Samur Sail and Snorkel?

Im encouraged by the posters with bad knees as my dw has very bad athritis in her knees and i mild athritis in my left leg so the talk of others who made the climb on and off the boat makes us feel better we were tentative about booking this excursion when we are on the celebrity summit next january

We also liked the idea of the beach in case we decided just to relax if we didnt take to the snorkeling(first timers late in life here)

Thanks for all the info

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

:o That part of having to climb up using a "variety of nooks and crannies" does concern me a bit for my DH .... :D who swims better than he climbs ... :confused:

I'm one of those previous posters who'd just had knee replacements when we went on the Samur.

Think of the "nooks and crannies" as a built in ladder on the Samur.

It works and the staff tells you just where to place hands and feet to get on the boat.

You'll have worried for nothing.

SORRY - SEA & DISCOVER IS NOT CURRENTLY OFFERING PROGRAMS - CAREN ECKRICH IS WORKING FULL-TIME FOR CIEE RESEARCH STATION BONAIRE http://cieebonaire.org.

Thanks for the detailed review. So helpful. How long was the drift snorkel?

Samur Sail is a time eater

1. our tour starts 25 min later

2. need 45 min to bring us with dinghy to Samur Sail Boat which is laying on pier at the sea! not on a landing place - its a time which we miss

3. uncoordinated at drift snorkeling - which was fine

bad thing - there is a lady which always try to force you (because of the missing time at ship in)

4. the lady even did not know how much people are with her

at the end she miss some !!

5. ship out from Samur Sail with dinghy to the landing pier of the cruise ship need another 15 min

in all together if you do a trip with 3 hours

and 85 min are used for ship in and out to the Samur Sail ship

- thats 47 % of the time to get the ship!!

the coordination of this ship in time is, in my feeling very uncontrolled - or only a money saver for the shipper?

why he did not go with Samur Sail ship to the same landing place where the cruise ship is laying?

in all our other trips its working - all other ships come to the landing pier

we had the time which we are paying for

I would not do it if I would known about the ship in.

We were in Bonaire recently and did the water taxi from the ship's tour to the snorkel beach and the Samur Sail and snorkel took the exact same route as us and went to the same snorkel site, but went a lot slower. They also couldn't dock at the beach like our little shuttle boat could so they had to use the yellow dingy boats to get to the beach and then they had to leave before us becuase it took them forever to get back to the ship (in fact the ship was waiting for them to leave!). So it looked like fun, but if you are more interested in the snorkeling at the beach (which we did) you'll have a lot more time to snorkel if you just take the water taxi tour. You'lll also be on a boat with less people. If you are intested in seeing the old wooden boat, and experiencing being on board, it did look like a lot of fun - but was just too slow for me! LOL. So i was relieved we didn't do that tour and did the water taxi instead.

The post from embracedbylife is correct in the respect that you get more beach time if you take the water taxi. The only problem with that is that we were warned by staff from the cruise ship that if the water taxi is not full they don't always go back when they are scheduled to. Because of this you could possible miss the ship. It was fun going on the Samur sail but I don't think we would do it again, getting up from the dingy to the Samur was really not that bad but don't think I would feel the same way if it was rough. Klein Bonaire is incredible, the snorkling is great and such a varity of beautiful fish.

Anyone do this recently? What did you think? We booked this for our upcoming trip in October, would be interested in hearing from someone who's done this in 2016.

Anyone do this recently? What did you think? We booked this for our upcoming trip in October, would be interested in hearing from someone who's done this in 2016.

I'm copying my response about Samur from a different thread; I was there in Jan/Feb 2016.

I took the Samur excursion this past winter from the Glory. It sailed to a nearby uninhabited isle called Klein Bonaire (little Bonaire). It anchored a short distance from the shore and we swam to the beach.

We had to walk a good distance, maybe 3/8 of a mile, done the "beach" , which was really crushed sea shells and very hard on bare feet. Once the guide located a cut in the reef just off the beach, we put our equipment on, swam through the cut and had a leisurely snorkel float with the tide along the outer edge of the reef.

If you chose to stay near the guides, they were pointing stuff out that an amateur like me wouldn't notice. Corals were very much alive and colorful, and lots of fish and sea creatures were visible. Once we reached the spot where the ship had anchored, we swam to shore and had some free time on the beach.

I saw the water taxi pull up to the spot where we swam through the cut and discharge its passengers there. I didn't see them get picked up by a later taxi, as we were already under way back to the ship taking a "scenic" coastal sail.

The crew and Captain were informative, helpful and available. I am returning to Bonaire in November and will probably choose a different snorkel trip, but only for the idea of seeing something new.

I just returned last week (early September) from Bonaire where I enjoyed my afternoon on the Samur.

Bonaire is stunning and I loved it. The excursion was fine, snorkeling was good.

The Samur is very interesting in its history and the captain/owner is more than willing to share it.

Getting on and off the ship was NOT as difficult as it might seem, and I have bad knees, etc. The crew was very helpful telling you where to put which foot, grab this, it really was not problematic.

I would have rather had known I might need water shoes. Walking to the put-in spot for snorkeling was far more challenging than getting on and off the ship. Large junks of coral, etc. washed up made walking difficult, especially in places where the beach was gone. Next time I go back, I will definitely bring my water shoes, which would also mean I would forgo flippers.

They served fruit juice before the snorkel and rum punch after the snorkel.

I would do this excursion again but I will probably try to book with woodwinds first.

Thank you for the heads up! We will pack water shoes!!

Anyone do this excursion recently? Is it still a good choice? Did you see any sea turtles? Thanks in advance!!

Thinking about booking this in a few months - has anyone done this recently? I'm not clear really on how you start snorkeling? Do you go to the beach, walk, then take a boat out again? What do you do with your shoes, etc. when your do that? 

Thanks!!

On 8/31/2022 at 2:20 PM, rgoldstein86 said:

Thinking about booking this in a few months - has anyone done this recently? I'm not clear really on how you start snorkeling? Do you go to the beach, walk, then take a boat out again? What do you do with your shoes, etc. when your do that? 

 

Thanks!!

We did this excursion like 5 years ago and will be doing it again(hopefully) this coming feb. they basically take you out on the samur to the island. They use a small zodiac boat to get you to shore. they will tell you how far up or down island to walk to your snorkeling starting point. you will snorkel with current along the shore and end up back where you started at the location the samur is. its about 30mins to and from spot and then about 1.5 hours at location.

if you are snorkeling you can leave your shoes on boat or take them with you in a beach bag. last time we did this our group were the only ones on that section of the island so leaving a bag behind on the shore where you debark and embark on the samur shouldnt be a problem. We snorkeled whole time so there wasnt much walking afterwards, its all beach sand and some sea shells/natural ocean debris on the beach. walking barefoot to snorkel entry was not a problem. its a fun excursion and fantastic snorkeling.