Snorkeling with East Island Excursions?

Has anyone done a trip with East Island Excursions out of the Puerto Del Rey Marina near Fajardo? We arrive in SJ the afternoon of Jan 8, 2005 and our ship leaves Jan 9 at 10:00 p.m. So we will have the morning and afternoon to do a trip. At first we were going to El Yunque, but I found this place with their beautiful sailing and power catamarans and have been tempted to go snorkeling with them instead. One big attraction of their boats for us is the very easy access to the water provided by large platform steps. I have had some back surgery and don't think I could do some of the steps i have seen on other boats. Because of these special needs, this is probably our only chance to go snorkeling in the Caribbean this trip. This is only our second cruise but we have caught the bug and we are doing our second cruise 9 months after our first! One question the excursion people answered quite nicely was how do I get from SJ to Fajardo early on a Sunday Morning? Transportation service vans quoted $120 and $150 for two r/t. The excursion company will pick us up and return us for $14.00 each r/t. Would really appreciate hearing from anyone who knows anything about this excursion company. Here is their website: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=131

It is a bit of a ride from San juan to Fajardo.....1 1/4-1 1/2 hours in each direction. That $14/person seems too cheap.....but possible.

I am sure you have done some research, but I know from living in St Thomas that there are more then a few catamarans here that have easy access platform steps.

(You pasted the wrong link by the way)

Has anyone used East Islands? We also want to do this excursion. The full day - 9am-330pm including lunch is $58 and transportation from Condado is $14 per person and from the Wyndam in Old San Juan $15 add'l.

When I emailed them a couple of months ago for our October date, the email response asked that I contact them closer to the date to make sure they would be running the snorkeling tour.

A big positive for us is the '8 ft of glass' the boat has so that our non-snorkeling friends can still see into the water.

This is a post cruise day for us.

Thanks for any information.

I was staying near Fajardo a couple of weeks ago, and did both the snorkeling trip as well as the powercat excursion with East Island Excursions. Both tours were great, but if you have time to do only one, the powercat that takes you to Flemenco beach would be a hard one to beat--the beach is amazing and virtually deserted. I think they may only do this tour once or twice a week. Sorry I can't help you with the transportation question from OSJ, but $14 sounds like a steal to me since it is around 1 1/2 hours away from OSJ to their marina. Enjoy!

Just got back from San Juan post cruise 10/25-27. Had book East Wind Catamaran for 10/26, but when I called 10/25 to confirm they told me that the Catamaran could not go out because of a non-working fire pump that had to be fixed prior to it going out again. They offered the Power Cat instead, but when they learned that we had a few elderly people onboard, told me that it probably would be best if we took another tour. :( (The Power Cat has a ladder vs. steps into the water)

Jay recommended I call Castillo Tours which does basically the same excursion (Beach, snorkeling, lunch, drinks) out of Farado for $65 + $14 transportation from San Juan for a total of $79. It's on a 45' Catamaran called the Stampede. So I called, they could accomodate us the next day and we went. It was a very nice day. The crew was nice and helpful. The drinks were great and the lunch was really good. Sandwiches, tuna salad, pasta salad, green salad, fruit. The Stampede does not have a slide or glass bottom windows, but we all had a good time anyway. Went to 3 snorkeling spots, first 2 not that good because the water was so choppy and rough. Even had big jellyfish. But the last place was pretty decent because he got us on the other side of the little Palimontos island where the water was a bit calmer. Over all, a great time. :D

Farado and the area we snorkeled is so beautiful that I wondered why all of us post cruisers stay in San Juan. I'm looking right now for hotels in the Farado area for next year.

I'm sure the East Wind trip will be great. But if you need another choice try Castillo Tours. They are in the Wyndam old San Juan hotel and I think they have a website.

Does anyone know of any sailing tours that leave closer to port?