Is there any REALLY good snorkeling in the Caribbean?

[StaceyCT]

I'll be on the Serenade of the Seas in January, stopping at St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts, Dominica, and Barbados. Maybe I've just been spoiled by snorkeling at fantastic sites like Hawaii, but I've been unimpressed by the little Caribbean snorkeling I've done so far.

 

A few years ago, we snorkeled Trunk Bay in St. John on the advice of many enthusiastic CC'ers. Well, maybe we didn't go to the right place, but all I saw was a 99% dead reef with a few sad fish flitting around. The beach was gorgeous, but the snorkeling made me more sad than anything.

 

Can anyone recommend some great snorkeling sites on the above islands, even if we need to take a boat to them? I'm talking a live reef or a sunken ship, someplace with a variety of fish and marine life around. Or should I just focus my plans on fun above the water and book a cruise to Hawaii? :o

[Islandbear]

I really want to argue with you and tell you that the snorkeling in the Caribbean is GREAT!

 

But, the fact is that most ports that attract the big cruise ships also attract the type of problems like pollution, over use, fish feeding and coral destruction that have ruined many of the great dives sites in the Caribbean in the last 20 years.

 

Hawaii does so much better protecting the reefs, banning fish feeding and regulating use and abuse.

 

St Kitts reef by the Marriott used to be really nice, even St Thomas had good snorkeling. But today you have to get out to the smaller islands around Grenada, Bonaire & Curacao, or basically anywhere you don't see huge Cruise ships to find good snorkeling.

 

Based on your trip I would want to try Buck Island (St. Croix) 340-hectare island and reef system, 3km off St. Croix's north shore. The reef is strictly protected by the National Park Service.

[StaceyCT]

Thanks for your honesty and the insight into the sad state of the Caribbean reefs. What a shame that the more people use a common resource, the worse shape it's in for any of us to use.

 

I appreciate the tip on Buck Island. If there's good snorkeling there, then it's worth a boat trip. And I am definitely taking my husband snorkeling in Hawaii one of these days so that he can see what all the fuss is about!

[beemerrider]

Hello. There is also Buck Island in St.-Thomas. Great snorkeling and there is a wreck there that you can also see. Also, there is Coki Beach in St. Thomas which has great snorkeling.

 

A message to all you snorkelers and divers out there......take only pictures and leave only bubbles. Do not touch anything or take anything. What you touch could hurt you, what you take could be a living creature's home....and yes, even the smallest seashell is a home to something.

[Islandbear]

Hello. There is also Buck Island in St.-Thomas. Great snorkeling and there is a wreck there that you can also see. Also, there is Coki Beach in St. Thomas which has great snorkeling.

 

A message to all you snorkelers and divers out there......take only pictures and leave only bubbles. Do not touch anything or take anything. What you touch could hurt you, what you take could be a living creature's home....and yes, even the smallest seashell is a home to something.

 

And don't feed the fish, your not their mother! :)

[StaceyCT]

Thanks for the input, beemerider. And thanks for the reminder about not feeding the fish, islandbear. I like the part about not being their mother :).

I've contacted Jolly Mon to take a sailboat out to Buck Island. If either of you have any feedback about them (all I've read on the boards is good), let me know please!

[a3593]

StaceyCT-please report back! :)

[StaceyCT]

StaceyCT-please report back! :)

 

Will do - should be early February (cruise is Jan. 23).

[michaelaz]

Hawaii hasn't been hammered by 2 big hurricanes in last 5 years like Caribbean has, coral takes decades to rebuild unfortunately.

[StaceyCT]

Hawaii hasn't been hammered by 2 big hurricanes in last 5 years like Caribbean has, coral takes decades to rebuild unfortunately.

 

My last trip to the Caribbean was five years ago...you mean it's gotten worse since then? :eek:

[georoc01]

The champagne reefs are worth checking out in Dominica and Bonaire has some awesome spots. They were one of the first places to create a marine park in the early 60's.

 

If you like to play with rays and sharks, shark ray alley off of Ambrigis Caye Belize is pretty cool also. Its a shallow area that is protected from the main reef and makes for some good snorkeling.

[MTV43]

We just returned from Hawaii in August and snorkeled at Maui, Kona, Kaui and Oahu. HI has some species that cannot be found in Caribbean but it is not on par with Roatan. As a matter of fact, we were disappointed with HI snorkeling.

