Snorkeling with Sea Turtles

[KansasScrapper]

Can anyone recommend a private tour company or is it better to go through the cruiseline (Princess)??

[Lsimon]

There are a few catamaran tours that do the turtles and snorkeling. I think all of them go to the same two spots so the stops can be a little crowded depending on the number of excursions getting there at the same time. So the big difference will be the catamaran itself and the activities in the rest of the trip.

 

The only one of these we've done is the Silver Moon, which I'd highly recommend. It is on a wonderful catamaran with a great crew, limited to 12 people, good food and drinks, and they stop at a beautiful spot for swimming and lunch after the turtles and snorkeling. If they are full (they book quickly), we've also heard nice comments about Cool Runnings and for a ship's excursion we've heard nice comments about the Tiami Five Star.

 

There are pictures of the Silver Moon in our photo site below, with our pictures from the Feb'07 Galaxy Cruise and our march '07 Constellation cruise. We did this twice last year and are going again at the end of March this year.

[TennisLover]

Glory Tours, through Sarah. More info on this board. Great experience!

[ccemom]

We really enjoyed Shasa Catamaran last month. There were only 8 of us on the cat, and lunch was delicious!

[llnjh4]

http://www.coolrunningsbarbados.com

[KansasScrapper]

Thanks for all the info.

[cruisinbuddy]

We did it through the ship and had a fantasic time. I've done at least a dozen snorkeling excursions and I'd have to say that this was the best. I really lucked out with the turtles, see for yourself, http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/562570049WbFoxR.

[macy]

We were in Barbados last year on the Crown Princess and we went with Tiami Five Star through the ship and had a wonderful time. The catamaran was very nice, the crew was excellent and very funny. The turtles were awesome and it was just a great experience. The scenery on the catamaran ride was beautiful. We would definitely book this excursion again because we liked it so well. There were probably about 30 or more people on the excursion, but that didn't make our excursion any less fun! It was great!

[tango9]

We recently sailed with Shasa Catamarans, and had a great time. Small cat, personal attention, great all day sail with lunch, swim with turtles and another reef ,. Great drinks, lunch , music etc

[aluka]

How much on average it cost pp?

[ccemom]

How much on average it cost pp?

 

 

Shasa is $60 per person for a 3 hour tour and $80 pp for a 5 hour tour that includes lunch. You can see the info on his website at shasa catamaran cruises .com

[rohan]

I havent' done Shasha, but heard really good things about them. I've done cool runnings and built a review on them on my site here.

 

http://www.barbados-travel-secrets.com/Barbados-snorkeling.html

 

You really can't go wrong though, the snorkeling with turtles happens at the same spot for all the cruises, off Folkstone Marine Park in St. James. Have a blast and take an underwater camera if you can!

[ddr1948]

We booked Shasta. It turned out the only clients for that day were my wife and I so the owners of Shasta asked the owner of Small Cats to meet us at the cruise terminal to see if we would go with them instead. Small Cats were very nice people and there boat was the very same as the one use by Shasta. As it turns out, there were still only four of us so we got plenty of personal attention. Would certainly recommend Small Cats to anyone. There email address is smallcats at sunbeach dot net.

[patience32]

if your trying to save money tou can catch a taxi from the ship to malibu beach 3 dollars each walk down the side of the houses [barbados beaches are all public]to avoid malibu entrance fee very nice beach with facilities. and catamarans will sail up to shore and take out to the turtles for 25 dollars each fab trip then you can go back to the beach heaven

[jschafer6161]

SO, this is not a prearranged tour? Guides w/boats are just waiting for people to take out?

[Riversedge]

Cool Runnings was great when we went with them last year. However there is a note on their website saying that they no longer take cruise ship passengers due to problems they've had in the past.

[shorjai]

DO we need to know how to swim for snorkeling????????

[Lsimon]

Cool Runnings was great when we went with them last year. However there is a note on their website saying that they no longer take cruise ship passengers due to problems they've had in the past.

 

One, maybe two, couples on our cruise went on Cool Runnings less than two weeks ago (4-1-2008).

 

DO we need to know how to swim for snorkeling????????

