stella39

Hi,

Any suggestions on Snorkel charters? Newbie to TCI. Going the beginning of March 2006 to Provo.

Also, how's the water temp early March?

Thanks

Valerie512

Hi Stella,

When I was in Provo in June, my boyfriend and I took the 4-hour iguana island/snorkel trip with Sail Provo. I did a lot of research beforehand and Sail Provo definitely caught my eye. Their boats are actual sail boats as opposed to the smaller boats (not sure what they would be called) that the outher outfits use.

I know that Silver Deep, JB, etc. get good reviews on this website as well, but I can personally say that I had a great experience with Sail Provo. Iguana Island...pretty pointless, not really worth the $5. Snorkeling unfortunately was cut short because of a storm that arose at sea. I know for sure that a stop at a beautiful deserted island was not included in our package according to the brochure (unless it's out of date?)but we ended up stopping there after leaving the barrier reef where the storm was. The crew brought the group there and gave us about 30-40 mins to swim around, look for sand dollars, etc., maybe to compensate for the fact that snorkeling was cut short. Whatever the reason, it was an amazing addition to the trip, as the water was even more turquoise here than at Grace Bay, if that's even possible.

In general, I highly recommend Sail Provo...the boats were very nice and the crew was friendly and professional.

Valerie

MuyLinda

We've done two fun tours with Silver Deep. Both times we stopped at Iguana Island (it's kind of neat the first time, would skip it again), we did a conch snorkel where we snorkeled and dove for our own conch shells and later in the day the captain made delicious conch salad while we snorkeled and swam looking for sand dollars. The ride to Pine Cay (snorkeling and sand dollars) is breathtaking. Both times the captains took time to point out interesting things. I can highly recommend them.

stella39

Thank you again Muylinda....
Thank you Valerie512....

Did you book the trips before or after you got there?

We love to snorkel, did you get enough time to snorkel on these trips.

Many Thanks...

stella39

Valerie,

Just read your trip report and I loved all the details.
Thanks for sharing.

MuyLinda

Hi Stella - we never book anything before we go. We don't like to plan our week out in any way. We get where we are going, enjoy a day or two of being beach bums then plan a trip or two between then and when we leave. We've never run in to a problem of not being able to do what we wanted when we wanted.

Valerie512

Glad my long-winded post was useful to you!

In terms of booking a snorkel charter, I agree that it's not really necessary to book in advance. We called on a Sunday and booked a trip for the next day. Unfortunately, we originally wanted to do the sunset wine and cheese cruise on Monday which sounded amazing, but because it was the slow season, Sail Provo only runs that cruise on Wednesday (the website said it was available Monday, Wednesday and Friday). I checked now and the website is NOW updated for the slow season. Unfortunately, we were leaving that Wednesday so we missed the opportunity.

What I'd recommend is to call whatever company you decide on when you get there, just to confirm the dates and times of the excursions you want to do. Once you have that information, you can use it to plan which day you want to go and book later in the week.

Snorkeling was not enough for me, but that's because it was cut short due to the storm. (Not sure how long it usually lasts). You might want to consider a fullday cruise. Sail Provo, for example, offers one with lunch in which they take you to two different reefs...that might be good. I personally didn't want to be away from Grace Bay for more than a half day...it's just that beautiful!