firstalaskatrip

Hi - We are thinking of doing an excursion to trunk bay and hopefully going snorkeling there. Have any of you been there recently (post hurricane)? How is it? Is the beach ok for swimming? How is the snorkeling currently? Thanks in advance for any info!

Cruising in march. Curious for anyone who has been recently - were there a lot of mosquitoes? We are thinking about going to Brimstone and Romney manor in the morning and might end up going to a beach in the afternoon so curious about mosquitoes on both land based excursions and at the beach. Thanks!

how was your experience with the ride?

Has anyone done a trail ride or beach horseback ride in st kitts? If so - what company did you use? Did the horses seem well cared for? Did the ride seem safe? Did they have safety helmets? Loved the idea of riding on the beach or through the rainforest, but as a rider, I know some of these tourist geared places can be terrible and the rare few can be fantastic. Wondering what the situation is in st kitts.

Hi all - Which is better for snorkeling - antigua or st kitts? Think we would like to do snorkeling in one of these ports. Also - how is snorkeling in trunk bay st john and does anyone know how it faired in the hurricane? I've heard mixed things in general about how the snorkeling is there. appreciate any advice.

Hi. We are going to be in St. Thomas in about a week and a half. Neither of us is pregnant, but I still don't love the idea of Zika virus. I was wondering if there are a lot of mosquitoes at the beach in St. Thomas. Also- we were considering an excursion that goes to turtle cove and then takes people to honeymoon beach on water island. Would the beach part of this be likely to be buggy? Also - do you recommend this beach/type of excursion? Wondering if we would be better off with just a two site snorkeling trip without beach time - called turtle cove and shipwreck snorkel - any idea how the snorkeling is? Appreciate any thoughts. Thanks!

I've never been snorkeling in St. Martin - hoping to go in February. If you end up doing Nassau though, I'd definitely recommend Blue Hole Watersports. I went with them a couple years ago. They leave from the beach at the Hilton, so your wife could potentially plan a beach day there while you are out for the couple hour snorkel or go on the boat as a boat ride (my mom injured herself prior to our vacation, so she stayed on the boat while I snorkeled). The snorkeling with Blue Hole watersports was fantastic - they found places with very little current - nice coral/sea fans and the second site was a shallow ship with tons and tons of schools of fish. Definitely the best snorkeling I've done except Belize.

Have any of you done the Captain Alan Three Island Snorkel Tour? If so, how rough was boat trip out to tintamare and how long was it? This excursion sounds great and gets great reviews - just a little worried about how rough and how much the boat will pound. Also - how was the snorkeling on the trip? Thanks!

Pmorton3360 - thanks for responding. How was the coral? Were there a lot of fish or interesting variety? Even if short might be worth it for us if the snorkeling was very good.

Happy to hear responses from anyone else who has done this excursion as well.

Thanks!

Hi all,

I'm wondering if any of you have experience trying the snorkel boat excursion at Princess Cays. Would you recommend it? Did you see good coral? How were the fish? Last time we went to Princess Cays, we had intended to do this excursion but it was cancelled due to weather. I know there are a decent number of fish when snorkeling from the shore (in part since they are unfortunately fed). Trying to decide if it's worth it to do the excursion or we should just go from the shore. Any insight would be appreciated.

Hi M&T - the two local reef tour that we did is $35/person. They have a longer one I wish I could go on that's $65, but I'm not sure that one would fit with a cruise - we didn't think we had enough time which is why we did the shorter one. here's the link to their site with prices: http://tsunamiadventures.com/snorkeling-tours/ Have fun on your cruise - I'm sure you will have a great time snorkeling!

I don't think they do scuba diving, but for snorkeling in Nassau, you may want to check out Blue Hole Watersports. I went snorkeling with them a couple years ago and thought they were great! They only take small groups and the coral/fish we saw were fantastic. Looks like they are still getting great reviews on trip advisor as well. They are also only a short walk from the cruise port (they leave from the hilton dock).

Glad to be of help Chamima. I can't comment on the company you picked since I don't know any of the companies other than the one we used, but I am sure you will have a wonderful time at the reef. It is absolutely beautiful! Have fun!

