Lisa Sokol

We want to go snorkeling in August with a 9 and 11 year old. Please suggest places that have snorkeling both off the beach and places that have boat trips. Hotels can either be inclusive or not. Good food a plus.

Don / Boston

Lisa: My family (girl 16 and boy 10) loves to snorkle and over the last three years we have taken family vacations and have snorkeled in Cancun Mexico (not much snorkeling from shore except for Club Med, but good boat trips) Tortola (again not much from shore but some good boat trips) and Anquilla (just back from, the best combination of beach snorkeling and boat snorkeling we have found) In Anquilla we also found two hotel/appartment locations for reasonable prices that are "family friendly" and are either on the beach or a very short walk from the "best beach" on the Island. And Anquilla is known as an island of beautiful beaches. Our family of 4 stayed at a small family run hotel called the Alamanda Beach Hotel in Anquilla which was a complete apartment with kitchen for $150.00 per night and was a very short walk to the beach. Another property right on the beach is Shoal Bay Villas also in a great spot. Email me if you want more info !!

carolyn lowe

Hi! My favorite place to snorkle was on St. Johns at Cruise Bay.. There is an underwater snorkle trail you can follow and read about the coral, the
fish, and other interesting tid-bits (my parents found it equally as interesting). This was always my favorite spot as a child. We stayed at Caneel Bay, which is famous in its own rite(several different bays on the property from which there is GREAT snorkling right of the beaches, wonderful food, and just first class all round). Research St. Johns if you are interested, its small, but again as an only child there was plenty to keep me entertained. We also stayed one year a the Hyatt, now managed by Westin I think. Also a really nice place to stay. St. John's is diffinatly worth a thought!! Good Luck

Beverly

The best place we have ever been snorkeling is St. John in the Virgin Islands. We have stayed at Caneel Bay. You can snorkel to your heart's content there, from the beach. We walked out our room, to the water, and snorkeled, fabulous! And, never crowded. Food outstanding. But, very expensive, althought August is off-season. The best!

Rich

Lisa, we just came back from Akumal Mexico and the snorkeling was great. Within 30 minutes of the resort, we snorkeled at Yal-Kul Lagoon, Xel-Ha, Various cenotes, etc... Also, we could have went to Xcaret but we never got there (too busy doing other fun stuff). Akumal is VERY family oriented(we have 4 & 2 year old daughters). If you are interested, feel free to e-mail or go to www.rascalsinparadise.com and request a brochure. They set up our entire trip, including a nanny for the week. They will do this for older children also with a different variety of activities. Good Luck!

Patrick

Lisa- I also recommend St. John. Caneel would be fabulous (our dream place to stay, never realized) but if that is to expensive you can go to the other exterme and camp in tents or camping cottages at Cinnamon Bay national park- right on a georgeous beach or Maho Bay "luxury" tents. St. John has a lot of villas and some condos and off season rates are good- many of the villas have pools but you would have to rent a jeep to get around. Have fun.

Amelia

I join all those above that suggest St. John, USVI
as your perfect destination. The marked snorkel
trail is at the legendary Trunk Bay beach. It is as
beautiful in real life as it is on postcards. There
are plenty of other snorkeling beaches safe for children on St. John. If price is no object Caneel
Bay is the place. For a physical adventure at the
right price, try the Maho Bay Campground. Note that
neither of these two places has air-conditioning.
The Westin has air-conditioning and plenty of water
sports available. If you stay at the Westin, you will need to go elsewhere to snorkel. There is an inexpensive deli at the Westin. Food is generally good at all three places.

TC

We go to Cozumel, Mexico every winter. The snorkeling is fantastic. The thing I love most is how accessable the reefs are. To snorkel from some islands you must take a tour or rent a boat to take you out to the reefs. Not so on Cozumel. You can walk right into the water from a hundred different spots and be on top of spectacular shallow reefs. We snorkel three times a day right from our condo patio. This easy access saves a ton of money and lets you feel relaxed about snorkeling on YOUR time schedule, instead of some tour boat's schedule. If it rains, we just sit on our balcony until it stops and then into the water again. Your whole snorkeling trip isn't ruined if the weather turns bad just at YOUR appointed departure time. Its great. Cozumel is VERY family friendly. Its VERY safe, has great food - from pizza to gourmet, and lots of condos or houses to rent for a family vacation. I love being able to make breakfast and lunch at "home", then investigate great places in town for dinner. We stay at the Coral Princess condos. They have children's programs and you can sit on the beach and watch your kids snorkel in the ocean - its that close. If you want more info, send me an email.

Ron

Have been snorkeling around the world and can strongly recommend Bonaire especially the Sand Dollar resort condominiums. They have excellent shore snorkeling all around the island and in many
places it starts right at the shore. They have an
excellent childrens program with naturalists. There
are great guided snorkel program on the island and you are not a second class citizen to divers. Please feel free to email me directly for any info

Michel

Two suggestions: the first being Club Oasis Akumal on the Mayan Coast of Mexico. The resort is very family oriented, the people are wonderful, and the food is great. Here, you can snorkel from the beach. There is also a dive centre on site. Many cenotes are within a 30 minute drive. My second suggestion is Point Village near Negril (Jamaica). It offers a protected reef and snorkeling from the beach is great. If you go, try the caves.