Please help with non-ship snorkeling excursions

[Bethany Beach]

St. Barts - docking in Gustavia

Virgin Gorda, BVI

Looking to avoid cruise ship snorkeling excursions, if possible, so I’m posting this question on all the ports of call for our upcoming Feb. cruise. Any suggestions for non-ship sponsored snorkeling excursions would be GREATLY appreciated – they can be so hard to find.

We typically take land vacations with snorkeling as our primary activity. In the Caribbean the best places we have vacationed for snorkeling are on St. John, Virgin Gorda, Bonaire, and Roatan. I would be very happy to share any of my thoughts on these places either through this thread or by email at Judy9909@gmail.com.

[Jolly Roving Tar]

We will be on Coral (?) Princess for a Southern Caribbean cruise starting Dec 29th. If you know where/how to go snorkeling in St. Thomas and Bonaire, that would help us (we always bring our own equipment,etc.). We will also visit Granada and Aruba on that cruise, so if you find any info about snorkeling possibilities there we would appreciate it. We are trying to decide whether to visit rain forests and waterfalls or go snorkeling, and any advice on which is nicest at each port would be very helpful as this will be our first time at those ports.

We will certainly try to help you by posting back after our cruise about how the snorkeling went on each island where we tried it.

[scrappin' crazy cruiser]

We are going to St. Barts in Feb. and I have read that there is really good snorkeling at Columbier Beach in St Barts. The only way to get there is by boat or to drive and make the 30 minute steep hike down to the beach. We have rented a jeep and are planning on hiking down to Columbier to snorkel.

 

What snorkeling thoughts do you have to share for Virgin Gorda and St John? We will be going there also. There are a couple of sail boats in Virgin Gorda that I have been in contact with. They are pretty spendy so I do not know what we will do.

[Bethany Beach]

As for Virgin Gorda - I'm having difficulty finding a private snorkeling trip. We have been to St. John, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda on land trips and have taken snorkeling trips, so I know there are many good places off shore around Virgin Gorda. Even if I wanted to go with the ship's excursion, it goes to the Baths - been there done that and wasn't all that impressed. So, I'm still on the search for a boat trip there. I really don't want to just take a taxi to a beach.

 

As for St. John. If you are actually docking in St. John, you will find taxis lined up and down the street at the dock in Cruz Bay. There are many beaches that offer really nice snorkeling from shore. I would avoid the famous Trunk Bay, if you are really interested in snorkeling. It has been overrun with people who don't know how to protect anything and I don't think the snorkeling is very good. My suggestion would be to hop on a taxi and ask to be taken to Caneel Bay (a resort that is only about an 8-minute drive from the port). There is a guard booth at the entrance - just say that you are there to get a bite to eat and to use the main beach area. When the taxi drops you off, just walk straight down the path to the lobby and in front of the lobby is the main beach (Caneel Beach). Facing the water, walk to the far right to the last lounge chairs. Enter the water and snorkel out around the point. This will take you to a small beach area. Keep going and you will be at Scott Beach - a beautiful beach where turtles hang out. It isn't guaranteed - but most days we saw them. There is a shuttle bus around the property, but you are not supposed to get on without being a guest. Twice we stayed on property and once we stayed off but just taxied in for a day or two and that time we didn't try to get on the shuttle. However, if you print a map of the Caneel Bay resort online, you will see how easy it is to just walk around to Hawksnest Beach or Turtle Beach.

 

If you do a search on TripAdvisor for St. John and do a forum search of snorkeling, you will get a lot of opinions about other beaches. On one of our trips, we rented a car for the week and went to just about every beach on the island. We ended up feeling that we had just as good or better snorkeling experiences right on the Caneel property. Just remember to always snorkel around the sides of the beaches.

[Bethany Beach]

I forgot to mention that in the parking lot at Caneel there are ALWAYS taxis just waiting for passengers so you can easily get back to the dock.

 

Also, thanks for the info on St. Barts.

[broberts]

We will be on Coral (?) Princess for a Southern Caribbean cruise starting Dec 29th. If you know where/how to go snorkeling in St. Thomas and Bonaire, that would help us (we always bring our own equipment,etc.). We will also visit Granada and Aruba on that cruise, so if you find any info about snorkeling possibilities there we would appreciate it. We are trying to decide whether to visit rain forests and waterfalls or go snorkeling, and any advice on which is nicest at each port would be very helpful as this will be our first time at those ports.

We will certainly try to help you by posting back after our cruise about how the snorkeling went on each island where we tried it.

 

It's relatively easy to get from St Thomas to Cruz Bay, St John there is a ferry from downtown Charlotte Amalie and a more frequent one from Red Hook. Check the St John | Getting Here link at VINow dot com for details. You may also want to take a look at http://www.stjohnbeachguide.com/Beaches/beach_home.html for a decent beach guide.