Like one of the previous posters, I'm in my 50's and have a bad knee. My husband and I are also divers, and our biggest complaint about the Bonaire stop (by Princess at least) is it's so short we didn't want to schlep our gear on/off the boat for just a few hours, so snorkeling seemed like a good compromise. The original excursion we wanted to sign up for was full, so we ended up with the Samur trip.
We saw the Samur moored just off the side of the ship (and btw, this is the cleanest water port I've ever seen), and were sort of laughing about it, how strange it looked. Then we figured the laugh was on us when we found out that that was our snorkeling transportation.
This ship doesn't dock, hence the zodiac motorized pontoon boats that take you alongside for boarding. You climb on board using a variety of nooks and crannies built into the ship itself, and some very ready helpers (The crew is wonderful, but more about that later).
During the sail to the island the captain (who in our trip was also the owner) gives you the history of the ship and how they came to possess it. As one of the other posters said, it does need some attention; the decks could benefit from a good sanding and laquering, but we were sitting on the deck/side, had no cushions and didn't feel uncomfortable.
Once you pull up to the island they have the standard shore-excursion type gear on board; the inflatable vests, heavily used masks and snorkels and standard full-foot fins. We always bring our own masks & snorkels and use the supplied fins. The crew spent a great deal of time on our tour explaining how to use the equipment (lots of first time snorkelers) and demonstrating and, really, babying the clientele who needed it. We, on the other hand, asked for and were granted permission to just hop off the side of the boat and not wait for the boat transport to shore.
We opted for the drift snorkel option, where they take you, via zodiac, north of the island and then you follow the current back to where everyone else is. It's an easy trip, no huge currents or major worries (and you're never really far from the beach at any time). We saw more sea life on that snorkel trip than we have on some of the dives we've done and (an added benefit) you're sort of by yourself doing the drift snorkel so no clusters of people kicking you in the face or flailing about scaring the fish.
People who chose not to snorkel just took towels and laid on the beach -- nice white sand beach but no facilities (Oh, the ship offers fruit, punch (spiked and non) after the snorkel).
The ship was crewed by two married couples and their children -- very polite, helpful and interesting people. On the way back they do the typical "we sell t-shirts, here they are", but not in a pushy way. One of the women sold a cookbook with original art and recipes with stories for about $15 and we purchased that -- but again, there was no pressure.
I have to say this was one of the most unique excursions we've taken in a number of trips, and we'd repeat this one.
I say do it if you get a chance -- everybody can always load onto a typical boat and snorkel, but you won't have the photo opportunities available with this unique craft as your backdrop. The extremely nice people just round this trip out as one you would probably enjoy as much as we did.
Samur Sail and Snorkel?
in Bonaire
Posted
Like one of the previous posters, I'm in my 50's and have a bad knee. My husband and I are also divers, and our biggest complaint about the Bonaire stop (by Princess at least) is it's so short we didn't want to schlep our gear on/off the boat for just a few hours, so snorkeling seemed like a good compromise. The original excursion we wanted to sign up for was full, so we ended up with the Samur trip.
We saw the Samur moored just off the side of the ship (and btw, this is the cleanest water port I've ever seen), and were sort of laughing about it, how strange it looked. Then we figured the laugh was on us when we found out that that was our snorkeling transportation.
This ship doesn't dock, hence the zodiac motorized pontoon boats that take you alongside for boarding. You climb on board using a variety of nooks and crannies built into the ship itself, and some very ready helpers (The crew is wonderful, but more about that later).
During the sail to the island the captain (who in our trip was also the owner) gives you the history of the ship and how they came to possess it. As one of the other posters said, it does need some attention; the decks could benefit from a good sanding and laquering, but we were sitting on the deck/side, had no cushions and didn't feel uncomfortable.
Once you pull up to the island they have the standard shore-excursion type gear on board; the inflatable vests, heavily used masks and snorkels and standard full-foot fins. We always bring our own masks & snorkels and use the supplied fins. The crew spent a great deal of time on our tour explaining how to use the equipment (lots of first time snorkelers) and demonstrating and, really, babying the clientele who needed it. We, on the other hand, asked for and were granted permission to just hop off the side of the boat and not wait for the boat transport to shore.
We opted for the drift snorkel option, where they take you, via zodiac, north of the island and then you follow the current back to where everyone else is. It's an easy trip, no huge currents or major worries (and you're never really far from the beach at any time). We saw more sea life on that snorkel trip than we have on some of the dives we've done and (an added benefit) you're sort of by yourself doing the drift snorkel so no clusters of people kicking you in the face or flailing about scaring the fish.
People who chose not to snorkel just took towels and laid on the beach -- nice white sand beach but no facilities (Oh, the ship offers fruit, punch (spiked and non) after the snorkel).
The ship was crewed by two married couples and their children -- very polite, helpful and interesting people. On the way back they do the typical "we sell t-shirts, here they are", but not in a pushy way. One of the women sold a cookbook with original art and recipes with stories for about $15 and we purchased that -- but again, there was no pressure.
I have to say this was one of the most unique excursions we've taken in a number of trips, and we'd repeat this one.
I say do it if you get a chance -- everybody can always load onto a typical boat and snorkel, but you won't have the photo opportunities available with this unique craft as your backdrop. The extremely nice people just round this trip out as one you would probably enjoy as much as we did.
Hope that helps!