Snorkeling Tours - On A Monday

[carol&jeff]

There have been some good recommendations on this board for snorkeling/sail excursions in Aruba, but so far, none of them (except of Jolly Pirates which is chartered already for the day we're there) sail on Monday's - the day we're in port. Does anyone have any recommendations for any snorkeling/sailing tours that operate on Monday's? Thanks!

[Arubalisa]

http://www.octopusaruba.com/ Octopus (comes highly recommended)

http://www.midushi.com/ MiDushi

http://www.arubawavedancer.com/wavedancer/ Wavedancer

http://www.robertoswatersports.com/index_files/links.htm Sea-Venture

 

If you can get a bunch of people from your roll call together

http://www.tranquiloaruba.com/#chartershttp://www.robertoswatersports.com/ Private snorkel tours

http://www.funaruba.com/coralquay/cqmain.html Coral Quay

http://www.morningstararuba.com/ Morningstar

[Choozin Croozin]

carol&jeff - I was having the same problem that you were having. Last night I just stumbled across this company and sent them an email. We will be there on Feb 26 and they said they could take us on the afternoon tour. THis looks like a great trip as it goes off to a private island that has not had much "traffic" yet. Here is the website: http://www.funaruba.com/coralquay/cqmain.html

Arubalisa already provided it I see. ;) She is always so helpful and has a lot of other suggestions going. If you look at some of the more recent postings I asked if anyone had been on the tour (aboard the "Dream On") and someone posted a reply. You may want to check it out. Hope this helps.

[Choozin Croozin]

carol&jeff - I was having the same problem that you were having. Last night I just stumbled across this company and sent them an email. We will be there on Feb 26 and they said they could take us on the afternoon tour. THis looks like a great trip as it goes off to a private island that has not had much "traffic" yet. Here is the website: http://www.funaruba.com/coralquay/cqmain.html

Arubalisa already provided it I see. ;) She is always so helpful and has a lot of other suggestions going. If you look at some of the more recent postings I asked if anyone had been on the tour (aboard the "Dream On") and someone posted a reply. You may want to check it out. Hope this helps.

 

OOOOPSS Sorry for the stereo!! These stupid boards. :A

[carol&jeff]

Thanks, Arubalisa & chozin cruzin! I have started researching them. Really wanted to do Mi Dushi, but they don't sale on Monday's either, nor does the Octopus guy. I liked what I was reading about Funaruba until I saw their costs - much higher than we wanted to pay. So I'll keep searching.

[sunnycruise4]

So do you mean that the "ships excursions" won't run on Monday?

 

When we book our excursions we never go through the ship. I do extensive research before we leave and book our trips directly with the dive/snorkel shop. It is so much cheaper and you go to places that are less crowded. Generally, you are not snorkeling with the whole ship. Sometimes we have arranged for them to come pick us up for a little more money and/or take a taxi to the shop depending where it is. We like to go the off the beaten path...because we don't like the crowds.

 

We are going to Aruba in April -- we are going to dive....but most of the time the dive shops do a snorkel trip also...check out this website.

 

http://www.aruba-redsail.com/extreme_snorkeling.shtml

 

Email them and ask them questions - how would we get to your shop? Would you pick us up? Can we get back in time before our ship leaves? ...do a search for dive/snorkel shops in Aruba and it pulls up a whole list of places. I generally will email them all and who gets back to me -- gets my business.

 

We are also stopping in St. Thomas -- we chartered a sail boat for 14 people..includes breakfast and lunch and open bar 2 snorkel stops in St. Johns (or whatever we want to do) - 7 hours. For $100 a person - Reg. $130 a person. Less because of our group. The ship excursions for a sail/snorkel is 3-4 hours and over a hundred a person and no meals.

 

I hope this helps.

[carol&jeff]

We almost always book our own excursions independent of the ship. But we are finding that most of these independent tour companies do not operate on Monday's. And the ones that do are out of our price range. But the ship's excusions do run on Monday's and we've decided to go with one of them after all - seemed to be the best value actually.

[Choozin Croozin]

Carol & Jeff - Don't know whether you have found any snorkeling for your Monday in Aruba or not. We just returned from the Funaruba trip (on the Dream On) and although it was expensive, we had an awesome time. The personalized attention you get is so wonderful. I did find out that they do not usually do Monday excursions, we were just lucky. We ended up being the only 2 passengers, so for us it was exceptionally wonderful. Capt Mike takes you to a private reef (that he shares with someone) and actually gets in the water with you. He goes out ahead to find things and shows you things along the way. I will say it is a bit challenging as it was quite choppy the day we were there and the currents kept you busy! With that said, we snorkel maybe once every couple of years and made it fine. Mike and his crew were there to help us every step of the way. On the way back to the ship he lets you sail the boat and had some sandwiches, pop, beer and the oh so famous "jungle juice" to restoke the engines. In closing, I would say that this is a trip for those that are really interested in snorkeling and sailing with less people (and not the masses). We will do it again in a heartbeat, if ever we return to Aruba.