 

Roatan was the best snorkeling we had done, we had snorkeled so far : St. Thomas, St. John, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Barbados, Antiqua, Cozumel, Akumal, Costa Maya, Cancun, Grand Cayman.

 

MTV

[CRUISEMAN72]

in honduras go to tabyana beach

in cozumel palanker reef yeah its misspelled

in grand caymen eden rock is nice and free the other 2 are pay

or cheeseburger reef near the burger king its a 20 min walk toward 7 mile beach or take a cab like me i'm lazy that is where all the coral is.

from cozumel to honduras is the second largest reef in the world. there is coral in the bahamas which is nice as well as turks i had a great time there reef and rays it was called i will be doing the same thing this june when the carnival price i mean pride will be there.

[snorkelingsearchers]

Snorkeling is so subjective, but I will chime in. I have not yet been to Hawaii but I get ALOT of mixed reports from my Caribbean snorkeling buddies. I have only been to several sites in the Caribbean. I would have to say hands down that Belize has the most gorgeous coral I have seen. Roatan is second for coral but seemed to have the most life. I have also enjoyed Eden Rock. The Palancar and Colombia(sp?) reefs were just okay for coral but I saw lots of nurse sharks, giant grouper, turtles and even a huge eagle ray. Akumal bay has great life (but the coral is not as healthy as the other places I mentioned)and this is where you will see large turtles (Akumal is Mayan for place of the turtle?), baracuda, squid and colorful fishes. I am not a diver and so I cannot speak for the quality of the dives at these locales. I have met some people that have snorkeled all of the places I have been plus HI and other places and they said hands down that the islands around Tahiti are the best they have seen. I have also snorkeled Antigua(pretty sea fans and lots of cool squid!) and Costa Maya (very unimpressive). I hear that Western Caribbean is usually better snorkeling that Eastern Caribbean.

 

I would love to hear your snorkeling suggestions for Hawaii as we would like to go there sometime soon. :)

[catsforkids]

Dominica has fantastic snorkeling at the Champagne/Hot Springs area. Purely amazing and the sea life is healthy and plentiful. We took our nieces here and they loved it. The bubbles are really cool and the warm springs.

 

If you can make it to St. John from St. Thomas, you will be amazed at the wonderful snorkeling there: Hawknest Bay, Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay...just to name a few. Also very pristine and full of life (thanks to the National Park status!)

[swampfox28]

Any in the Bahamas? All I've heard is that the water will be cold in January (but we'd probably try anyway if it was worth it.....!)

 

 

-Sarah:confused:

[grandmkmk]

The only snorkelling we've done that has come close to our experiences in HI was in Bonaire. In Hawaii we'd jump in at various beaches as we'd drive around, and one of our favorite spots was in front of out little old hotel (SW Maui). We are trying to figure out if there is any good snorkelling around Nassau, as we will be there in February on a quick 3 day cruise. We're not fond of the excursions where they feed the fish...!

[beachbumsinpa]

The champagne reefs are worth checking out in Dominica and Bonaire has some awesome spots. They were one of the first places to create a marine park in the early 60's.

 

If you like to play with rays and sharks, shark ray alley off of Ambrigis Caye Belize is pretty cool also. Its a shallow area that is protected from the main reef and makes for some good snorkeling.

Who did you book your excursion with to shark ray alley?

Thanks

[CaribQween]

Who did you book your excursion with to shark ray alley?

Thanks

 

Hi, I tried to answer your question under the Belize threads. But also, check out the posts here on the Fly-N-Dive to Ambergris Caye thread near the end of it. There is a post by TxSmiles where she says her fiance was dropped into a whole group of nurse sharks diving off of Ambergris Caye.

[Lsimon]

... stopping at St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts, Dominica, and Barbados. Maybe I've just been spoiled by snorkeling at fantastic sites like Hawaii,...

 

Don't count on much like Hawaii. But with that said there are some great places (at the next level down).

 

St. Thomas - take a day sail that goes snorkeling. Several of these great small day sail boats that take a max of 6 passengers and offer a wonderful day with great snorkeling. My favorite is the Rumbaba, you can google them or google "Virgin Islands Day Sail" to find others.

 

St. Croix - going there the first time this year and we're doing a Buck Island snorkeling excursion (private) based on recommendations.

 

St. Kitts, I think the best place is called ****tin bay or something like that. We usually take the ships Fan-ta-sea excursion that stops there, or an alternate site depending on conditions, and also includes a nice BBQ lunch at a beach on Nevis and a nice party scene for the return catamaran sail.

