Snorkeling: Aruba?

[cabana1]

We will be going to Aruba, Curacao, St. Maarten, and St. Thomas on our upcoming cruise. I really want to snorkel in Aruba but hear the water is choppy. What have been your experiences snorkeling in Aruba? Would you recommend it? (Thinking of doing the "Sail, snorkel, swim, and swing" excursion). Or do the other islands have better snorkeling. Thanks!

[gmcrow]

If you can do a snorkel trip that includes the wreck of the Antilla it's well worth it. See pics and review of our dive there at http://www.cruisedivers.blogspot.com

[gmcrow]

Of course, I wouldn't miss any of those islands. If you can only do one, I'd do Curacao.

[CaliforniaAC]

The Jolly Pirates" swim snorkel sail thing was so fun we did it twice. They also serve a nice lunch.

 

We didn't have choppy water either time at any of the sites they took us to. The shipwreck is really cool.

 

Here's their website.

 

http://www.jolly-pirates.com/tours.php

 

If the ship you're on doesn't offer this trip, they will let you book it over the internet. We didn't have any problems.

 

You can catch the Arubus accross the street from the cruise ship terminal, and it will take you right there. Ask Jolly Pirates which hotel to get off the bus at, then tell the driver to let you know when to get off the bus. It is clean and inexpensive.

 

The first time we went with Jolly Pirates we went with the ship (HAL). When we got off the pirate boat we wanted to spend the rest of the day at the beach there, so we took the bus back. You might want to check beforehand which beach you want to see, then take the bust there after snorkeling.

 

The second time we took the bus there and back, and booked direct as Princess did not offer it as an excursion. We make a whole day of it.

 

Good luck and have fun!

 

AC

[DiveCruiser]

We will be going to Aruba, Curacao, St. Maarten, and St. Thomas on our upcoming cruise. I really want to snorkel in Aruba but hear the water is choppy. What have been your experiences snorkeling in Aruba? Would you recommend it? (Thinking of doing the "Sail, snorkel, swim, and swing" excursion). Or do the other islands have better snorkeling. Thanks!

Not much to see because the reef has been trashed.

Bob

[cmtom89]

We spent a week last May in Aruba and snorkeled all over the island. We found the best spot to be at Boca Catalina Beach. We would drive there from our hotel and several of the tour companies would come and drop anchor each day. You could rent a cab from the pier and arrange for transpo back. There was not lots of coral, but some amazing schools of fish plus we saw sea snakes, eels, barracuda and a porcupinefish. This was all within 50 feet of the shore. You may also want to consider a trip to De Palm Island. It is a small private island for spending the day. They have a small waterpark, cabanas, chairs and some gigantic blue parrotfish that will eat right our of your hand. We also saw lots of other good underwater life there.

Spent a week on St. Thomas in November and would recommend taking a boat over to St. John (20 minute ride)for snorkeling. Watermelon Cay was amazing. We swam with sea turtles, stingrays and tons of fish.

Never been to Curacao or St Maarten.

Have fun!

[bird18]

I snorkeled quite a few times while in Aruba last Jan. Took a sail and and snorkel tour, which went to 3 stops, the wreck was cool, but the currents there were quite strong and water was very choppy, I enjoyed the calmer snorkeling near shore, saw lots of fish and a small octopus! Coral is quite broken but feeding the fish was an experience!