Very best Snorkeling on Eastern

[momoftwodisneykids]

Hi. We sailed to the Eastern Caribbean last year. We took a taxi ourselves to Coki Beach, which is right by Coral World. You can walk in to snorkel off the beach. The water was very clear and there were tons of fish over by the rocks on the right side of the beach area. Many people were feeding the fish dog biscuits, so there were lots of fish to see. I think the taxi was about $16 pp round trip. We had our own snorkel equipment, so we didn't have to rent any. It was a lot less expensive for us than doing an organized excursion and we got to stay at the beach as long we wanted. Hope this helps.

Joanne

 

[DIS NURSE]

We are in the very same predicament with the age thing and Cpt. Nautica! I have been eyeing that excursion for a long time and have already called and talked to the owner directly. Very nice guy and was opened to the "strong swimmer" part of our under 8 yo. He did say to call him back in August....and hey! It is August!
I need to see if the problem with that excursion would be on the DCL part of it...I have been told that DCL is the strict one for their laibility. I will try my darnedness to book this excursion and if you do find out any more info (like you were successful in booking or how it was when you went please PM or email me!) Otherwise I am looking at Trunk Bay but everyone says what a drag it is to get there!

So sad to hear that the Golden Eagle is not too great for snorkeling! I was really looking forward to that. When you say not good for snorkeling, what do you mean? Can you elaborate on the Shipwreck part? Will the kids like it?
Thanks, DIS NURSE

 

[DIS NURSE]

Bump!

 

[mketting]

DisNurse our trip isn't intil next May, when is yours?

If you go are going earlier let me know what happens with DCL when you try to book Capt. Nautica.

 

[ImNarek]

Someone mentioned the Catamaran snorkel on Castaway Cay and I thought I'd write a bit more about it. You board the catamaran there on the island, then they take you out quite aways around the ship to the left and out across the shallow waters to an amazing reef. It was some of the best snorkeling we'd ever done - I couldn't believe the amount of sealife from waving seafans, to crackling barnacles to fast swarms of fish. Even saw a HUGE (to me anyways) barracuda. While we don't have children, there were several children on the trip who seemed to enjoy it.

 

[musicgirl]

mketting and dis nurse, did you ask Capt. Nautica if you could book as a non-dcl excursion? It might just be easier to book everyone on your own.

Obviously, it sounds like they must do outside booking since they said they would accomodate you.

Is it cheaper to book outside of DCL????? I know that in looking into many excursions, it is actually cheaper to book on your own.

Remember to book the am excursion!!! I don't know how busy the pm areas are for snorkeling, but it was awesome to be the first out!!!

I love to hear back how this all works out for you both. We had such a fantastic time.

 

[DIS NURSE]

BTW, yes, we are going before you (in Nov.) so I will let you know how it turns out. I have on my list (to do) to call and ask for the owner of Capt. Nautica. I found their phone # on their website. I will let you know what he says when I BEG him to help us out. The issue about booking separately is a NO-NO for excursion companies that have a contract with DCL (as they do).It even mentions this on their website.

Funny, their website now doesn't mention DCL as one of their ships they serve. I am going to ask him that also, "why"?

Keep checking back 'cause I am actually approaching the Aug 29 (75 days out) mark when I can book online. I will definitley know the whole story by then.

Take Care, DIS NURSE from Oregon

OOOOOOhhhhhh! BTW, I am now very interested in the CC excursion on the Catamaran as well. Thanks for the info! How much time did this eat up out of your day? Did you make it back before Cookie's BBQ? Could we choose to go after the BBQ instead? We have late seating so that wouldn't be a problem.

 

[Jen in MA]

We were on the Eastern this past April and did the following excursions:

St. Martin - Rhino Riders (kinda like jet skis) - rode over to the french side of the island and had about 30 minutes or so to snorkel. Good practice but didn't really see much... a couple fish maybe? Fun, but not great snorkeling.