I can't comment on the tour companies since the lodge we stayed at took us to the zoo, but I thought I'd add a couple things about the zoo. It was a nice little zoo. They have nice little exhibits with a strong conservation message and the animals native to Belize. We actually saw a wild agouti running around while we were there too. You may also want to consider one of the extra add-ons once there. For $5 you can feed the tapirs - you get a bucket of carrots and your whole group can pat and feed them. They were really cute and seemed to love the attention. For $5 per person, you can also high five one of the jaguars. I didn't find this to be quite as cool since the keeper feeds them and you just touch their paw, but many others really enjoy this. Also- to answer the question above- their paw cannot get in the cage with you (too big), but I'd be careful putting my hand out first since their nails do get through as they put their paw on the cage and would probably hurt a lot if they accientally hit you.

Hi. Hol Chan is north of Caye Caulker. It's actually closer to Ambergis Caye. While you can take a boat from Caye Caulker to Hol Chan, it's a much longer ride so usually only done as a full day tour which would probably be tough to do as a cruise passenger. I had read before going that some places will lie and say they are taking you to Hol Chan when they are actually taking you to Coral Gardens which is much closer.

I did a land vacation in May to Belize, and we took the water taxi over to Caye Caulker for the day. We did a snorkeling trip with Tsunami adventures which was great. I really liked the company - they were very clear and honest about where they went and took us out even though with only 2 people we did not meet their minimum number of guests. Our tour took us to 3 sites - can't remember the name of the first - saw a small ray, a ton of fish, two squid, a moray eel, and nice coral at this location. Second stop was a shark/ray alley stop - there is another shark/ray alley by Hol Chan. My understanding is the one by Hol Chan may have larger sharks/rays, but the one by Caye Caulker does still have a huge number of both sharks and rays - unfortunately they do chum the water for this. Third stop was coral gardens - beautiful fish, a shark swimming under us, a lobster, and some nice coral spotted at this one. Overall, the snorkeling was phenomenal. Hol Chan is supposed to be even better though - some people we met who went same day as us to Hol Chan said they saw huge turtles at the site they went to.

There's a flight excursion that goes to Ambergis Caye and goes to Hol Chan that looks pretty cool from Shore Excursioneer- there was a post regarding it on here recently. If you truly want to see the best snorkeling, that's what I would recommend since it would get you to Hol Chan (I've never done that excursion though so don't know logistics/etc). If you are happy to see good reefs but know you might not have seen "the best," I'm sure you will be very happy with snorkeling Coral Gardens and the other stops from Caye Caulker. There's also very little current so it's like swimming in a bathtub with awesome fish. We didn't know about the flight excursion when we went and didn't think we had time to get to Hol Chan. Caye Caulker was also a cute little island to walk around and got some great lunch as well.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for all the tips! ABQrobin - between Roatan and Belize, do you think Roatan offers a similar experience snorkeling to belize? Would you recommend a boat tour or shore snorkeling in Roatan for the best snorkeling.

Also- for Cozumel - do any of you have any idea where the atlantis sub goes? Wondering if that would be a good way to get around the too deep/current issues in Cozumel but still see the reef.

p.s. ABQrobin - saw your post in response to my question and another person's question on the snorkel forum. Is the current the big issue with Cozumel? Also- I actually snorkeled in Belize last may near Caye Caulker - coral gardens and one other site. I'd love to go back to snorkel Belize, but I also would really like to go to Lamanai, so that's why I'm torn and trying to figure out if Cozumel would be a decent substitute. I'm definitely planning to snorkel in Roatan as well. Also- for Belize, I'd really love to go to Hol Chan Marine reserve when I go, and it is pretty hard to get their on a cruise day without flying. Anyway, any additional info you or anyone else can give on snorkeling from a boat in Cozumel would be appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks for the responses. ABQrobin - I am happy to do a boat tour. If we do a boat tour, how is the snorkeling? You mention the reefs are good for diving. Are the ones we could get to by boat good for snorkeling or are they too deep/also beat up like the shore reefs? I know I would need to take a boat trip to go snorkeling in Belize and that the reefs there are great. What specifically would I be missing out on if I went snorkeling in Cozumel by boat instead of Belize?

