captain nautica excursion

[leahvonleah]

Has anyone been on Captain Nautica's St John excursion via DCL? What have been your experiences? This excursion looks interesting. We really want to see St John. The short duration of the trip works out for us in regards to Flounders am hours for our 1 y.o DD. Any comments?

 

[castlegazer]

I am bumping you because I had the same idea with our 15 mo old at that time (she's still in belly now).

 

[musicgirl]

Capt. Nautica was probably the highlight of the trip for our family.
It was awesome.

This is not a land trip to St. John, but rather a snorkel trip by speed boat. We got to go to 3 different places. The first was Turtle Cove. We were the first to get there because of the boat! It was so cool swimming right next to the turtles.

The Second place was right around the corner at Shipwreck Cove.
This was pretty crowded so we only stayed about 20-30 min.

The last place was St. James. It is a private island, but the water is not!!! Absolutley gorgeous!!!! There was only one other small group of about 5 here.

This is a top notch excursion with no more than 25 per boat. They provided fresh fruit, drinks (no-alcoholic) and another surprise. They also give alot of island info.

The ride itself is a blast because it is so fast. We had approximately 2 1/2 hours of snorkeling.

They did ask for a tip at the end. They were not pushy about this. The tip was worth it!!!! They just were a great pair from the states. They even had disposable underwater cameras for people who forgot theirs.

There were 2 groups going, ours was a blond female named Morgan. I believe her dh was Keith????

If you have any questions, just ask.

 

[cramam]

Great excursion. We went 3 weeks ago and saw sea turtles and stingrays. Many fish. Coral formations are a little beat up but this appears to be storm and wave damage. The ride to the sites is quite fun with high speed and we had big waves with the boat jumping up and down. The staff was super with my girls. Do it , you'll have a great time.

 

[leahvonleah]

Thanks so much. We just reserved this with DCL.

 

[castlegazer]

Can you let us know how it worked out with using Flounder's. I am very curious and this excrusion caught my eye.

I do have one further question, though. None of the three places you mentioned they went to are on St. John - do you ever get to St. John???

 

[musicgirl]

I'm not sure what you mean by on. do you mean physically walking on St. John's? This is strictly a snorkel excursion from a boat.

Turtle cove is at Buck Island. We were not allowed on Buck Island due to the fact that it was egg laying season and it was prohibited. Normally, you are allowed.

You might notice that they do not specify where they go exactly. They will change plans if they think snorkeling will be better somewhere else.

We were thrilled at their choices.

Lorie

 

[castlegazer]

I mean, its called a St. John snorkeling tour. None of the stops were near or at a beach of St. John. It is important to me to get to St. John for personal reasons due to our anniversary. I thought this was an excursion to St. John snorkeling areas - i.e. Honeymoon Beach, Cinnamon Bay, Trunk Bay. I understand you aren't physically on any of the beaches, but there's a big difference between Turtle cove - a sorkeling spot you can go to on many of the other excursions - and getting the benefit of the speed boats to get you over to the St. John snorkeling areas.

Its a big deal to me.

 

[musicgirl]

I'm not sure why they use St. John in the title. They do not specify which snorkeling spots they will visit in their description of the excursion. Perhaps the company is based there, I don't know.

From what I understand, they sometimes do go to Honeymoon Beach and Christmas cove (not sure if this is near St. John). In fact, we were suppose to go to Honeymoon Beach but they decided against it for some reason.

Obviously, it is important for you to go near St. John specifically. I wouldn't recommend this excursion if you need a sure thing on the area.

Lorie