Stuart Cove Snorkeling Excursion

[Giorgi-one]

We signed up for this excursion based on reviews on this board. If I had all the details, I probably would not have chosen this excursion. I am not telling anyone not to go. I am just presenting the details and you can make your own decision. My point is that you cannot make an informed decision based on a review which only says that the excursion was good or bad without the details.

 

Getting Started: Meeting time is 12 noon at bottom of gangway in Nassau. We were told to arrive 10 minutes early. The ship was cleared for debarkation at 11:30 AM and there was a large line to get off the ship since the Zuiderdam has only one way off the ship. We planned ahead, left early and arrived at the dock about 11:45 AM. Unfortunatley, many on the excursion did not plan ahead or just did not care, and we had to wait until almost 12:20 (90 degree temperatures with no shade) for the last "special people" to arrive.

 

Transportation: We all packed into two non-airconditioined buses for the ride to Stuart Cove. The trip took approximately 50 minutes. Downtown Nassau traffic makes New York City look like a rural area.

 

Boarding the Boat: When we arrived at the marina, we boarded a two-level boat. There were approximately 50 people on this excursion. We spent the next 45 minutes handing out snorkeling gear, hawking cameras and fish food, and waiting for someone on shore to prepare a hand printed roster of all the people on the excursion. You would think that the shore excursioin desk could print a computer copy of the names and hand it the the excursion rep on the dock.

 

I thought that I read somewhere where beverages were provided. The only beverage provided was water.

 

Snorkeling: So about two hours after leaving the ship, we finally got started to our first snorkel location. It took only about 10 minutes to get there. Actually, we never lost site of the marina during the entire excursion. As soon as the boat stopped, it began to seriously rock back and forth. The water at this loctation was relatively calm, but this boat is not built for snorkeling. It is basically a tour boat with two levels and depends on being in motion to stay stable. I immediately began to feel nauseous. My wife and I have been on 14 cruises, just as many small boat excursions and even owned our own yacht for several years and slept on it every weekend. We have never been sea sick before. My only choice was to get in the water where I felt a little better. Snorkeling at this location was fair, but I did get to see one eagle ray which was the highlight of the excursion for me.

 

With 50 people on the boat, it obviously takes time to get everyone in the water and then back into the boat. I waited to be the last one on the boat to avoid the rocking. As soon as my wife got back on the boat, she began to feel sick. She actually got much sicker than I did and spent the rest of the excursion hanging over the side of the boat.

 

The second site was at a wreck and there were not than may fish to sea. The water was much rougher and we only spent about 15 mintues in the water because the waves were washing over our snorkels.

 

At the third site, we were given the opportunity to carefully enter the water and hang on to a line to observe sharks below us. I stayed on the boat with my wife.

 

Of course, we had the same 50 mintue ride back to the ship to complete the excursion.

 

I am sure that some or many of the people on this excursion enjoyed it. However, it was not what I was looking for. Too crowded, too much time in a hot bus, too much time waiting and only fair snorkeling. If you are even slightly susceptible to sea sickness, forget about this excursion.

[Stevesan]

Wow - these are the first negative comments I've seen about Stuart's Cove snorkel excursion. I booked thru HAL's shore excursion last September after visiting the CC Bahamas "Port of Call Board" and seeing unanimuous favorable and even enthusiastic reviews. I enjoyed a marvelous experience.

Since I had read some previous reviews, I was aware of the travel time to/from the boat dock. I decided to 'grin and bear it' and tolerate it as a version of a tour of Nassau.:) I'm certainly glad I did. It was more than worth the inconvenience.

Considering that the water was rough as you described, you certainly should have been offered an option to cancel. Not as a rebuttal, but to balance out, the following was my review of our snorkel trip with Stuart's Cove:

 

Nassau: “Snorkel Bahamas Adventure” is a 5-½ hour trip operated by Stuart’s Cove. On a previous excursion I went on the impressive Athol Island snorkel. This Stuart’s Cove outing surpassed all of my previous experiences, including Athol Island. The boat trip is @ three hours, and visits Schoolhouse Reef, the spectacular Golden Key Reef and finally a “swim with the sharks” at ‘The Wreck of the Bahama Mama’. I have never before witnessed such a number and variety of fish as at Golden Key. There are never-ending fish, large and small, singly and in large schools. The floor is decorated with huge, magnificent coral formations of all shapes and sizes. While there, a shark cruised past our group. He obviously thought this was his ocean and didn’t know, nor care, that we weren’t scheduled for a shark encounter until after Golden Key. Surprisingly, getting in with a dozen or so sharks is not frightening. I suspect we were too caught up with their grace and magnificence to be scared. The fact that the boat captain hadn’t lost a diver in twelve years was also encouraging. This is a five star, gold medallion, prime trip, not to be missed!