We'll be here for only a half day (with HAL). Does anyone have advice as to where we can do some good off-beach snorkeling? We're hoping there's a beach that's easy to get to since the ship sails at 2pm (way too early!)
Thanks.

Anyone??

Try the cruise critic message board. The usually have good info regarding shore excursions;

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=385

Thanks KVR,
Interesting site and the first time I've been on it.
From what I read so far, seems the best snorkeling is off-boat.

We found that to be the case also when we went to Provo, T & C. With the exception of Coral Gardens, not very good shore snorkling.

We've booked a Western Caribbean cruise with Princess for April, so I've been looking at the Cruise Critic site a lot. Lots of good info. Did you review the cruise section here on Fodors also?

KVR-
Thanks for your reply here too!
I guess we'll just have to bite the bullet and book something.
Tried the cruise forum too but no feedback.
What's your itinerary for the Western Caribbean? We've been twice once with NCL and more recently with our kids and grandkids on RCCL..quite different itineraries.

AHA! i started looking around grand turk sites and found a link to grand turk scuba and on their activities page is the following:
Great Snorkeling Spots
Not only is the wall diving great, but there are some superb snorkel spots.
- Beach in front of Salt Raker Inn
- Beach in front of Osprey Beach Hotel
- Governor's Beach
- White Sands
- Beach at Pillory Beach Hotel
- Beach at Arawack Inn Hotel (another great shore dive!)
- Gibbs Cay.
now i have no idea which of these is near the pier and i can't for the life of me find a map with any kind of detail. so i advise take the list, get off the ship, get a taxi and ask the driver which one you should go to. have a great time and be sure to post when you get home and let us know how it was.

Pillory Beach Hotel is now called Bohio Resort. It's a $3 taxi ride away, and the resort can call a taxi back. You can have lunch there too. Email Bohio before you go to make sure-2pm is not long to be on port. Gorgeous beach that you will probably have mostly to yourself.

Gibbs Cay is an excellent excursion too, if you sign up with the ship.

The water in Grand Turk is unbelievable. You will see amazing stuff. You can even walk down to snorkel infront of Saltraker and Osprey too.

Provo and Grand Turk are worlds apart, and not comparable. So it's hard to judge one place with the other.

Great feedback! Thanks.
I promise to post after trip (going early March)
I also had no luck finding a detailed map of Grand Turk.
And yes, I confess, I thought Provo was a town on Grand Turk! Duhh!

NGail, we doing the Western Caribbean. All my favorite places that we've been to before on land vacations and wanted to see them all again: Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica and Bahamas.

When I was researching our trip to T & C I bought a book by Lonely Plant called Bahamas and Turks & Caicos. The only guide book I found that actually had T & C in it. It has lots of good info including maps, things to see and do and local tour operators. Grand Turk is a newly recent cruise stop, so there may not be much info about it yet on message boards.

General map of GT
http://www.grandturkcc.com/islandinfo/islandmap.htm

Map of Cockburn Town
http://www.grandturkcc.com/islandinfo/downtownmap.htm

Useful site for GT Cruise Center
http://www.grandturkcc.com

Enjoy your trip!

Thanks for those sites.
What a pretty Cruise Center! Governors Beach looks right near by too.

We're back, so here's a bit of feedback.
We booked a ship tour on a semi-sub because we thought we'd see some really deeper waters. You do see where the wall drops off which is rather dramatic, but mainly a deep purply-blue haze (no life). Then closer in you see pretty much what you'd see if you snorkled in a fairly sandy site-not too close to the coral- which had some nice fish and sting-rays but wasn't exactly spectacular.
(OK, we're spoiled-once did a semi-sub at the Great Barrier Reef!)
However, we did see a pair of friendly dolphin when we were on deck heading back.
We thought we'd have snorkle time when we got back but we ran out of time (had to be back on board by 1:30).
So I guess we'll just have to go back some day and do some of those wonderful beaches that virginia suggested!