Where to snorkel out of these four ports?

[pb&j23]

I am trying to plan a snorkel adventure for 4 of us in January. We are going to Aruba, Curacao, St. John/St. Thomas, and St. Martin. Which of these ports should we snorkel at? What outfitter would you suggest going with also? Thanks a lot for you help!

[kroozerj]

been to st thomas, and aruba and st martin, never been to curacao .st thomas is great for snorkeling, some beaches in aruba are, not much to see in st martin, as the beaches there arent as crystal clear as st thomas. sorry, i cant help you with curacao

[Stevesan]

I am trying to plan a snorkel adventure for 4 of us in January. We are going to Aruba, Curacao, St. John/St. Thomas, and St. Martin. Which of these ports should we snorkel at? What outfitter would you suggest going with also? Thanks a lot for you help!

 

I, and many others here, could help with a some of these ports, but need to know:

 

1) Are you exeperienced snorkelers, and do you have your own gear?

2) Do you want a boat snorkel, or are do you want a beach?

3) Are you comfortable booking independent operators?

[pb&j23]

I, and many others here, could help with a some of these ports, but need to know:

 

1) Are you exeperienced snorkelers, and do you have your own gear?

2) Do you want a boat snorkel, or are do you want a beach?

3) Are you comfortable booking independent operators?

 

 

Thanks for your help. To answer your questions:

 

1.We have snorkeled two other times. We did in Grand Cayman and Cozumel. And we are thinking about buying our own gear but haven't yet.

2. boat or beach doesn't matter. We just want good snorkeling. If it is at a beach great, but we can go sit on a beach at any of the other ports we visit.

3. I am very comfortable with booking independent operators. I won't go through the cruiseline.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to help me!

[rugrat]

We have been to all of these places(on AOS and Crown Princess) and the best by far is Curacao although we did not snorkel in Aruba. We used an independent operator, Curacao Actief, and they provided us with the best 1/2 day snorkel I have ever been on, just the 5 of us, no crowds and beautiful sights.

[scubaran]

In St. Thomas/St. John you can take the ferry over to St. John (if you have the whole day in port) and they have great beach snorkeling plus great beaches as far as that goes. You can go to the St. Thomas port board for details around how to get over there and back. There's two ferry's one a taxi ride to red hook and the other a direct in town in St. Thomas. First one runs more frequently, the second runs more direct. Some get nervous about going "off-island" while in port but I look at it as an adventure and it really is easy with very little risk of missing the boat (each time I did this there were always lots of people from my ship doing the same thing and I guess we all kinda keep an eye on when people start packing up to take the ferry back).

 

Randall