Turtles from the beach

[MNFreeze]

Does anyone know of a beach you can go to and see the turtles without having to get on a cat tour?

[ming]

I did a quick forum search and found this for you:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=667361&highlight=turtles

 

I hope it helps.

[Miss Vickie]

I would strongly advise against going to Blue Monkey Beach. We've been to Barbados 7 times, and this was far and away the worst visit we've had. We went to Blue Monkey with 2 other couples, who had read that they could swim out to the turtles from there.

 

First off, it appears that the taxi drivers have arrangements with the guys that rent the chairs - they get "commissions" for bringing fares and turning them over to the chair guys.

 

It's fairly dangerous to swim out to the turtles - lots of boats and jet skis in the area going back and forth, and no one is looking out for swimmers.

 

The beach is crowded, crowded, crowded! And there are tons of vendors, who don't take no for an answer. They'll bug you repeatedly, all day.

 

The vendors fight with each other. While we were there, the police had to intervene.

 

They guys at the bar will try to rip you off - they'll have difficulty coming up with change for a $10, and may neglect to tell you the difference between cost in US and Barbados dollars.

 

Most expensive lunch ever - we paid $50 (US) for 2 flying fish sandwiches and 2 cokes.

 

We left right after we ate, and gratefully went back to our ship!

 

If you really want to go there and try to get to the turtles on your own, don't take a chair from the chair guys. Take your towel, head left down the beach, sit down in a less crowded area further down the beach, and enjoy yoru day and swim from there. The vendors stay by the crowd at Blue Monkey.

[Aplmac]

I would strongly advise against going to Blue Monkey Beach. ===> Paynes Bay is its true name

 

We've been to Barbados 7 times, and this was far and away the worst visit we've had.

We went to Blue Monkey with 2 other couples,

who had read that they could swim out to the turtles from there.

 

First off,

it appears that the taxi drivers have arrangements with the guys that rent the chairs

- they get "commissions" for bringing fares and turning them over to the chair guys.

 

It's fairly dangerous to swim out to the turtles

- lots of boats and jet skis in the area going back and forth,

and no one is looking out for swimmers.

 

The beach is crowded, crowded, crowded!

And there are tons of vendors, who don't take no for an answer.

They'll bug you repeatedly, all day.

 

The vendors fight with each other. ===> Friendly natives! :)

While we were there, the police had to intervene.

 

They guys at the bar will try to rip you off

- they'll have difficulty coming up with change for a $10,

and may neglect to tell you the difference between cost in US and Barbados dollars.

 

Most expensive lunch ever

- we paid $50 (US) for 2 flying fish sandwiches and 2 cokes. ===> So...you reckon you got ripped-off, huh?

 

We left right after we ate, and gratefully went back to our ship!

 

Thank you for the excellent first-hand advice!

 

Hmmm..sounds to me like the Barbados Tourism Authority

should take a look into this ..aahh.. "developing reputation" :)

[mayrashke]

Hi Aplmac-you have been so helpful on this forum! I have an additional question for you: IF we(2 adults, 2 kids:16,10) arrive on the Jewel at 9 am, catch the local bus to Folkstone,snorkel about an hour or so, and then hopefully catch another local bus back down to Paynes Bay(avoiding the Blue Monkey Bar area of course!) and hopefully see those turtles. We realize the swim out can be quite far but would not do it if it looked like crazy jet-skis/boats around. That is the only reason we would go there.

 

? do you think in mid-March the turtles would be in that area? I read that they migrate up&down the coast a bit.

 

Then we would grab a taxi(or bus depending on the time) and go to your favourite Accra Beach for 2-3 hours and taxi back to be ON the ship by 5:30pm. Note:there will be 1 other ship in Port that day.

 

Does that seem reasonable? I realize we are at the 'mercy' of the local buses schedule:govt ones or the privately owned ones. My kids would LOVE to see the turtles!

Thanks in advance for your advice!

