Grand Cayman or Cozumel for Snorkeling?

[CrazyBoutDisney]

I'm very interested in hearing people's opinions on the snorkeling excursions in both Grand Cayman and Cozumel. I'm also wondering where I will see the most colorful variety of coral, plants and sea life.

 

[lavawalker]

I was not impressed with the Fury Catamaran in Cozumel. Here is a link to my experience on tripadvisor:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g150809-d522608-r22532224-Famous_Fury_Snorkel_Beach_Party-Cozumel_Yucatan_Peninsula.html

 

[pilk]

We did the Power Snorkel in Cozumel. Not impressed with it.

In Grand Caymen we booked seperate from Disney with Nativeway. It was excellent

 

[jrabbit]

In Grand Cayman we did a Shipwreck Snorkel excursion from the ship. As it turned out we snorkled infront of the Magic in the harbor over a "shipwreck" - it was a small tug boat of some kind - I think. and then we moved over a little for the second stop over a reef. For me this was the second best snorkeling we have had - just behind our recient buck island at St. Croix snorkel trip.

The water at the beach we went to on our own in Cozumel did not look like it was condusive to snorkeling.

Grand Cayman has my vote for your snorkeling trip. I understand that there is some good snorkeling on Coz - but you have to find the right operator or excursion.

 

[Tom _Ryan]

Here's my post on snorkeling at both:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2069416

 

[jrabbit]

Tom, Read your report - I didn't remember the ship being 220 feet long (see my prior post - and my trip was years ago), but it very well might have been. And I paid for my excursion there!!

 

[Tom _Ryan]

Tom, Read your report - I didn't remember the ship being 220 feet long (see my prior post - and my trip was years ago), but it very well might have been. And I paid for my excursion there!!

Yes, it didn't seem that big to me, either - and water's supposed to magnify things! I read it's dimensions somewhere online...

...I just looked it up again. This site has it at 244 feet!

http://www.diversdown.net/_ndivcali.htm

 

[CrazyBoutDisney]

Thanx, everyone! I appreciate it so much! Anyone else want to chime in? and, Tom, why wouldn't you swim with the dolphins in Cozumel? That's the very thing I was considering!

 

[tammymacb]

Here's my two cents.

Cozumel is on a beautiful reef. But it has a pretty good current. Until you're below it ( and I'm a diver, not a snorkler so this is my experience ) you're moving along on top. Also, moving water is often "churned up" water. Not the best viz.

Grand Cayman has some beautiful crystal clear water. The reefs in busy areas are a bit torn up, but there are still amazing sights to see there. I'd pick GC over Coz in a minute ( and have, I've vacationed there for 2 weeks each summer for the last 4 years ).

I personally would not ever visit a dolphin *stadium* I wouldn't put money in the pockets of humans who take wild things from nature and imprison them to entertain us, at the expense of their lives. Many of the locals on GC agreed and I own a shirt sold in one of the dive shops demanding to "Keep Dolphins Wild" For those who are serious about ecotourism, these experiences are shameful.

 

[tammymacb]

Grand Cayman in the morning...

 

[Bracy]

I second Nativeway in GC. Four of us went to stingray city, a starfish site and snorkeling for $100 total. Waaaay less than the ship's same excursion and about a tenth of the people as on the ship's charter. A great personable experience too. Plus they dropped us off where ever we wanted which was a spot on 7-mile beach. Then we took the public "bus" back to the ship - very easy, safe and cheap. You can snorkel from the shore in GC. We did that ourselves many years ago but don't remember exactly where we were on seven mile beach. We saw lots of good coral and fish. I've read that Cemetery Beach has good snorkeling from shore but never have been there myself. I do all of my excursion research on fodors.com and cruisecritic.com. Stopped taking ship-board excursions years ago and have never gone wrong doing it ourselves.

As far as Cozumel, only have been there once, took a bad ship-board snorkeling excursion that had zero coral, few fish and was about 100 yards from the ship. If i ever go there again i would go see the ruins although they do have pretty good shopping too.

Hope this helps. Enjoy Cayman, it's one of our favorite caribbean stops.

sorry if this turns out to be a double post.

 

[trimix]

Cozumel's best is just plain too deep for snorkeling. In Grand Cayman, from the surface you can touch the coral (and kill thousands of polyps in the process, forever damaging the reef).

So I would say go snorkeling in Grand Cayman - just be sure you don't touch anything but water, boat, and sand.