 

Barbados - snorkeling is mixed depending on conditions. It isn't known as a great snorkeling island. Since finding the Silver Moon (private day sail excursion) a few years back we always take it. Search that name on the Barbados forum for lots of reviews of this great lunch day sail where you'll also swim with giant sea turtles, snorkel and have a great day.

 

Pictures of all these are in my photos for FEb 07, Mar-07, Mar-08 and Mar-09 in the photo site link beloe.

[StaceyCT]

Don't count on much like Hawaii. But with that said there are some great places (at the next level down).

 

St. Thomas - take a day sail that goes snorkeling. Several of these great small day sail boats that take a max of 6 passengers and offer a wonderful day with great snorkeling. My favorite is the Rumbaba, you can google them or google "Virgin Islands Day Sail" to find others.

 

St. Croix - going there the first time this year and we're doing a Buck Island snorkeling excursion (private) based on recommendations.

 

St. Kitts, I think the best place is called ****tin bay or something like that. We usually take the ships Fan-ta-sea excursion that stops there, or an alternate site depending on conditions, and also includes a nice BBQ lunch at a beach on Nevis and a nice party scene for the return catamaran sail.

 

Barbados - snorkeling is mixed depending on conditions. It isn't known as a great snorkeling island. Since finding the Silver Moon (private day sail excursion) a few years back we always take it. Search that name on the Barbados forum for lots of reviews of this great lunch day sail where you'll also swim with giant sea turtles, snorkel and have a great day.

 

Pictures of all these are in my photos for FEb 07, Mar-07, Mar-08 and Mar-09 in the photo site link beloe.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, LSimon. Here are our tentative plans:

 

We're actually sailing to Buck Island from St. Thomas (on the Jolly Mon) - seems like most people go there from St. Croix.

 

St. Croix: Cane Bay for offshore snorkeling.

 

St. Kitts: Cockleshell Beach for offshore snorkeling. (I'm dying to know what you typed for "****tin" that got asterisked out! Now I'm wondering if my post will show "****leshell" :))

 

Dominica: island tour (Bumpiing tours) including snorkel at Champagne Reef

 

Barbados: maybe Paynes bay for snorkeling with turtles (hope to rent a glass bottom boat on site), maybe Accra for lovely beach, maybe both. I'll look into the Silver Moon excursion. Seems like I've heard good things about it on CC. I'm just concerned about committing to a formal excursion on our final port day - we may be tired and just want to veg out on a beach.

 

Any input on these plans? Keep in mind that our group is composed of avid snorkelers (me and....well....just me) and people who are either lukewarm about it (my dh and mom) or will not be snorkeling under any conditions (2 yr old ds). So, I'm trying to combine a nice beach with decent offshore snorkeling on many of our ports.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to relay your suggestions; I appreciate it!

[Lsimon]

Thanks for the suggestions, LSimon. Here are our tentative plans:

 

We're actually sailing to Buck Island from St. Thomas (on the Jolly Mon) - seems like most people go there from St. Croix.

 

St. Croix: Cane Bay for offshore snorkeling.

 

St. Kitts: Cockleshell Beach for offshore snorkeling. (I'm dying to know what you typed for "****tin" that got asterisked out! Now I'm wondering if my post will show "****leshell" :))

 

Dominica: island tour (Bumpiing tours) including snorkel at Champagne Reef

 

Barbados: maybe Paynes bay for snorkeling with turtles (hope to rent a glass bottom boat on site), maybe Accra for lovely beach, maybe both. I'll look into the Silver Moon excursion. Seems like I've heard good things about it on CC. I'm just concerned about committing to a formal excursion on our final port day - we may be tired and just want to veg out on a beach.

 

Any input on these plans? Keep in mind that our group is composed of avid snorkelers (me and....well....just me) and people who are either lukewarm about it (my dh and mom) or will not be snorkeling under any conditions (2 yr old ds). So, I'm trying to combine a nice beach with decent offshore snorkeling on many of our ports.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to relay your suggestions; I appreciate it!

 

 

In St. Kitts the place I typed is Sh - it - ten Bay so you can understand why Cruise Critics automated system might have deleted it. It is the same bay where, a bit down the coast, Sea Trek has their helmet dive. Snorkeling there has been pretty interesting some times.

 

Do look more into Silver Moon at Barbados - it is the ultimate Veg-out in addition to the stops to see the turtles and snorkeling near Paynes Bay.