[erniesband]

Aplmac, thanks for correcting me on the beach's name. And to let you know, we've thoroughly enjoyed previous visits to Barbados. The lesson carried away from this year is stay away from the Blue Monkey! (And while lunch was certainly a little overpriced, I love flying fish, and the sandwiches were good, but the accompanying fries left a lot to be desired.)

 

Mayrashke, we've snorkeled at Folkstone - it's a terrific location for snorkeling. The swim out to the turtles at Paynes Bay, by the way, isn't that far. It's a very busy area, because everyone wants to swim with the turtles. So, lots of jet skis, cats, tour boats, glass bottom boats.... If you're there on a day with multiple cruise ships in port, my guess is you aren't going to find a time with few boats or jet skis on the water. Several of the vendors, though, operate the jet skis and glass bottom boats and would probably be happy to ferry you out to the area and back safely :D If you do decide to go, please don't wear flippers (the reputable tour operators will tell you that) - if you hit the turtles it could hurt them.

[LandLockedInAZ]

Could someone clarify for me...

Is the Blue Monkey ON Paynes Bay? Or are they separate areas?

Turtles are a priority for us.

Thanks.

[LandLockedInAZ]

Thank you so much! I was just a little confused by that.

If you don't mind one more question- do the catamarans ever pull up to the shore? OR are they specifically for people who like to snorkel and you swim off of them? I am not much of a swimmer and would not feel comfortable with that, so would rather go to the shore and allow my hubby and daughter to venture out and I can stay where I feel safe.

[Miss Vickie]

Thank you so much! I was just a little confused by that.

If you don't mind one more question- do the catamarans ever pull up to the shore? OR are they specifically for people who like to snorkel and you swim off of them? I am not much of a swimmer and would not feel comfortable with that, so would rather go to the shore and allow my hubby and daughter to venture out and I can stay where I feel safe.

 

 

The catamaran tours aren't just for people that like to snorkel. You could easily relax on board for the whole tour and enjoy yourself, I'm sure. And a bonus is that you'd actually probably get to see the turtles, too, just by sitting and looking into the water.

[Miss Vickie]

Great review...It's good that you can share your experience with other cruisers to help them know where to avoid.;)

 

Glad you found it helpful - I'm also not at all shy about sharing the experiences I enjoy, either! :D

[moakes]

I would strongly advise against going to Blue Monkey Beach. We've been to Barbados 7 times, and this was far and away the worst visit we've had. We went to Blue Monkey with 2 other couples, who had read that they could swim out to the turtles from there.

 

First off, it appears that the taxi drivers have arrangements with the guys that rent the chairs - they get "commissions" for bringing fares and turning them over to the chair guys.

 

It's fairly dangerous to swim out to the turtles - lots of boats and jet skis in the area going back and forth, and no one is looking out for swimmers.

 

The beach is crowded, crowded, crowded! And there are tons of vendors, who don't take no for an answer. They'll bug you repeatedly, all day.

 

The vendors fight with each other. While we were there, the police had to intervene.

 

They guys at the bar will try to rip you off - they'll have difficulty coming up with change for a $10, and may neglect to tell you the difference between cost in US and Barbados dollars.

 

Most expensive lunch ever - we paid $50 (US) for 2 flying fish sandwiches and 2 cokes.

 

We left right after we ate, and gratefully went back to our ship!

 

If you really want to go there and try to get to the turtles on your own, don't take a chair from the chair guys. Take your towel, head left down the beach, sit down in a less crowded area further down the beach, and enjoy yoru day and swim from there. The vendors stay by the crowd at Blue Monkey.

 

Wish I had remembered this post, the RCCL Concierge reccommended this place and it was as you described... we had a miserable time and really cast a bad light on our entire Barbados visit.

[Aplmac]

Wish I had remembered this post,

the RCCL Concierge recommended this place and it was as you described...

we had a miserable time and really cast a bad light on our entire Barbados visit.

