Some pictures of snorkeling at Castaway Cay

[Kiss-im-mee2]

We love to snorkel and have had the opportunity to snorkel at most of the cruise lines' private islands. We really looked forward to snorkeling at Castaway Cay. I knew there was no reef and had heard of a sunken submarine and a Mickey Mouse statue. We bring our own snorkel equipment including life vest.
We visited Castaway Cay in the middle of Dec and we were lucky to have a beautiful day. The water was a little cold but the air temp was warm. The snorkeling area is quite a swim from the beach but there are lifeguards out there.



In the picture you can see the closest lifeguard where the snorkeling starts. The farther lifeguard is right in the middle of the picture.

One of the first things you see are artificial reef balls with some fish swimming around.



There are reef balls all over plus some other randomly placed objects to create some interesting things to see.





After searching for a while we finally found the Mickey statue.



Even further out we found the sunken sub.



WE also found some canons and other artifacts.







There was some coral starting to grow on a lot of the stuff. There were some fish around some of the things but they weren't real interesting. The best thing was the sunken sub. There was certainly enough to see to make it worth while.

 

[JimGA]

Great pictures, its an easy snorkel swim.. we loved it, did you ever seen the sunken boat, we saw a lot of fish in that area, plus th eminnie mouse staue, we never saw Mickey...we searched but never found him.

Thanks for posting

 

[scrapbookmomma74]

No Minnie??? She was my favorite!

 

[bumbershoot]

Where were all the fish?

We had a fairly rough time snorkeling; none of us had ever done it, and DS's mask just did not fit. After nearly half an hour of trying to jolly him through it and tighten it up, etc, only to have it leak like crazy, DS and I switched masks. That worked better, or at least I could deal with the leaking better.

Although we didn't see some of the things in the pictures, we saw a lot of fish! And towards the end, a ray swam right under us at the moment we were all looking down and near each other. SO COOL.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Your pictures come out a lot better than mine! Our entire family, 3 grandchildren really enjoy CC snorkeling. We usually do see lots of fish.

Once we did the snorkeling boat excursion on CC, and the experience was wonderful, so many varied and colorful fish. I intend to do that again on at least 1 of my 4 trips to CC in 2014!

 

[com_op_2000]

For additional pictures and stories, checkout this thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2371788
It is originally from 2010 but has pictures of sharks and other sea life taken at CC. It also has my encounter with a Black Tip Shark at the CC-SB beach.

 

[ILUVALASKA]

Cute snorkeling route, but what about beautiful tropical fish???? I would rather see natural wonders!

 

[Jessica Sloan]

What is everyone taking pictures underwater with?

 

[Kiss-im-mee2]

I used a Sea Life DC 1400. It's a small digital camera that is used with a underwater case. We do a lot of diving so I need a camera that can go to 100 feet.

 

[ludari]

Here are a few of my pics from snorkeling at CC.

 

[RMoneyTheHBomb]

I used my sisters underwater Fuji camera and it worked well. Here us a vid of our snorkeling in both the lagoon and the sting ray area. Music cuts out mid vid as YouTube made me chane the original licensed tunes I had used.
http://youtu.be/_zOes6S-7vg

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[jrabbit]

We love to snorkel and have had the opportunity to snorkel at most of the cruise lines' private islands. We really looked forward to snorkeling at Castaway Cay. I knew there was no reef and had heard of a sunken submarine and a Mickey Mouse statue. We bring our own snorkel equipment including life vest.
We visited Castaway Cay in the middle of Dec and we were lucky to have a beautiful day. The water was a little cold but the air temp was warm. The snorkeling area is quite a swim from the beach but there are lifeguards out there.
One of the first things you see are artificial reef balls with some fish swimming around.


...

Are your pictures "right out of the camera" or did you have to do adjustments with "photoshop-like" software?

 

[Kiss-im-mee2]

I did photoshop them a little bit. I usually photoshop all my pictures usually to lighten the shadows and deepen the color as needed.

 

[jrabbit]

I did photoshop them a little bit. I usually photoshop all my pictures usually to lighten the shadows and deepen the color as needed.

Me Too. Thanks for your response.

 

[truck1]

Back when Castaway Cay first opened, the snorkel lagoon had a trail that told the story of the island. There were waterproof cards that had local fish and also the story on them. Basically it was like check points. Over the years, most of the plaques that told you you were on the trail, were lost due to hurricanes etc, so DCL basically started again. Theres 2 trails, one that is marked with white balls the other with orange balls. 1 is the beginners the other more advanced. The difference between the 2 is distance and whats under them. I have a slate that I marked off whats where, and Ill get it out later and post it. Theres an abundance of different fish in the lagoon, both big and small. The smaller fish (aquarium sized) can be found near most of the statues and around the netting on the boats and subs. (theres 2 subs) If you dont see them right away, look closer.

Heres a few pictures that I took with a Sealife DC600, which is a earlier verison of the 1400. I have pics from Oct with my Gopro and 1400, Ill post them later.