Snorkeling in Belize

[excursion]

I am arriving in Belize on a cruise and was wondering how much the cruise ships charge for snorkeling trips. I have a friend that has a boat in Belize and thought it would be nice if I could gather up a group on the ship to go snorkeling on my friend's boat and make it cheaper for all of us. I guess it depends on how much cheaper it would be and if I could find enough people to go. This is my first cruise so I'm not sure. Any advice or feedback would be appreciated.

 

[zina]

I was on the Carnival Paradise two weeks ago in Belize. The ship offered a five hour snorkeling excursion for, I think about $48.00. We took a private excursion through sea Sports Belize, which included going down the Balize River and then our to a Cay for snorkeling. there were 8 of us. We foung the ship's tours to be very crowded.

Truth be told, I don't think that belize offered the best snorkeling on our cruise. Liked Grand Cayman (Coral Gardens) and Cozumel much, much better for snorkeling.


Also, unless your friend knows where he is going, I'd be a little leary about tryting to organize something with people you have just met. Ships must tender in Belize, and it's at least a 30 minute "speed boat" type ride to the mainland. Out private operator arranged to bring us right back to the ship.

 

[excursion]

Thanks for the info. Since posting this I saw another post showing the cruise ships charge $92 for snorkeling. But I guess it depends on the activities of the excursion. I also should have pointed out that my friend always uses "locals" when going snorkeling, diving or fishing from his boat. That is the only way to ensure all the hot spots are visited. I would be confident that any group I could gather would have a great experience. I'm not worried about that. I'm just curious how difficult it would be to gather a group together and offer a great trip at a lower price.
Thanks again for the feedback. Any other feedback from anyone would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Diane]

Zina,

I contacted the Sea Sports yesterday as I saw you posted a response somewhere on the forum, highly recommending this. How long did your trip last? And, how did you get from the speedboat on to the cruise ship itself?

I'm waiting to hear from Sea Sports again, as I had some additional questions.

Also - did you book this before you left from home? Thanks!!!!!!

 

[zina]

Diane, we had Giovanni and Christian for the whole day. If you do a private thing with them like we did, you get them for the day, and they can customize the trip to your likings.

We met them at their headquarters (a short walking distance from the pier where the tenders let you off), got out equipment (which was included, although I used my own), and headed out and up the Belize River.

It is quite a distance from the river to where we went snorkeling (at the barrier reef), but the ride out there was beautiful! I'm told that you can see bottlenose dolphins enroute, but we did not see any that day.

After snorkeling, they took us directly back to the ship in the boat which we used. We had about an hour to spare before we set sail for Roatan. The SeaSports people brougut us right up to the gangway, we just stepped off their boat and onto the Paradise. The "speedboat" that I referred to earlier is the tender. They travelled really fast to get to shore, almost like they were pulling water skiiers! Although it was exciting, we were not prepared for that trip!!

We did book in advance. Linda from SeaSports handled everything for us and we communicated by fax and email. It was pretty easy. BTW, if your ship does not make it to Belize, don't worry, you will not be charged. This happened on the trip before ours (May 4th sailing) because the waters were a little too choppy to drop anchor.


Excursion, if you are interested in getting a group together to do the snorkeling, maybe you want to post your information here and get some takers. Tall them what ship you're on If it's the Paradise and you don't do anything till you sail, you'll only have a day (Mondays are At Sea) to recruit.

In any case, hope this helps, and I'll be glad to answer anything else.

 

[Diane]

We ended up booking through Sea Sports and it was the highlight of the trip. We were running late due to a traffic problem in the port, but Giovanni met us at the dock and walked us to the office, and then out to the speedboat. We saw a manatee and snorkeled at Sargeant's Caye. It was totally awesome. Giovanni is an excellent instructor and very knowledgeable.

I would recommend contacting Linda to anyone who is interested in a private, out of the way, tour.

Thank you Zina, for your post. I would have never found them without you.

Diane

 

[runningstrong2]

Hi all,

We just returned from a cruise that stopped in Belize. We booked through a company called Coral Breeze. They offer a free snorkel trip. You have to check out this offer. If anyone is going to Belize and plan to snorkel, this is the way to go. We highly recommend this.
Donna

 

[KarenB]

We will be booking through Sea Sports in Belize for our trip in August (Glory 8/16). How much wildlife did you see on the river? Was the snorkeling spot good? Did you see any manatee? Thanks!

Karen

 

[runningstrong2]

Karen, I know your message was directed towards zina, but I thought I would throw my 2 cents in about our snorkel trip in Belize. Like I said earlier, we used a company called Coral Breeze. We also heard very good things about Sea Sports. I think we went with Coral because of their free offer. But on the trip to Caye Caulker we saw a group of 5 manatee lumbering through the seas. The captain stopped the boat so we could watch this wonderful sight. At the snorkel spots we saw nurse sharks, sting rays, and more colorful fish than one could mention. I'm sure Sea Sports tour will be just as good. From what I hear, Belize is a great place to snorkel everywhere.
Hope this info helps.

 

[KarenB]

Thanks Donna! We chose this cruise because we want to experience the wildlife in Belize. If anyone else has info about their nature sightings in Belize, I would love to hear more!

Karen