Hopefully when you got back to the ship,

you gave said Concierge some negative feedback about Blue Monkey?

[Aplmac]

The lesson carried away from this year is..

stay away from the Blue Monkey!

 

And while lunch was certainly a little overpriced, I love flying fish, and the sandwiches were good,

but the accompanying fries left a lot to be desired.

Oh dear!

What's up with this Blue Monkey place?

[MDSue]

I didn't think it was all that bad. It wasn't my favorite beach and I would definitely take a boat tour rather than trying to swim up to the turtles. I didn't feel harassed by vendors or cheated by the bartenders. I had a wonderfully deilicious frozen drink there [no food] and recieved some of the change in Barbado's dollars. I could have spent them elsewhere, but saved it for a souvenir. I stopped there for a short visit after taking a catamaran trip to the turtles and our captain dropped us off there afterwards. [We chose to stop at a beach instead of heading back to the dock] I think I paid about 8 dollars for a taxi ride back to the ship and our driver took us on a little tour of the island on the way back. Not a bad experience, but I have read about better beaches.

[moakes]

Hopefully when you got back to the ship,

you gave said Concierge some negative feedback about Blue Monkey?

 

I gave her the whole rundown. On the flip side we went to the Malibu Distillery. It was a very good and informative tour. A couple of surprises, but I won't spoil for those that have not been? eh....

 

Thanks

[jessie073]

Hello we are experienced snorkelers and not afraid to swim out from shore. Is there a better place to go to see the turtles, I'm hearing stay away from the Blue Monkey. I am also wondering if we should do an excursion or if we could experience some great snorkeling from shore.

 

Regarding a tour - does anyone know of a tour that more about snorkeling. I've read some great reviews about Silvermoon, and Tiami but I'm wondering if there are any other tour operators that focus more on the snorkeling than the lunch etc. Maybe something a little less expensive. Thank you. :)

[jessie073]

Aplmac, thanks for correcting me on the beach's name. And to let you know, we've thoroughly enjoyed previous visits to Barbados. The lesson carried away from this year is stay away from the Blue Monkey! (And while lunch was certainly a little overpriced, I love flying fish, and the sandwiches were good, but the accompanying fries left a lot to be desired.)

 

Mayrashke, we've snorkeled at Folkstone - it's a terrific location for snorkeling. The swim out to the turtles at Paynes Bay, by the way, isn't that far. It's a very busy area, because everyone wants to swim with the turtles. So, lots of jet skis, cats, tour boats, glass bottom boats.... If you're there on a day with multiple cruise ships in port, my guess is you aren't going to find a time with few boats or jet skis on the water. Several of the vendors, though, operate the jet skis and glass bottom boats and would probably be happy to ferry you out to the area and back safely :D If you do decide to go, please don't wear flippers (the reputable tour operators will tell you that) - if you hit the turtles it could hurt them.

 

Erniesband - do you know how the snorkeling is at Brighton Beach. Some aerial views saw on google map looks like it has decent bottom for snorkeling. As far as Folkstone - about how far off shore is the good snorkeling? We are experienced snorkelers, can you see the turtles here too or is Paynes Bay the best place? Thank you :)

[Miss Vickie]

Hello we are experienced snorkelers and not afraid to swim out from shore. Is there a better place to go to see the turtles, I'm hearing stay away from the Blue Monkey. I am also wondering if we should do an excursion or if we could experience some great snorkeling from shore.

 

Regarding a tour - does anyone know of a tour that more about snorkeling. I've read some great reviews about Silvermoon, and Tiami but I'm wondering if there are any other tour operators that focus more on the snorkeling than the lunch etc. Maybe something a little less expensive. Thank you. :)

 

We've been to Barbados 8 or 9 times, and have done a number of things. We, too, are experienced snorkelers and carry our own gear.

