Snorkeling Excursions???

[KarenandKevin]

Can anyone recommend a good snorkeling excursion we can book?? We want to avoid booking through the cruiseline. We've tried to contact Stuart Cove's but have not heard from them??

[mrsfuzzmo]

I don't know where you are going..but try shoretrips. They are fabulous and usually have better and less expensive trips than the cruise lines. They have guides contracted at almost every port and will explain in detail all of the different trips available.

[10X]

It certainly would help to know where you're going. My wife and I snorkel at almost every port so I can offer some advice if you list your ports.

[vicocala]

Stuarts Cove was good. I was with them about three weeks ago. There were some neat fish and the snorkeling with the sharks was awesome!

 

I wouldn't give up on them. I would warn you though that much of the hard coral around Nassau is dead, but the fish still use it for hiding.

 

They were about 15 minutes behind schedule picking us up though, but that had more to do with having to wait for snorkelers who weren't out waiting for their bus.

[spirit317]

Hi 10X. My husband and I are new to snorkeling and will be going to Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St Maarten, St Thomas, St John and San Juan this January. Please give us some advice on where to go and if we should book excursions or go on our own.

 

I am also researching snorkeling gear for his Christmas presents.

[10X]

In Barbados I would highly recommend spending the day on the Silvermoon I or II. First you sail to a location where you snorkel with Hawksbill turtles, then you move to quiet bay for some lunch. You then go to another location for snorkeling over a couple of wrecks. The crew is great, the food is great, and you'll have a wonderful time. Warm cookies, warm banana bread, and all the drinks you want, are some extras that are included. $100pp.

 

http://www.oceanadventures.bb/sailing.htm

 

In St. Lucia we had a wonderful day at Anse CoChon with Island Divers. They are the resident scuba shop for Ti Kaye Resort. Island Divers has packages prices that include transportation to/from the resort, snorkel/diving equipment, and lunch at the Ti Kaye Resort restaurant, which is right on the water. I went on two scuba dives here while my wife and some friends got in about 4 hours of snorkeling. The snorkleing is so good here that other excursion operators bring their guests to Anse CoChon for snorkeling and diving. Great day.

 

http://www.islanddiversstlucia.com/schedule.htm

 

I have not snorkeled in Antigua and won't once again when we're there in February. Some friends talked us into an island tour instead. However, Eli's Eco Tour gets some very good reviews on this board and some snorkeling is included.

 

http://www.adventureantigua.com/tour.html

 

St. Maarten is not known for its diving or snorkeling. If you decide to snorkel here, stay away from the Shipwreck Cove tour, it's a rip off. They take you to a location were there are a couple of recently sunken small drug running boats. No coral or growth on them at all and they are deep. Don't waste your money. If you want to go snorkleing here, the best seems to be at Pinel Island. You can usually do this as part of a ship's excursion.

 

http://www.stmartin-sxm.com/pinel/

 

In St. Thomas we have done the Turtle Cove at Buck Island excursion a couple of times, as a ship's tour. The snorkeling isn't too bad and the sailboat ride out to the island is cool. Coki Beach is another, much cheaper, option where you snorkel from a beach. You only need to get about waist deep to see the fish. They'll be swarming around looking for a handout. All the taxi drivers know where Coki Beach is.

 

On St. John there are a lot of good reviews for snorkeling at Trunk Bay, although I thought it was pretty poor. Maybe we just hit a bad day. Also we found that there were too many snorkelers there and you were always running into someone or they were running into you. However, the scenery is some of the best anywhere. You can do this as part of a ship's excursion.

 

There really isn't any viable snorkleing that I am aware of in San Juan. We've taken about 5 cruises out of there and never snorkeled once. We'll be there again in January for back-to-back cruises on the Crown Princess and we are not snorkleing there.

 

For snorkel gear, I would highly recommend you go to your local scuba diving shop where you can get quality equipment and get the help of professionals who will make sure your mask fits properly (no leaks) and the fins aren't too tight or too loose. You can also check an online scuba shop, Leisure Pro, who usually has some pretty good prices.

 

http://www.leisurepro.com/

 

or Scuba Toys: http://www.scubatoys.com/store/Scuba_Package_Personal.asp

 

I hope this helps. If you have any specific questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

 

If you go to: http://www.sunfield.smugmug.com you can see snorkeling pictures of Barbados and St. Lucia.

 

Select "Cruise 2006"

then select the appropriate port.

 

Denny

[spirit317]

Thanks for all your great ideas! I have a lot of planning and research to do. You gave me great places to start.

 

We're already booked with Cosol in St Lucia. If they're not full, I'm going to see if we can get on the Silvermoon II. We still cann't decide on Coki Beach or Trunk Bay.

[cruisinwith rob]

I don't know where you are going..but try shoretrips. They are fabulous and usually have better and less expensive trips than the cruise lines. They have guides contracted at almost every port and will explain in detail all of the different trips available.

 

We are sailing with NCL in March. We need advice for a trip to Molokini, a zipline in Kauai, ... Is Hanauma Bay really that great in Honoluu, or too crowded? What about Black Rock-kaanapali-Maui?

[Host Star]

Thanks for all your great ideas! I have a lot of planning and research to do. You gave me great places to start.

 

We're already booked with Cosol in St Lucia. If they're not full, I'm going to see if we can get on the Silvermoon II. We still cann't decide on Coki Beach or Trunk Bay.

if you want to spend time in st thomas shopping the better option is coki beach.. going to trunk bay on st. john will consume the entire day .. we enjoyed the snorkeling at coki, had time to head back to the ship for lunch and spend the afternoon shopping and plan to do this again in december

[10X]

Rob,

 

Molokini is great. I've been scuba diving there twice and my wife has snorkeled there as well. Inside the crater it is usually very calm and visibility is generally 100 feet or more. Go early in the morning before the trade winds kick in, that way you have a better chance of really great water. The trade winds come in about 11:00 a.m. - noon so things can get a little more rough after that, but not unbearable.

 

Hanauma Bay is really neat and I wouldn't hesitate to go there. I'll see if I have any pictures on hand of our snorkeling. I know I have some of my photos on the computer but they are not posted on the Internet. Hanauma Bay, as I recall, is closed on Tuesdays so watch which day you are there to be safe. The current issue of "Hawaii" magazine has an article about snorkeling Hanauma Bay at night. The day we were there the beach was not crowded but I suppose that can change from day to day.

 

Black Rock is supposedly very good. Inspite of having been to Maui 3 times I have never made it there except to look. It's probably the easiest of all the places to get to. You access it from the beach at the Sheraton and parking is nearby. Both snorkelers and divers speak highly of Black Rock. I plan on diving there the next time we're in Maui.

[inai]

Thanks for all your great ideas! I have a lot of planning and research to do. You gave me great places to start.

 

We're already booked with Cosol in St Lucia. If they're not full, I'm going to see if we can get on the Silvermoon II. We still cann't decide on Coki Beach or Trunk Bay.

 

We wanted to go to Trunk Bay, but it would have taken up too much time to get there. So we opted for Coki Beach. This was our 2nd time there in a year. The snorkeling is very good right off the beach. We fed the fish dog biscuits and slim jims. They were feeding right out of our hands.