I've been reading lots of posts on cozumel and snorkeling. Some people seem to think the snorkeling is the "best ever." While others comment that the reefs are very deep/better for diving or that reefs were damaged in a recent hurricane. I'm now totally confused and not sure if it is best to spend time in Cozumel snorkeling or do something else. Can someone with snorkeling experience help give some perspective on the reefs/snorkeling in Cozumel?

How does snorkeling in cozumel compare to snorkeling in other locations? (Most recently I visited Belize and Grand Turk). Is it better to do a boat excursion or snorkel from shore? I would ideally like to see healthy coral and fish/other animals without having the water be too deep or rough. I am an experienced snorkeler and can handle some current, but my mother (who I will be traveling with) is more timid. Also- any chance of seeing turtles? I am definitely open to a non-cruise ship excursion if there is a good company you would recommend.

If the issue is with the depth of reefs, would it make sense to do something like the Atlantis sub? Has anyone done this and would you recommend it?

I've read a lot that Cozumel has great diving and also read that a recent hurricane damaged the reef. How is cozumel for snorkeling? Where do you recommend snorkeling from? How does it compare to other western carribean snorkeling? Any turtles?

We are thinking of taking a western carribean cruise with cozumel, belize, and roatan as stops. I think we would likely snorkel in roatan - recs on which company or where? In Belize, I'm really torn between trying to get to Hol Chan or going to Lamanai, so I was wondering how cozumel snorkeling would compare to see if it is an alternative. I've been snorkeling near Caye Caulker - it was great, but I hear Hol Chan is much better - though much harder to get to from a cruise. Appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

The blue lagoon dolphin swim was also great in Nassau. A bit pricey, but it was an amazing experience.

To the original poster - not sure if you already planned your excursions, but I'd actually recommend this company in Nassau for your snorkel:

http://www.blueholewatersports.com/

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147416-d1554778-Reviews-Blue_Hole_Watersports-Nassau_New_Providence_Island_Bahamas.html

I went to Nassau with my mom in march of 2013. We did a land based vacation, so had quite a bit of time to see different activities. At that point, Atlantis was actually pretty run down - algae in all the tanks. Not sure if it's in better repair now or not.

We went snorkeling with this company though, and they were fantastic - they only take out small groups - we had 8 in our group - two families of 3 and my mom and I. They leave from the Hilton which is a 5 min walk from the cruise terminal, take you through the marina area of atlantis to see the big boats and a bit of the resort, and then go to two snorkeling sites. The coral was fabulous at the first, and the second was a boat that had intentionally been sunk and had huge schools of fish living in it. It was incredible! There was very little current in either area - they adjust which places you go to based on the weather, and it was probably the second best snorkeling I've ever done (Belize is #1). The guides were also really nice - they catered very well to both the snorkelers and to those who weren't so sure about it. One of the kids was a bit scared, and they did great with her. My mom had injured her foot, so she stayed on board, and she found the crew to be very nice and enjoyable to chat with.

thanks for your response. Was there any coral to see from shore or just fish? That's helpful to know that getting out was challenging. What was tough about getting out of the water? waves/undertow? or steep dropoff to climb up? Did you snorkel by the dock that supposedly juts out into the water?

I posted this question on the snorkeling forum too, but I wasn't sure if it would be more likely to be seen and answered here. Have any of you done the princess cay boat snorkeling excursion or snorkeled from shore? Any thoughts on either or both? What would you recommend? My mother and I are going in early November in case that makes a difference. Thanks!

Hello - I'm going on a cruise in November. One of the ports is Princess Cay. My mother and I really love snorkeling. We are thinking of doing the boat snorkeling excursion in Princess Cay since we figured it would be better than snorkeling from shore. Have any of you done this excursion, snorkeled from the shore there, or preferably both? Any thoughts on what's best/what may be seen from either or both? We have our own snorkel and masks, so it's really about what we will see. Thanks!