Princess Cay photos, ships snorkle tour, Wow!

We didn't expect much at Princess Cay, I thought it would be just a warm-up for

much better snorkeling at St John and Bonaire. But I took the ships snorkel tour,

and was so impressed with how clear the water was! Best water quality of the entire

10 day trip.

The reef was a bit small (meaning that I could cover it in 25 minutes) but it was

very nice! After I checked out the entire reef, I took my time to find a few really

nice fish and take their photos. Enjoy!

We had a lot of fun!

a few more....

Very cool!:D Thanks for posting your pics, I'm so excited for my first visit to princess cays.

Thanks for posting! DH and I are doing the Emerald's excursion next month and this is the first "review"that I have seen.

Great pictures. Looked like some great snorkling.

Great pics!

What kind of camera did you use to take these beautiful shots?

Beautiful pictures. I really like Princess Cays. It is a really nice beach day.

Great pics!

What kind of camera did you use to take these beautiful shots?

Thanks everyone, glad you liked the photos.

It was my first time taking photos underwater, I'm a point-and-shoot guy... so I like a very simple camera. I used a new PowerShot D-10 Canon :D (water proof to the depth of 25 feet)

thanks for sharing!.. great photos... can you also post them over at the snorkel and scuba board?.. thanks

I noticed that you both were wearing a suit when you were snorkeling.. Did they provide you with that or did you bring it with you??

Wow!! Your pics are great. I thought you could snorkel on your own, do you need to take the ship's tour to see what you did? We will be there at the end of April on the Emerald. Thanks so much for sharing.:D

I noticed that you both were wearing a suit when you were snorkeling.. Did they provide you with that or did you bring it with you??

No...you have to bring your own.

They are just thin cheap Lycra material... I wear it to keep from getting a sun burn... I'm so pale. But my wife finds it keeps her just a few degrees warmer than the water temp (not real wet suit) but just enough to help her because she gets cold easy, even when the water isn't that cold.

They now sell them with SPF sun ratings for people who burn easy, don't buy one unless it has a rating. I was surprised how the price has dropped over the years. Not that expensive anymore. You can get them on-line at http://www.coolibar.com or scuba.com both site have a lot of good information.

Wow!! Your pics are great. I thought you could snorkel on your own, do you need to take the ship's tour to see what you did? We will be there at the end of April on the Emerald. Thanks so much for sharing.:D

I started this thread...because everyone else was diving from shore... so I thought I'd give a review of what the ships tour looked like. I couldn't find anyone who posted about it before.

So most people just snorkel on the beach and see some great fish. But I am a big fan of coral, so since its just me and the wife, we didn't mind paying extra for a 10 minute boat ride out about 600 yards to a nice coral patch of reef. I really can't tell you how they compare... since I didn't do the shore dive??? Usually more rocks and less coral if I had to guess?

I posted this before in the Princess section....but its my entire trip report in photos...if any one want to see it (pics came our really good, I blame the new camera):p

.Aruba, Bonaire, Eleuthera (princess cay), Dominica, Grenada, St John, Little Cayman, and Cozumel.

http://www.panraven.com/visitor/VisitorViewStory.epage?sp=Sview&sp=154975

ONE TIP- if you click on the arrows below the photos, you can see 2 pages at a time, which give a better panoramic view. If you click directly on the photo instead of using the arrows...you can only see one BIG page at a time (click again to go back to two page view)

thanks for sharing!.. great photos... can you also post them over at the snorkel and scuba board?.. thanks

I posted a link to my photo report over in that section. Thanks for the suggestion ;)

How deep do you think the water was where they took you to snorkel? Also, how much was the excursion per person? How many people did they take out? Thanks so much for the info. Love those pictures and I'm planning to buy one of those cameras before our trip in December.

How deep do you think the water was where they took you to snorkel? Also, how much was the excursion per person? How many people did they take out? Thanks so much for the info. Love those pictures and I'm planning to buy one of those cameras before our trip in December.

Glad you liked the photos.

We had about 12 people on our boat. But I bet they could have taken up to 30 to fill the boat. From reading reviews here, it seems like most people snorkel from the beach and consider that good enough. I think you only get the people on this tour that really like snorkeling, so maybe that's why its not so crowded?

I'm guessing the water was 6 to 20 feet deep. Most of it felt more like 7-12 feet deep.

I think the cost was $50 each. But I don't remember?