 

It helps. If you are with an excursion company they will provide a snorkeling vest which is an inflatable vest to help you keep afloat. But it is not quite as buoyant as a regular life preserver (although close). Snorkeling basically is swimming. When looking at the turtles, and most other snorkeling off of boats in Barbados, you'll be swimming in water 20 feet deep or so. If you are not comfortable swimming you'll probably not be comfortable snorkeling. There are alternatives such as glass bottom boats and submarine rides that provide opportunities to view underwater without being in the water - but I'm not sure if these are offered in the area where the turtle viewing normally occurs, or in Barbados at all for that matter.

[blyle]

Hi Larry!

As for Cool Runnings , they told us that 7 cruise ship passengers on the average do not show for their excursions and it is costing them money. They are so popular on the island they can fill the Cat with hotel guests and they are going to concentrate on that for now! Its really unfortunate since they provide a wonderful product. I'm glad we were one of the last groups of cruisers to experience their highly rated excursion!!

[PurrSusan]

if your trying to save money tou can catch a taxi from the ship to malibu beach 3 dollars each walk down the side of the houses [barbados beaches are all public]to avoid malibu entrance fee very nice beach with facilities. and catamarans will sail up to shore and take out to the turtles for 25 dollars each fab trip then you can go back to the beach heaven

 

Do you know what time these catamarans strat taking people out to the turtles? Thanks!

[KansasScrapper]

DO we need to know how to swim for snorkeling????????

 

 

NO NO and NO

 

I do not know how to swim and I snorkel all the time. I do wear a vest at all times though. We actually have done snorkeling on every cruise, some we use their stuff and on others we have our own. On one I actually used a different kind of vest. It wasn't actually a vest it was more like a weight belt (not sure of the name) and I actually liked it better. Never felt like I was going to drown or anything.

[lovetocruise99]

I highly recommend Stephen with Thriller Tours. Snorkeling with the Turtles is not to be missed. Here is a full review of our 1/2 day and pictures of the turtles.

His tour was $50.

 

http://familytravelfun.com/thrillertourbarbados.html

[blyle]

Different cruise lines use some of the companies for their ship tours so you have to check and see if they are available for private tours! What I found in my research was that each tour company has their boat docked in different places on the island. Some are a short taxi trip away from the port, some are a longer ride. Some boats have lots of shade and some don't. All have food and drink but some offer more variety and choices, some limit their groups and some require deposit while others don't. NOT all PRICES are the SAME and that's something to consider. Some have a bathroom on board! The main thing is that they all go to the same places. Personally I would not want to ride 30 minutes in a taxi to the other side of the island to start my excursion if there was a similar boat that was closer to the port. Shade was very important to us, wine, beer and punch were fine too. Ours had lovely catered food and everyone could find something they liked to eat! Although we had about 35 it never seemed crowded because it was a large cat. We loved our excursion! Just email the different companies and ask questions so you know what you are getting.

[KansasScrapper]

Different cruise lines use some of the companies for their ship tours so you have to check and see if they are available for private tours! What I found in my research was that each tour company has their boat docked in different places on the island. Some are a short taxi trip away from the port, some are a longer ride. Some boats have lots of shade and some don't. All have food and drink but some offer more variety and choices, some limit their groups and some require deposit while others don't. NOT all PRICES are the SAME and that's something to consider. Some have a bathroom on board! The main thing is that they all go to the same places. Personally I would not want to ride 30 minutes in a taxi to the other side of the island to start my excursion if there was a similar boat that was closer to the port. Shade was very important to us, wine, beer and punch were fine too. Ours had lovely catered food and everyone could find something they liked to eat! Although we had about 35 it never seemed crowded because it was a large cat. We loved our excursion! Just email the different companies and ask questions so you know what you are getting.

 

Was it one through the ship?

[jmike]

We were on the Crown Princess last week and while we were in Barbados we swam with the sea turtles. We used Good Times Catamaran and had a really wonderful tour. Our group of 12 CC people had a private tour and everyone had a great time. After trying to swim with the turtles at the usualy spot where all the other boats were, we left there and went to a private spot where we swam with several turtles. We were the only boat there and it was a wonderful experience.

 

We also stopped at a wreck which had very good snorkeling. There were fish everywhere. The captain and crew were great and the sailing catamaran was beautiful. We spent a couple hours sailing with all the beer and rum punch we could drink. I highly recommend Good Times Catamaran.

 

Mike