Nassau Snuba Excursion

[jparrish917]

Hello! My husband and I have been a few cruises, all without kids. We will be cruising with our two teenagers, both 14yrs old, on the Carnival Magic in June. We are debating about what excursion to go on when we arrive in Nassau. I didn't want to go to Atlantis because the cost for a 8 hr day was way out of the price range. My daughter wants to try the snuba excursion. I'm not the best swimmer and I get a bit of anxiety sometimes. I was wondering if anyone has ever done the Snuba excursion? Is it worth the trip? Could you give us some tips? Any ideas for backup excursions in ,case I freak out, is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[wemjam]

Ok, so here is my thoughts to try to help you. My husband is a certified diver, I am not. I will not get certified in diving even though I am a FISH in the water because I suffer from "Panic" attacks when I am "under" the water in manner I feel is "out of my control."

 

I LOVE to snorkel, and I have done a ton of it, snuba, and diving (resort dives, etc). We have done these things in ALL the cruise ports (including Nassau). Problem is that sometimes I am OK, and sometimes I am not, so I have just given up on diving and stick solely with Snorkeling and Snuba (I tell my husband it isn't worth it because I know at some point I would panic at the wrong place/wrong time - like 80 feet down, an that is not good!). Snuba even pushes the limits for me sometimes. My problem is I get in my own head and start thinking about "what if I take a breath and there is no air!" and start panicking. Human nature says you are not supposed to be under water that long lol! If I am busy taking pictures, looking at stuff... etc. I am good, but the minute I stop and "think" I start panicking. Most times during Snuba I can "talk my self down" and say OK, the surface is just "right there" and will raise up a little bit to put myself within 10 feet of it or so to feel a little more comfortable. Weird thing is Snorkeling, I will free dive down 10-15-20 feet and not think twice, but again I am in control of my air and surface when I am ready, I am not relying on an air tank and breathing "differently" with a regulator (it always "feels" a bit more restricted with a regulator and when you start to get nervous you try to breath a little harder, and it seems like you can't get enough air in our out - and Snuba will be the same way if you start panicking and trying to breath to hard/fast).

 

You speaking about "freaking out" now tells me you may have a hard time lol! Again, you could all go and LOVE it, but if you are in the middle of it and wig out, then it kind of ruins it and you spent all that money for nothing.

 

My best suggestion would be to try snorkeling first. People don't realize you don't really have to be a strong swimmer to snorkel. They always give you life vests and you can "lazily" just kick your feet and you move.. plus you are right on the surface and just lift your head if you feel uncomfortable for any reason (not 10-20 feet under water bolting to the surface!). My suggestion, try this in your first port, see how you do. Then if you like it try Snuba in a different port or next time.

 

Another thing is to remember in the Ocean you float! I can go out and snorkel for literally 2 hours! never touch bottom, NO VEST or anything. I just lay face down and "float" around and kick my feet a little and watch all the cool stuff go buy (Grand Turk is a great place to shore snorkel when in port in my opinion I spent a LONG time floating around taking pictures and swimming down to stuff there). As long as you don't panic and start flailing around, just relax and float!

 

Sorry for the long post, but I REALLY wanted to try to capture my experience with these things to help you make a decision. I don't want to deter you if you really have your heart set on it (I love trying new things myself) I have just been on a lot of these excursions where people end up miserable being drug back to the boat gasping for air and spitting water by one of the crew because they couldn't do it... and that is not a fun memory.

[jparrish917]

Thanks so much for your detail post! I have done snorkeling before and enjoyed it, the only problem with snorkel or I guess any ocean activity, is if the water is choppy that day I get exhausted pretty easily. (I know this makes me sound geriatric) How do you think the snorkeling is in Nassau? Are there lots to see? Would you choose snorkeling over snuba?

[wemjam]

Gonna see pretty much the same doing snuba or snokeling in Nassau, this is not one of my favorite ports to do either of these things in (probably my least favorite). So many other ports are better IMHO. If you are going to any other ports I might try one of these for this kind of activity instead.

 

Nassau for us has gotten to be a port a lot of times we won't even get off in. We have shopped all the stores a bazillion times, done a lot of the excursions, etc. It is a "port of choice" for a stop on so many Carnival sailings. The other thing is there always tends to be more than 1 ship (sometimes 5 or 6!) in port... and that many people in such a small port means for crowded streets & excursions usually.

 

As far as wearing yourself out... I understand completely. Bad weather makes it way harder to do this kind of thing, but that applies to snuba too. I feel that I actually will exert more energy under the water swimming doing snuba, then snorkeling on top on a normal sea day. On rough days, they both suck lol!

 

My two cents worth.

 

Now if you are doing a short cruise where this is your only port.. then I say go for it. Don't want to spend the whole trip on the ship.

[Pellaz]

I'm not sure who Carnival uses for their snuba excursion in Nassau, but I'm hoping it's Stuart's Cove/Blue Adventures. I recommend their excursion highly. I've done their snuba excursion twice while staying on Paradise Island (but not at Atlantis, which is where the excursion can be booked onsite) and both excursions were excellent.

Unlike some other snuba excursions that are beach-entry, these are actual boat trips, with two stops, both near Rose Island. There are usually two snuba groups of around 4 people each; your group will snuba at one stop and snorkel at the other while the other group alternates with you.

Depending on sea conditions one of the stops may be at a shallow sunken wreck...which is really cool. (I'm 2-for-2 at going on the excursion, getting to stop at the wreck and snuba'ing at the wreck. ;) )

 

If you're hesitant about snuba but comfortable with snorkeling you can still do the "other side" of the excursion, as there will also be a just-snorkeling group on the dive boat. I've seen people accompanying other family members who were doing the snuba excursion on the boat without actually participating themselves.

 

Participants should be comfortable and experienced with snorkeling and with water over their heads. Last year when I did the snuba there was a younger boy on the excursion -- age about 12 -- who became scared and didn't participate. No refund for his mom, either!