St. Thomas - Capt. Nautica --- AWESOME!!! As Musicgirl said earlier, we ZIPPED over to Turtle Cove first. Spent almost an hour there... Giant Sea Turtles swim right up to you!!! It's just incredible!!! We also saw stingrays and TONS of colorful fish. Then we went to another large reef (sorry, can't remember where?!?!). No turtles, but pretty cool. Next, we took a quick trip to the sunken ship site (about 15 min in the water). There were snacks (fruit, shrimp) and soda/water between sites. The 2 staff members were great. The Turtles were the best part!!! Definitely worth the $$$!!!

Castaway Cay - We rented snorkel gear here too... but honsetly nothing could compare to what we saw on Capt. Nautica. CC snorkeling was kinda anticlimatic.

There were several kids on our Capt. Nautica boat... The youngest was probably around 9-10 years old. The kids seemed fine... only problem I saw was on the speed boat ride, the boat goes really fast and is really choppy (this is coming from someone who does alot of boating and I found it really rough)... the kids were getting bounced around quite a bit and the Capt. kept yelling at a couple of them to hold onto their seat tighter so they wouldn't keep flying up(they were catching a little air). I don't think the kids could really control it... the Capt., I think, thought they were goofing off and doing it on purpose. Oh yeah, I almost forgot... we had one teenage boy (around 14 or 15) get sea sick and he started throwing up over the side of the boat... great highlight. Poor kid. Nobody seemed overly concerned though, which surprised me.

 

[DIS NURSE]

Hello, the seasickness part is remote concern of mine.....is that because someone may be bobbing up and down on the boat when others are snorkeling and thus the seassickness? The actual motion of a fast speed boat ride doesn't strike me as a factor in getting seassick.....must be the "while docked" part? Right? Also, can you please clarify if there is ever a place they stopped where you could swim over to land/beach? Or is the entire excursion spent out in the middle of the ocean?

Thanks!

 

[ImNarek]

OOOOOOhhhhhh! BTW, I am now very interested in the CC excursion on the Catamaran as well. Thanks for the info! How much time did this eat up out of your day? Did you make it back before Cookie's BBQ? Could we choose to go after the BBQ instead? We have late seating so that wouldn't be a problem.

We did the Seahorse Snorkel at CC in the afternoon - I think 1 or 1:30. We are always some of the first off the ship at CC, so we had the entire morning to snorkel in the Lagoon, swim, lounge, eat lunch, then head to the Catamarran for our excursion. When we got back from the excursion, I'm pretty sure we simply headed back to the ship. The snorkeling out there was awesome, a lot more to see than the CC's snorkel lagoon in terms of fish and coral. Oh, and on the way back, we were also able to get some really great shots of the Magic with CC as a backdrop!

 

[mketting]

Disnurse, I would love a trip report with any suggestions when you get back since you have kids a similar age as mine.

An earlier poster said Capt. Nautica will not book an excursion on you own if your on a Cruise ship, is thiat info. correct?

Everyone else keep the info coming!!!!!!

 

[Michelle2]

We will be going on the Captain Nautica excursion in November as well. I think Disnurse is going before us?....We are not until the 26th sailing. My DS12 is so excited now that I told him about people's posts on here about how neat it is. Jen in MA, I loved hearing about your experience and hope that ours will be the exact same!
Great thread!

 

[Jen in MA]

Hello, the seasickness part is remote concern of mine.....is that because someone may be bobbing up and down on the boat when others are snorkeling and thus the seassickness? The actual motion of a fast speed boat ride doesn't strike me as a factor in getting seassick.....must be the "while docked" part? Right? Also, can you please clarify if there is ever a place they stopped where you could swim over to land/beach? Or is the entire excursion spent out in the middle of the ocean?

Thanks!

The entire Capt. Nautica excursion takes place out in the middle of the ocean... no beach or anything to swim ashore to. The water depths varied between sites -- ranging from 8-10ft to much deeper at the ship wreck site.

 

[mketting]

That sounds great!

I know my kids would think the Shipwreck was really cool. I really hope this works out.