I know most people snorkeled from the beach...but usually you just see rocks with fish around them (just my guess...haven't seen photos from shore diving?). I wanted to see coral reef with my fish :) So I was willing to pay for the guide and the boat to take us out 10 mintues away from the beach.

Thanks everyone, glad you liked the photos.

 

It was my first time taking photos underwater, I'm a point-and-shoot guy... so I like a very simple camera. I used a new PowerShot D-10 Canon :D (water proof to the depth of 25 feet)

 

Your photos are great, very vibrant colors.

Did you like the quality of the photos when you were out of the water? I just bought an underwater camera, but the picture quality was terrible. I haven't tried it in water yet. I bought it for a canyoning trip. It needs to be waterproof, but I will be taking pictures above water and need something better than this.

Your photos are great, very vibrant colors.

Did you like the quality of the photos when you were out of the water?

Thanks.

Yes I liked the photos out of the water also. If you want to view my photo book it is 134 pages of photos I shot with the D10 (the last 15 pages of the book are from an older trip and shot with an older PowerShot Canon camera)

http://www.panraven.com/visitor/VisitorViewStory.epage?sp=Sview&sp=154975

TIP- Click on the small arrows under the photo... to see two pages at a time (it gives a better panoramic view). If you just click directly on the photo you only see one big page at a time, click again to go back to the two page view.

Here's 3 sample shots... the sun light was perfect for the first photo. The next one was dark and the 3rd photo my wife was shooting into the sun. I think the D10 did a great job getting the photo regardless of the different challenges we through at it.

What was the water temp at Princess Cay?

What was the water temp at Princess Cay?

Water temp was fine for swimming. I only wore my dive skin because I didn't want to get a sun burn. For someone who lives in Florida, I was way too white and pale when I left for our trip to the Caribbean :o

We went in January and Florida was locked in a big cold front. Some of that record cold air made it all the way down to the Bahamas, but the water was still warm. My wife wore her dive skin because she didn't want to be cold getting out of the water on the boat ride back.

Thanks everyone, glad you liked the photos.

 

It was my first time taking photos underwater, I'm a point-and-shoot guy... so I like a very simple camera. I used a new PowerShot D-10 Canon :D (water proof to the depth of 25 feet)

 

Thank you for the photos. I just happened to buy that very same camera for my DH for Christmas! I expect delivery tomorrow. :cool:

I usually take the land shots with a more complicated camera, but DH consistently gets better underwater shots than I get, so I have given him that job. We are going to Hawaii this May and back to the Caribbean in April 2012, so we should be able to get a lot of use out of it in the next couple of years.

From reading about the snorkeling on Princess Cayes, it seems as if the shore snorkeling is inconsistent at best. I will be looking for more reviews of the boat tour as we get closer to the trip. Could you tell me how easy the water access/getting back into the boat was on this tour? I have arthritis in my nee and hip and need a deep ladder to get back into the boat, or I will be paddling to shore on my own!:eek: Whenever I book a boat snorkel excursion I look for ladder pictures.

I have arthritis in my nee and hip and need a deep ladder to get back into the boat, or I will be paddling to shore on my own!:eek: Whenever I book a boat snorkel excursion I look for ladder pictures.

Ladder seemed deep to me, but I didn't get any photos. Guides where helpful getting people back onto the boat.

The main thing, is the waves were flat in the morning. And that's what made it easy to get back on the boat.

In Cayman, we had such big waves in the afternoon, it was very hard to get back on the boat, an they had a good ladder, but the boat was bucking too much. (so if you notice a big wave day, I'd skip the tour, for personal safety reasons even if it meant losing the $50 bucks). We always book early in the day to get calmer seas.

Ladder seemed deep to me, but I didn't get any photos. Guides where helpful getting people back onto the boat.

 

The main thing, is the waves were flat in the morning. And that's what made it easy to get back on the boat.

 

In Cayman, we had such big waves in the afternoon, it was very hard to get back on the boat, an they had a good ladder, but the boat was bucking too much. (so if you notice a big wave day, I'd skip the tour, for personal safety reasons even if it meant losing the $50 bucks). We always book early in the day to get calmer seas.

Thanks. That's good advice.

If anyone is going on this tour in the near future would you take a picture of the ladder/boat access and post it for me here? Thanks!:)

Really enjoyed your album - looks like you two really know how to make the most of a cruise! Thanks for sharing.

Really enjoyed your album - looks like you two really know how to make the most of a cruise! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks :) We packed it in, but never felt rushed. It was one of those rare trips where everything went as planned.