snorkeling question

[stina]

I plan on snorkeling at several of the destinations on the Western Carribbean cruise. Does anyone know if at any of the beaches/snorkel sites (Chaakanaab Park, Castaway Cay, Grand Cayman) lockers are available to store personal belongings? Or should I buy a dry box to store my credit card, passport and personal belongings. What do you guys typically do?

Thanks,
stina

 

[KAMommy]

Hey Stina...there are no lockers (that I have ever seen). On our first cruise, we used the dry boxes. This last cruise, my mom didn't snorkel, so she kept an eye on things.

 

[JSCTRico4]

Castaway Cay doesn't even have anything....... we sorta figured since everyone there was from the ship, so, we left our stuff by our chair. We didn't leave anything we would have missed if taken, but, it ended up being fine. I REALLY think DCL should add some lockers for their guests while on the island. It would be a NICE feature!

When we were at Trunk Bay on Eastern, no one bothered our stuff either. Most of the people there were on the excursion, or worked there. I've heard you can get those waterproof wallets. We were thinking of doing that for our KTTW cards, and money.

 

[musicgirl]

Here's a site for Cozumel that has a lot of info.

http://www.cozumelinsider.com/Beaches

It appears that Chank. Park does have them.

 

[dzneprincess]

When we visited Chaankanaab 10/03 there were lockers

 

[spotdog]

Since I travel alone and love to snorkel, I use the dry boxes. I tuck them under my one peice suit. I have a small (skinny) one for Disney because all you need is your KTTW card, a drivers liscense, medical insurance card and some paper cash. When snorkeling with rental car keys, I use the larger one.

I leave my bag with a towel, sunscreen and disposable camera on the beach. On the rare occasions I bring a video camera, I carry it in a disgusting looking diaper bag.

 

[sandyhund]

Since I travel alone and love to snorkel, I use the dry boxes. I tuck them under my one peice suit. I have a small (skinny) one for Disney because all you need is your KTTW card, a drivers liscense, medical insurance card and some paper cash. When snorkeling with rental car keys, I use the larger one.

I leave my bag with a towel, sunscreen and disposable camera on the beach. On the rare occasions I bring a video camera, I carry it in a disgusting looking diaper bag.

That's a really good idea! No one wants to go in a diaper bag!

I was wondering where you get these dry boxes. They sound useful in keeping stuff safe. Thanks!

 

[spotdog]

I have gotten the "around the neck" dry boxes at Castaway Cay, the Disney water parks and at ABC stores in Hawaii. I can't remember if they are available at the stores on the ship.

 

[windermerejudy]

They have them in the store on board the ships. They used to have both sizes but we just got back a couple of weeks ago and all the Magic had were the thin ones for $5.00. They work great. Perfect for DL, KTTW and $

 

[stina]

Thanks for all the advice. I really have been trying to figure this out.
There will only be two adults, myself and partner, on the trip and we plan on doing all activities together, like snorkeling, so there's no one to watch our stuff. When we go ashore we will typically have a backpack with us with towels, sunscreen etc, but I don't want to leave my digital camera, passport and money in the backpack on some strange beach where anyone could take them.

If I were to put a passport and digital camera (tiny palm size camera) in a drybox do you think they would stay absolutely dry? I'm not sure what other choice I have other than to not take my digital camera ashore. But I need to bring my passport. Not to castaway but to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, etc.

On Grand Cayman I will be doing the snorkeling with stingrays excursion. It says backpacks are allowed, does that mean that stuff is kept on the boat? Has anyone who has left items on the boat had any problems with stuff being stolen?

thanks for all the help~
stina

 

[NejTheLion]

If the two of you are going snorkeling via excursions, I wouldn't worry about your stuff. There will be crew on board to protect your things, and Disney only uses providers that they're comfortable with.

If you're just going out on your own to beaches, that's a different matter, and honestly, I wouldn't recommend you leave your things unattended.