 

[El Capitan]

Goota keep this thread going, headed there in 7 months.

Bumpity BUMP!!

 

[denise5374]

We were on the Magic Eastern 8/21/04.

We booked a non-DCL excursion on St. Thomas throught Jester Sailing. www.sailjester.com

We had the most awesome time. It was me DH DD11 and DS7. The boat is only for 6 people and as a family f four we had the boat to ourselves. I don't know how th cost compared to DCL excursions but Jester was $120 per person. It was the highlight of our trip!

Capt. Jim met us on St. Thomas, we boarded his boar and we sailed to St. John (honeymoon Bay, I think). He anchored far away from the other excursion boats but close enough to the beach that the kids could swim into shore. They did that and DH and I took turns snorkeling. Capt. Jim provides snorkeling gear, noodle, rafts, football, frisbees. But the best part was the lunch. He has a grill attahced to the side of the boat and made BBQ chicken, with grilled veggies, a pasta salad and some dessert thing that I cannot remember. No brown bag lunches. Also, all beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) are included. We left St. Thomas about 9am and got back around 3:30pm. He also let the kids help with the boat, changing sails, steering things like that.

The kids still talk about it!

Have a great time!

 

[mketting]

$120 is a little on the high side for us but that does sound like and interesting option, thanks for the idea.

 

[El Capitan]

We booked a non-DCL excursion on St. Thomas throught Jester Sailing. www.sailjester.com

We had the most awesome time. It was me DH DD11 and DS7. The boat is only for 6 people and as a family f four we had the boat to ourselves. I don't know how th cost compared to DCL excursions but Jester was $120 per person. It was the highlight of our trip!

Capt. Jim met us on St. Thomas, we boarded his boar and we sailed to St. John (honeymoon Bay, I think). He anchored far away from the other excursion boats but close enough to the beach that the kids could swim into shore. They did that and DH and I took turns snorkeling. Capt. Jim provides snorkeling gear, noodle, rafts, football, frisbees. But the best part was the lunch. He has a grill attahced to the side of the boat and made BBQ chicken, with grilled veggies, a pasta salad and some dessert thing that I cannot remember. No brown bag lunches. Also, all beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) are included. We left St. Thomas about 9am and got back around 3:30pm. He also let the kids help with the boat, changing sails, steering things like that.

The kids still talk about it!

Have a great time!

Denise, this sounds awesome. And it was not booked through DCL? How far in advance did you need to book it before your cruise? Are they set up for my DS age 10 to snorkel? Any more detailed descriptions on the alcoholic and non drinks?

 

[denise5374]

El Capitan,

I think I booked it (tentatively) about 10 months out. Then I confirmed about 4 months out. (I think this is all based on my memory, not always good) I confirmed with a credit card but I paid in cas the day of the sail.

Cpt. Jim has all the stuff for kids and grown ups to snorkel. He also has footballs, noodles, rafts. He laso let the kids fish off the boat on the way over and back. You cannot fish once you get into St. John waters. Most of the island is a national park. But DS8 though that was fun.

When we booked Cpt. Jim told us where to meet him and he lives in a condo right near where the dock is and he loaded up the boat with a cooler and snacks. He had soda and water and beer(can't remember what brand) and he makes his own mixed drink called Jester Juice. I think when you talk to him he asked ehat kind of beverages we liked so if you have a preference....

Also, he had abasket of snacks crackers, granola bars, cereal bars. The lunch was phoenomenal! I ran into another person on board who was on one of the DCL excursions and her boat was anchored near ours and she said everybody on her boat was jealous because our lunch smelled so good!

Cpt. Jim was originally a chef, and moved to St. Thomas about 8 years ago, bought a boat and now does charters. He reminded me of Jimmy Buffet!

I can't think of anything else right now...if you have any more question..let me know!

Denise

 

[Dom262]

I went to Capt. Nautica's site and after reading their description am even more interested!! I was unable to get their email address though from the site. Would anyone have their email address?

Here you go

captainnautica@earthlink.net