 

Marie

[FlorenceItaly]

I just booked this tour :).

 

Marie

[PINEY10]

The website is: http://www.coralbreezelimited.com

[staylor]

I see the tour with lunch is $69. Does anyone know how much the Shark/Ray tour is through Carnival? And if it includes lunch? I can see the tours on Carnival's website, but not the prices.

 

Do they go to the same area? I am thinking if I go with Carnival I won't have to worry about the time as much. I didn't know Belize was a tender port.

 

Great, informative review, Dannizzigg! Makes me want to be GET OUT THERE! Oops, sorry, that's Royal Caribbean!

[p2lockhart]

I think you can find Carnival's prices on the following link:

 

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jimcald/cruisestuff/Elation/shore_excursion_prices_april2004/

 

I just did my second Coralbreeze snorkel trip this year. Coralbreeze will give you a price break if you do not purchase the lunch. I was there last week and opted not to do the lunch. It was not at Rainbow this time, due to construction. I know it's a no-no, but our group brought sandwiches from room service and put them in ziplocs from home so we would have more time to explore the Caye Caulker. When I did this trip in January, we spent so much time waiting for our food in the Rainbow restaurant that there was not much time left to see the caye. This time we rented a golf cart for $10US per hour and headed to the Lazy Lizard at "the split" for libations. We had a great time. I highly recommend the golf cart. I think it is too hot to walk and you can cover more ground more comfortably and faster with the golf cart.

[dianelevene]

Has anybody been on this tour with kids? My kids are 4 and 5. They can swim and snorkel but I am not sure if this would be too much for them.

[MartiniMama]

Has anybody been on this tour with kids? My kids are 4 and 5. They can swim and snorkel but I am not sure if this would be too much for them.

 

I was wondering the same thing for my 4 year old.... :confused:

[lisah1465]

WE will be in Belize on April 1st, 2005 with our two teenage boys. I was so happy to read your review. How does the snorkeling here compare to Grand Cayman? We were going to do one or the other.

We're not sure which one to go with? Thanks

Lisa

[paulam]

I see the tour with lunch is $69. Does anyone know how much the Shark/Ray tour is through Carnival? And if it includes lunch? I can see the tours on Carnival's website, but not the prices.

 

Carnival's prices for Shark/Ray Alley is $79

Rendevous Key is $75

Horseshoe Reef & Stingray Snorkel is $75

[Dannzzigg]

WE will be in Belize on April 1st, 2005 with our two teenage boys. I was so happy to read your review. How does the snorkeling here compare to Grand Cayman? We were going to do one or the other.

We're not sure which one to go with? Thanks

Lisa

 

Although I had a great time at both places, I would have to say that the snorkeling in Belize was much better. There were simply more stingrays, they were larger and more active. Also, when we were there, we had the extremely good fortune to have the opportunity to swim with the nurse sharks.

As far as the snorkeling itself, I found the area where we snorkeled in Belize to be both larger and more diverse. It was also easier to navigate the area. At Grand Cayman, the reef was rather high, and I felt at times like I was in danger of actually hitting it when the water would drop from the wave action. On the Coral Breeze tour we were led through the reef by the guide who also stopped to point out interesting formations and explain a little bit about what we were seeing.

I don't want this to come off as if Grand Cayman wasn't a good experience, though. It's just that Belize was an absolute blast. If I were to do this same itinerary again, I would opt for something different in Grand Cayman and save the snorkeling for Belize.

[hogwildcruzers]

We just got back from Belize last week and did Shark Ray Alley, we did the say tour last year and did Sting Ray City couple of years ago. I much rather do Belize because of the Rays are bigger the sharks give a added thrill and the crowds are much smaller. The rays seem to interact with you more in Belize and the underwater photo opts. are much better, plus the added tour to the Coral Garden is unbelizeable, as they say it in Belize. I also recommend booking with Coral Breeze. at http://www.coralbreezelimited.com.;)

[houtexme]

We booked Coral Breeze for our stop in Belize on our 9/25 cruise aboard the Sea. When we got to shore, we found out the majority of the participants were on the Grandeur which was delayed getting into port. It did not get there in time for us to go so we were cancelled.

 

I know from dealing with Paul that this was an event that was beyond his control. I got a full refund and apologies from his staff.

 

If I were to do it again, I would be sure that the participants to make the excursion go were from my ship and not dependent upon another ship's arrival time.

 

I have no problems with Coral Breeze cancelling this tour. There were only six of us from the Sea and nineteen on the Grandeur. It was a huge loss for Paul. It was also a loss to us as it was too late to book another tour, even one through the ship.

 

I have read so many past posts and current posts about the Coral Breeze experience and was so eager to go. I regret that it was not possible.

 

Hope everyone who has booked has the great experience that we missed.