Are there any good snorkel excursions at St. Maarten?

[PenskeSth1]

We are set to go on our cruise the 29th of Nov. Eastern. Was wondering if there are any good stingray snorkeling excursions in St. Maarten. We are doing Coral World and Coki beach on our own at St. Thomas. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot at St. Maarten. Thank you for any ideas.

 

[jrabbit]

To us it appears that snorkeling at St. Maarten is iffy at best. They get a lot of wind that kicks up the sand and reduces visability. DCL does offer several snorkeling excursions. If the conditions are bad for snorkeling they will sometimes let you out of the excursion. There is the golden eagle catamaran that does the sailiing, snorkeling, swimming and beach party. It's a lot of fun and if the conditions are right you can get some good snorkeling in.

One of the excursions I'm interested in is the shipwreck snorkel, but it appears that no one has done it because no one has ever commented on it - but it does sound interesting.

There are several nice beaches on St. Maarten that you can go to on your own. The one at the port/in town is ok. Orient Beach is breathtakingly beautiful. If you are concerned about nudity or ladies walking around topless, ask to be droped off on the "family" beach (much less nudity there - and there really isn't that much nudity happening there anyway). We thought that about 95% of the people were "appropriatly" attired.


You say you are going to the beach on St. Thomas. There are many great snorkeling trips there. Many near St. Thomas / Buck Island and many over at St. Johns (Trunk bay, barefoot catamaran, 5 star, etc). Maybe you should rethink your strategy/agenda to plan on snorkeling here and doing your beach day on St. Maarten.

 

[aa4mom]

We did the Pinel Island snorkel trip this past August. We had a fantastic time. The people that ran the excursion were very knowledgable and helpful. They had a bag of bait that they brought out. Once they starting dropping bait, the fish came. It was like swimming in an aquarium. We had perfect weather on St. Maarten, warm, sunny and very calm water. After snorkleing we swam an almost perfect beach.

 

[PenskeSth1]

Thank you both for your input.. Now I just need to decide what to do
We really want to goto Coral World and do the Coki Beach(we are doing on our own) In St Thomas. Some friends said it was really nice. Since that is the port we spend the least time at we figured that would be fine. I understand that their are a few good Snorkeling places here.

We could just sight see in St. Maarten, we heard it is not a great place but that it is alright. We figured we would try and find some kind of snorkel excursion here. DS5 and I do not personally want to snorkel with the stingrays, but DH and DD would like to. They said if I find something for them that is great if I don't it is no big deal. I figured I have enough time to research, perhaps I will find something fun for them on St. Maarten.

aa4mom: on the Pinel snorkel excursion did you swim with stingrays? That sounds kinda nice for DD and DH

 

[aa4mom]

There were no stingrays, just a ton of fish. THe beach on the island is beautiful. Nice white sand beach which was very calm on the day we visited.

 

[PenskeSth1]

thank you, that sounds like something they would like..

 

[Texag87]

My DD and I did the Shipwreck. It was ok for her since it was her first time to snorkel. But to be honest if you have ever snorkeled before you will be VERY disappointed. However, the rum punch was good on the way back in.