Santa Maria and Chileno Bay snorkel with 7 3/4yo girl?

[kath00]

HI there,

 

Just settling in on the final excursions on our Carnival cruise next month. The online website won't let me book my youngest daughter for the Cabo Santa Maria/Chileno Bay snorkel because she's 1 month shy of 8 years old.

 

Can I purchase a ticket for me and then pass it on to her. She's an excellent swimmer and she has her own snorkel gear and wet suit. But somehow I can't do it on line because of the age cut off.

 

Any thoughts on this? DH is going to take both of my girls and I am planning on doing spa stuff so I don't mind giving her my ticket if that works.

 

Also, any feedback on this excursion. Especially how was the visibility and are the waters rough around that area?

 

Thanks! Katherine

[CWcruisers]

You could consider doing a private tour vs a Carnival tour. There are lots of private charters in Cabo, and they are not all party type boats. Pez Gato is very close to the tender pier, you can google them for info. Here's a link to just one of many vendors:

 

http://www.tourdealscabo.com/?gclid=COTWtp6kobICFcV7QgodlBoACA

 

Currently, Cabo has been hit by a number of storms and the waters are murky, that should be cleared up by November.

[kath00]

Thanks for the info. I am going to try that! Much less $$ too! Katherine

[downsized]

We had that same problem with NCL and the Dolphin swim. Had to buy a second ticket so our daughter could swim with our grandaughter.

The dolphin swims in Cabo are pretty much locked in to the cruise lines when in port.

I agree with the above post. Book the snorkel swim locally. You should have no problem with being only a month shy, and it should be cheaper, as well.

Enjoy your cruise. November is a great time to be in Cabo. We'll be there ourselves, enjoying nine full days of beautiful Cabo San Lucas!

[LAdad]

We took our DS7 snorkeling on the Pirate Ship in Chileno Bay in June... but I guess this is an excursion meant for familes with little ones. For your situation, I would call and book directly by phone.

 

BTW, we just came back from Cabo last week and had a great experience snorkeling at Pelican's rock. We just took our own snorkel gear by water taxi and rented a beach umbrella and hired a snorkel guide on the beach for $20.00 for my DS7 and me for 30 minutes. The guide was named Flavio and he went to high school in Los Angeles and spoke great English and Spanish.

 

He took my son by the hand and helped guide us over to the big rock and dove 30 - 40 feet and brought up sea urchins/ puffer fish/ etc so that we could see them up close and then took them back very gently and placed them back in their proper location.

 

It was the best $20 dollars I have ever spent in a port.

 

You can also rent snorkel gear/ boogie boards etc right on the beach. You could also walk/ climb over to Lover's Beach/ Divorce Beach if you wanted to do so.

 

Flavio said that he does this part time while he was looking for other work.. He's a dark skinned buff kid about 20 years old who was great with my son! Just walk up to the umbrella stand and ask for Flavio.

 

Oh and Tropical Storm John had just went by Cabo and it did make the water a bit murky as the other poster stated... but it was still fun!

 

Have a great time!

[kath00]

Thanks guys. I am so excited reading your posts! I can hardly wait to be back on a cruise ship!!! It's been 9 long months already and I am shaking from withdrawl.

 

We were in Cabo in March and it was coooooold in the water. So I am hoping that November will still be warm in there.

 

Katherine

[CWcruisers]

Thanks guys. I am so excited reading your posts! I can hardly wait to be back on a cruise ship!!! It's been 9 long months already and I am shaking from withdrawl.

 

We were in Cabo in March and it was coooooold in the water. So I am hoping that November will still be warm in there.

 

Katherine

 

Last year, my group went snorkeling for during Thanksgiving cruise on a private charter and the water was perfect. The waters are very warm right now having heated up with the extreme summer temps. In fact, the day we went out was darn near picture postcard perfect, both air and water temp.