Snorkeling

Arriving in Belize City on a cruise in November. We are interested in snorkeling. I have been reading several post but I've been trying to connect the dots. it seems like for the best snorkeling we have to leave the Belize City area and venture to places like Ambergris Caye, Hol Chan. Is that correct?

and I've heard quite a bit about Caye Caulker. I do understand that you have to take a water taxi to reach these points. How much is the water taxi, company?, and what is the process of catching it once leaving the cruise dock (easy to locate)?

What you get off the ferry is snorkeling accessible on your own or do you have to get assistance or a tour to get to a reef?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Arriving in Belize City on a cruise in November. We are interested in snorkeling. I have been reading several post but I've been trying to connect the dots. it seems like for the best snorkeling we have to leave the Belize City area and venture to places like Ambergris Caye, Hol Chan. Is that correct?

 

and I've heard quite a bit about Caye Caulker. I do understand that you have to take a water taxi to reach these points. How much is the water taxi, company?, and what is the process of catching it once leaving the cruise dock (easy to locate)?

 

What you get off the ferry is snorkeling accessible on your own or do you have to get assistance or a tour to get to a reef?

 

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

You can fly to Ambergris Caye but you do have to take the water ferry to Caye Caulker. Hol Chan and shark ray alley are both Marine reserves and do require at tour.

You have to truly get away from the terminal, preferably another cay which touted trips to Hol chan. Flying is the ticket! Do a search, as I'm not sure who does it now, but have done this many times in the past. Eco something. They book on line, get you to airport, fly you there, guide from dive shop picks you up, out to the marine park for maybe four hrs. No food or drinks for our trips. Return trip to terminal included in price. Only thing I can say is our trips were all spring, fall is more often than not, rainy. Good luck! It was truly a great adventure. Could cost $ 150pp upward. It's been a few years for us.

Review the threads and posts here. You do need an excursion of some sort to snorkel in Belize. There's nothing available for shore snorkeling off the mainland in that part of the country. In addition to excursions off your ship, there are vendors who specialize in excursions to the Hoi Chan reefs. Check out Shark/Ray Alley designated excursions.

Ambergris Caye has tie offs so you can kayak out to the reef and snorkel. Hol Chan and Shark Ray are marine reserves at Ambergris Caye and do require a guide. The reef is near shore at the north end of AC but is difficult to get to. The reef is near shore on Roatan.