Cozumel - Starfish Sanctuary

Has anyone been to the starfish sanctuary in Cozumel? I’m trying to find out more about the scenic ride along the coastline to the snorkel stop. I’m wondering how long the ride to the snorkel stop is and if it’s a boat or catamaran? I get real motion sick but if it’s a short ride to the snorkel spot...it may be worth the chance. I’ve gone to stingray city in Caymans and I was ok. I’d really love to see the starfish. Your help is appreciated.

Hi M&M

Yes I did this last year. I booked it through NCL and it was called 'Playancar reef and starfish sanctuary' but I know there's a lot of variations of the same excursion through different cruise lines and operators so yours might be different.

The boat picked us up right at the dock. We went past the RCI ships around 5-10 minutes later so if you're on RCI the ride will be slightly shorter. It was probably around an hour to the first snorkel stop. The boat ride was nice, it was a boat not a catamaran. There was one partly covered deck and you could also sit on the roof. I get seasick but I took a travel sickness pill and was fine. It's not a fancy boat but comfortable enough. You went past all the beach resorts so that was nice to see, although we did not have good weather so without the rain it would be nicer!

The reef snorkelling was great, it was pretty deep but crystal clear. It was a drift snorkel so you didn't have to do a huge amount of swimming, and lasted around 45 minutes. We saw loads of fish and a turtle. I'm from the UK so I don't have a huge amount of reef snorkelling to compare it to, but I really enjoyed it.

After that it was about 10-15 minutes drive to the starfish sanctuary. This wasn't as deep but still deeper than I expected as in the photos it looked really shallow, like you could stand up in it. There was lots of starfish on the floor but seeing a stingray was the highlight! Again I think if we had nicer weather that would have improved the experience.

Overall we really enjoyed this excursion, especially the reef snorkel although the starfish were cool too. I'd do it again.

thank you so much for the information! I really have to decide soon...just a few weeks till we sail!

Meredith