Help with Bonaire shore excursion for snorkeling?

[jandn]

We are looking for recommendations on the best Bonaire shore excursion for snorkeling that's available through Princess Cruise lines.

[10X]

Is there a reason you only want a Princess tour? You can do it cheaper on better on your own.

 

We were there in February and had booked an off-ship excursion for my wife and 2 friends to go snorkeling with Renee (I went scuba diving). When Renee needed surgery and had to cancel the excursion my wife learned from a security guard that the snorkeling at the airport beach was good. They took a cab there for $10 one way. My wife said it was the best snorkeling she's had in all of our 11 cruises. You can walk to the beach but it's a hike.

 

They made arrangements with the cab driver to pick them up at a designated time and he was there on time.

 

Picture are available here: http://www.sunfield.smugmug.com/

 

Select Cruise 2006

Select Bonaire Snorkeling

[jandn]

Denny, we were looking for recommendations on the Princess tours because we are first time cruisers and neither of us have ever been Scuba Diving or Snorkeling. We both can swim -- I like to swim for exercise and fun -- and want to try both Scuba Diving and Snorkeling. We are open to off-ship excursions, though, and appreciate your feedback on snorkeling in Bonaire. Thanks for the link to your photos.

 

Do you have any tips and/or suggestions for excursions in St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Grenada, and Aruba, as well as Bonaire and St. Juan? Also, if we take Discover Scuba Diving in St. Thomas, our first port to visit, what are our options for Scuba Diving in one of the other ports? Must we take Discover Scuba Diving again since we are not certified divers?

[10X]

Discover Scuba Diving is just to let you see what scuba diving is like. You only go in shallow water with an instructor. It in no way gives you the certification you need to go scuba diving on your own, so your only option would be to do Discover Scuba again. You must take a course for certification and I would recommend you do that at home rather than waste your vacation studying for your tests.

 

If you'd like to do an off-ship excursion in Bonaire you might try snorkeling with Renee, especially if you don't want to venture out on your own.

 

http://www.infobonaire.com/reneesnorkeltrips/

 

In St. Kitts the ship usually offers a snorkeling excursion to a place they describe as having large boulders on the bottom. That's actually $hitten Bay and the snorkeling is not too bad.

 

On Grenada we did an island tour but I've read that the scuba diving is quite good there. I would imageine the snorkeling would be as well, but I don't have a recommendation for you. We'll be there in February and I'll find something by then.

 

In Aruba, DePalm Island has about the best snorkeling with lots of large Blue Parrotfish. You also have the option of snorkeling over the wreck of a large German frieghter but that one was just too crowded for me and water wasn't very clear.

 

In St. Thomas you might try Coki Beach where you can feed fish by hand. The snorkeling is reasonable and you can also do Discover Scuba with Coki Beach Dive Club. We'll be going there in February as well and I plan on scuba diving with the dive club while my wife snorkels.

 

If you don't want to try Coki Beach, I'd recommend the Turtle Cove (Buck Island) Sail and Snorkel, where to take a saildboat out to Buck Island and snorkel there. The sail out and back is really nice and the snorkeling isn't too bad either. I've seen some nice reef squid there as well as barricuda.

 

In San Juan we usually just wander Old San Juan and go to the forts. We've also done the Rain Forest excursion, which was quite nice. My sister will be in San Juan for the first time in February so we're goinmg to give her a walking tour of Old San Juan and the forts. San Juan is a realxing day for us because we've done cruises out of there about 6 times.

 

Denny