Belize snorkeling confused over options

[lvs]

Hi all,

 

My husband and I are booked on the Veendam leaving this coming Sunday. There are so many suggestions for snorkling excursions that I am really confused. The ship's one snorkeling excursion really isn't an option for me as it leaves at 7:30 in the morning!

 

The prices online from the various snorkel companies vary from to the next and I am not sure if you get anything better with any of them. They all seem to go to the Barrier Reef but have different locations mentioned.

 

For example, TourBelize has an outing to Goff's Caye for $70, Ecological Tours has a trip to Gallows Reef/Bannister Island for $49, Coral Breeze has a Manatee Watch/Reef Snorkel/Bannister Island for $60, Sea Sports has a Barrier Reef snorkel for $88 (don't know details as yet on this one)

 

Since they all leave from the port area are they all going to similar spots on the reef? I can't even find some of these cayes/reefs listed in my Belize guidebook!

 

Also, is it necessary to book these in advance? My concern is that the weather might not be that great and then you are locked in to doing a snorkel excursion rather than a land excursion.

 

Thanks for the advice. Linda

[PrairieWinterCruiser]

Hi Ivs. We are on the Veendam in a few weeks and I agree with you. 7:30 a.m. for a tour! Not a chance! We are still exploring our options as well, but we think we will likely just take the water taxi over to Caye Caulker (about 45 mins each way) and do our own thing. Fortunately, we have our own snorkel gear so this is an option for us. Ambergris Caye sounds wonderful too, but it is 1.5 hours from Belize by water taxi, which means 3 hours of being on a boat/taxi on top of the time on the tender. Anyway, I thought I would just pass this option on to you. Here is the website for the water taxi (note, the prices are in Belize dollars, so in U.S. $ would be about 1/2 the listed price): http://www.cayecaulkerwatertaxi.com/

[giovanni1]

i just responded to the other person i just back from belize took san pedro taxi to cauker caye a must and Charlie a kid (26yrs) old took us out snorkeling he was great.....u have to snorkel with a guide ....he took us to 3 places charge a little over $20 and we tipped him big........he was fantastic......e-mail me at (john.bronzo@faa.gov) and i will give u info his card is at home...my sons girlfriend posted something on cruise critic i am searching for it now.....

 

ciao

giovanni

[PrairieWinterCruiser]

Giovanni1, is this the post you are talking about? I actually posed a question there about how much was paid to Charlie:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=918859