 

You can get a taxi driver to take you over to the Blue Monkey. Take your towel, go down the stairs, turn left, ignore the guys trying to get you to sit in one of their chairs, and walk left (when your facing the water), til you get beyond the crowded area. Make yourself comfortable on the beach, swim out to where you see the crowds swimming with the turtles. However, a tour operator will ask that you not wear fins around the turtles, they get kicked, which is not good for them.

 

We've taken several tours over the years, including Thriller, Tiami, and SilverMoon. The best of the 3 overall was SilverMoon. The one that focussed most on snorkeling (and in fact provided just salsa and chips), was Thriller. We went to 2 snorkeling spots, in addition to the turtles. Because they use a power boat, they can go to more spots in the same time (or less). They took us to Carlisle Bay, which no one else did. There's some very interesting snorkeling there.

 

We've done some good shore access snorkeling on our own at Folkstone, at the marine park. That's about a 20 minute taxi ride from the pier.

[Miss Vickie]

Erniesband - do you know how the snorkeling is at Brighton Beach. Some aerial views saw on google map looks like it has decent bottom for snorkeling. As far as Folkstone - about how far off shore is the good snorkeling? We are experienced snorkelers, can you see the turtles here too or is Paynes Bay the best place? Thank you :)

 

Hi, I'm Erniesband's wife, and that was actually me posting on his computer :) . We're not familiar with Brighton Beach. Given this description I found on the internet, it doesn't sound like it would be great:

 

Brighton BeachAn ever-popular local beach, Brighton is an amazingly long stretch of beach with only minor breaks of rock or reef. Fairly calm most of the year, very little undertow, but watch out for sea urchins in some areas near the reefs.

 

You need more rocks and reef to have really good snorkeling, although Carlisle Bay has some very good snorkeling and isn't far from the ships.

 

Folkstone's snorkeling starts close to shore, and goes quite a way out. It's not good for turtles, though. Paynes Bay seems to be where they hang out, at least in January.

[jessie073]

We've been to Barbados 8 or 9 times, and have done a number of things. We, too, are experienced snorkelers and carry our own gear.

 

You can get a taxi driver to take you over to the Blue Monkey. Take your towel, go down the stairs, turn left, ignore the guys trying to get you to sit in one of their chairs, and walk left (when your facing the water), til you get beyond the crowded area. Make yourself comfortable on the beach, swim out to where you see the crowds swimming with the turtles. However, a tour operator will ask that you not wear fins around the turtles, they get kicked, which is not good for them.

 

We've taken several tours over the years, including Thriller, Tiami, and SilverMoon. The best of the 3 overall was SilverMoon. The one that focussed most on snorkeling (and in fact provided just salsa and chips), was Thriller. We went to 2 snorkeling spots, in addition to the turtles. Because they use a power boat, they can go to more spots in the same time (or less). They took us to Carlisle Bay, which no one else did. There's some very interesting snorkeling there.

 

We've done some good shore access snorkeling on our own at Folkstone, at the marine park. That's about a 20 minute taxi ride from the pier.

 

Thanks for your reply - this will be our first time in Barbados and right now we are trying to decide between taking Thriller (which seems focus more in snorkeling than some of the others) or doing some snorkeling on our own, at Folkstone for example. Do you have any thoughts between the 2 since you have done both. Is it worth taking the excursion?

At Folkstone - how far off shore is the good snorkeling?

Blue Monkey - where exactly is that located, is it near Paynes Bay? Also, how far would you say the swim out is to the turtles?

 

Thank you! :)

[Miss Vickie]

Thanks for your reply - this will be our first time in Barbados and right now we are trying to decide between taking Thriller (which seems focus more in snorkeling than some of the others) or doing some snorkeling on our own, at Folkstone for example. Do you have any thoughts between the 2 since you have done both. Is it worth taking the excursion?

At Folkstone - how far off shore is the good snorkeling?

Blue Monkey - where exactly is that located, is it near Paynes Bay? Also, how far would you say the swim out is to the turtles?