The Silver Moon in Barbados and the Fan-ta-sea in St. Kitts are interesting to compare - while the do similar trips (sail, snorkel, and lunch with rum punch and other drinks) they represent opposites in terms of the Fan-ta-sea being a large cruise line tour on a larger cat that can be a bit of a party boat with music, dancing, etc. And the Silver Moon being a private excursion on a mid size cat that is very uncrowded (they limit to around 1/4 to 1/3 capacity of the boat) with a very attentive crew, a big step up in drink & food quality with an afternoon that is very laid back and relaxing as they basically anchor for a couple hours just off a pretty beach for lunch, relaxing on the boat and swimming if you'd like. If you go try to get on the smaller (12 person max) boat, but either is very nice.

 

I have some links to my pictures of different trips on these two excursions on a links page at http://lfsimon.home.comcast.net/~lfsimon/cruiselinks.htm

 

For Dominica - did you arrainge a special tour or did you take one of the standard packages? We're trying to decide what to do there. We have at least 5 snorkeling stops on our trip so I'm not inclined to do snorkeling at Dominica (11 days from San Juan so we have 8 ports)

[Dgonza]

FYI: In Barbados, you can walk out the gate after avoiding a barrage of taxis......hop on the bus for 75 cents USD and have them drop you off at Paynes bay. From there you can swim out the the turtles and see them for yourself and for free, and stay as long as you want. It's maybe a 100 yard swim max. You cant miss it, you will see all the cruiseship passengers pulling up to that area on catamarans. The difference they paid lots of money and are there for approx 30 min. you only paid 75 cents and can stay out there as long as you want...... BTW dont let the Taxi drivers tell you different. They will lie to you and say the bus is unsafe and blah blah blah etc......Ignore them and keep walking. They will charge you about $30-$40 to take you to this beach.

 

Dominica: We did the Roseau Valley Wet tour, with bumpiing tours. I highly recommend it. It was a blast. The only difference was we went scuba diving in the morning and then went on the tour. It was awesome!! Swimming in a cave....the water was Brisk but it was well worth it and refreshing. Then on another part of the tour we went on a trail and found a hot water spring that we soaked in.

 

St Kitts: Been there twice. Didnt like it the first time and vowed to never go back.......Didnt like it the 2nd time either. I still dont care to go back there.

[StaceyCT]

In St. Kitts the place I typed is Sh - it - ten Bay so you can understand why Cruise Critics automated system might have deleted it. It is the same bay where, a bit down the coast, Sea Trek has their helmet dive. Snorkeling there has been pretty interesting some times.

 

Do look more into Silver Moon at Barbados - it is the ultimate Veg-out in addition to the stops to see the turtles and snorkeling near Paynes Bay.

The Silver Moon in Barbados and the Fan-ta-sea in St. Kitts are interesting to compare - while the do similar trips (sail, snorkel, and lunch with rum punch and other drinks) they represent opposites in terms of the Fan-ta-sea being a large cruise line tour on a larger cat that can be a bit of a party boat with music, dancing, etc. And the Silver Moon being a private excursion on a mid size cat that is very uncrowded (they limit to around 1/4 to 1/3 capacity of the boat) with a very attentive crew, a big step up in drink & food quality with an afternoon that is very laid back and relaxing as they basically anchor for a couple hours just off a pretty beach for lunch, relaxing on the boat and swimming if you'd like. If you go try to get on the smaller (12 person max) boat, but either is very nice.

 

I have some links to my pictures of different trips on these two excursions on a links page at http://lfsimon.home.comcast.net/~lfsimon/cruiselinks.htm

 

For Dominica - did you arrainge a special tour or did you take one of the standard packages? We're trying to decide what to do there. We have at least 5 snorkeling stops on our trip so I'm not inclined to do snorkeling at Dominica (11 days from San Juan so we have 8 ports)

 

You do make the Silver Moon tour sound enticing - I'm going to go on their website now and check it out. Do you think there's any chance that we could book it last minute? (like, decide the day before if we're up for another big excursion).

 

Also, I'm not familiar with catamarans - would a 2 year old feel safe/comfortable on one?

 

In Dominica we're doing the Roseau Valley Treasures tour. It seemed to be the best combination of minimal walking (with a 2 year old and a 73 year old in our party, this seemed prudent) and minimal driving (yawn). The Champagne snorkel at the end is optional, but I'm pretty sure I'll do it. It sounds unique.

[StaceyCT]

never mind