 

[pdarrah]

A couple thoughts for you...

You can buy DIS dry-boxes at the DIS Store here online.

The snorkeling from beaches usually isn't as good as from a boat (on an excursion - DCL or private). If you're on a boat, you can usually just leave your stuff and just check it is all there when you come back on board.

Think twice before bringing a "good" camera to a beach unless you have a special case for it. It only takes a tiny bit of sand or saltwater to destroy your camera. There are some "dry box" like cases for cameras that are clear - but you would need to find one that works with your camera. The other option is to buy the cheap one-time-use underwater cameras and take those on your snorkeling trips. You have to deal with developing film, but you don't risk your good camera and you can take underwater pics also.

We use a drybox for our KTTW card, credit card, ID, a little cash, etc... THe only stuff we leave on a beach are towels, sunblock, etc. which would be annoying to lose, but not a real big deal.

I would NOT bring my passport on shore with me! I bring my "photo ID" (drivers license) and if something should happen to it, my passport is still on board in my stateroom. Although it would be a huge pain, I bet DCL would be able to access it and let me back on board!

pdarrah

 

[musicgirl]

If you are looking for a dry box for your camera, we used this with our digital last year. It did keep the camera dry without a problem.
http://www.fuertecases.com/CameraShield.html

However, practice first at a pool. Also, one problem dh had was that you have to turn the camera on before you seal the box. some cameras turn off.

When we were discussing diving cameras (that already come in a case all the time), the guy said that unless you are going to use it underwater alot, the underwater disposable ones can do just as well.

Now, I might have misread your post about the dry box.

I think most people are referring to a rectangular box that is on a lanyard around your neck. These are generally not big enough for a camera.

You can buy these boxes at many stores, there are some that are twice as thick as the ones that are sold on board and half the cost.

I bring my cards (KTTW, drivers license) and cash and keep that in the box. It works great.

HINT: I used a safety pin to pin the lanyard to my suit top. On our first cruise, after I had taken off my vest, I pulled the case off as well. I didn't realize it for about 30 min. Luckily, I found it partially buried in the sand.

 

[stina]

Back again. Thank you all for the additional advice.
Here's some clarification. I WILL be using a cheap underwater camera for my snorkeling photos, not gonna chance it with my regular digital. However, I WILL have my regular digital camera in my backpack with me when I go to the destinations (Castaway, Key West, Grand Cayman, Cozumel) to take general photos and I guess my question about the camera has more to do with what do I do with my camera when I'm not using it, like if I'm in the water snorkeling (using the cheap uw disposable). Since there are no lockers I have no choice but to keep the camera with me at all times whether or not I am using it. That means putting it in a dry box just for storage while snorkeling? Or leaving it in a backpack on a boat, or in a backpack on the beach at Castaway Cay if the two of us are snorkeling? This whole no locker thing is really inconvenient.

Part 2, about passports. I have a passport since I am travelling internationally I assumed I needed my passport to get on and off the ship since I am disembarking in other countries. But pdarrah recommended I NOT bring my passport off the ship with me. Is that legal? I assumed I'd need my passport for US Identification at all times. (State Dept. says you now have to have a passport to visit Canada, Mexico and Carribbean, which wasn't always the case.)

Thanks for any further advice you can give me. This is one of those logistical things about excursions I can't quite wrap my mind around.

stina

 

[musicgirl]

You do not need the passports to exit the ship. So leave them on board. If anything were to happen to them and you didn't have a birth certificate, you would have difficulty at customs.

You only need your driver's license and KTTW card to get off and on.

At CC, we just left things in our bag. We do not bring our nicest camera to the beachy areas because of sand and water. But things are very safe, at least I have never heard of anything stolen here.

Other places, don't leave anything you can not afford to lose unattended.

 

[NejTheLion]

Well, you should take your passports off the ship if you aren't taking a Disney excursion. I'd worry less about losing them and more about the possibility that you might get stuck in a port and need to travel home.