 

Thank you! :)

 

First - the Blue Monkey. It's on Payne's Bay. I absolutely would not go there again - see post #3 on this thread, you'll see why. Payne's Bay is lovely, the Blue Monkey is not. It's hard for me to guage the distance to swim out to the turtles, it didn't look that far to me, but I didn't do it. Then again, I'm a strong swimmer, so what would be a comfortable distance for me might not be for another person. Saw people swimming out there, however,

 

The snorkeling at Folkstone is good both near shore and going farther out.

 

For snorkeling, Thriller is probably the best excursion. It wasn't our favorite excursion, despite that. We had some issues with them that no one else seems to have had, and it was a number of years ago. It appears he may have gotten a new boat since we were on them, and we've seen the impact these boards can have an an excursion group (positive as well as negative), so what I'm going ay is that if want to snorkel, go with them.

[jessie073]

Jodi - thanks for the great information. We are still trying to decide whether its worth booking an excursion (ex. Thriller) or just do some exploring at Folkstone etc., on our own. Do you have any thoughts on this since you've done both?

 

I guess what I'm asking was whether the excursion experience was that much better than what you saw from shore to justify the additional cost.

 

Thanks again! :)

Jessie

[Miss Vickie]

Jodi - thanks for the great information. We are still trying to decide whether its worth booking an excursion (ex. Thriller) or just do some exploring at Folkstone etc., on our own. Do you have any thoughts on this since you've done both?

 

I guess what I'm asking was whether the excursion experience was that much better than what you saw from shore to justify the additional cost.

 

Thanks again! :)

Jessie

 

 

I'd have to say yes, it's worth it. Carlisle Bay was a really interesting snorkel - there's a wreck in easy swimming distance, and stuff strews across the bottom. So, you get turtles, a reef, and Carlisle Bay, or at least that's what you got when we did it.

[jessie073]

Jodi thank you again for all the info - I think we're starting to lean towards the excursion. One last question I hope :) You said you had a problem with Thriller when you booked with them. I understand it was many years ago but just wondering what it was in case its something we need to consider.

Thanks again!

Jessie

[Miss Vickie]

Jodi thank you again for all the info - I think we're starting to lean towards the excursion. One last question I hope :) You said you had a problem with Thriller when you booked with them. I understand it was many years ago but just wondering what it was in case its something we need to consider.

Thanks again!

Jessie

 

Okay, please understand that I believe we took our Thriller excursion 5 years ago. Four at the least. And I have very personal knowledge of how a posting here on CC can positively (or negatively) affect a company's chances for success, so I am very, very careful about posting negative reviews. I believe Thriller was pretty new when we used, them, and I haven't read anything negative about them in the years since. So, please take this for what it is worth - a very old story, which doesn't appear to have been a trend by any means. We booked based on what was on the website, and a couple of e-mails we traded with the Stephen. We expected to be in a very cool looking high powered speed boat pictured on the web-site. It was NOT the same boat now pictured, and I think it was not a dedicated excursion boat, and did not have the same capacity that their current boat appears to have. Well, we were in Barbados on a national holiday. We and one other couple showed up at the specified location on time, and no one was waiting for us. A fishing boat pulled up quite late, and then waited for quite a while to see if another couple was going to show. Seems the owner was taking the day off (he's allowed), and he was the only one allowed to drive the go-fast boat, he sent a friend or employee or something like that, with this fishing boat, which was rather hard to climb into and out of for snorkeling. This guy brought along some girl he had met the night before, for a day out on the boat. They hadn't been particularly clear about what kind of refreshments to expect, and we anticipated more than the chips and dip we ended up getting. We got back to the dock late and were worried about making it back to the ship on time, and the guy who had taken us out on the boat crammed us into his little car and drove us back - made it just in time. Anyhow, it seems they're using much different, dedicated equipment now, and our experience was an isolated case.