Wise suggestions for snorkel/sail excursions near St Kitts?
 

Going to St Kitts (along with St Martin, San Juan and Labadee) soon. Any suggestions for snorkel/cruise/sail excursions around St Kitts? Beaches to see?

Other excursions/tours in/around San Juan?

Thanks.

best of luck

Hi Alex
We were there about 4 years ago November. Unfortunately a hurricane had been through about 3 weeks before and much of the snorkeling was not too good (but I do not know if that is the norm). Car rental was very expensive but we did go twice around the island. I cannot remember the name of the one beach but there was a sunken boat near shore that provide only mediocre snorkeling. An interesting spot was Monkey Bar in Frigates Bay. A good place for lunch, some sunning and some snorkeling, plus the entertainment of the monkies. Ironically one of the best places we found later was our timeshare. We were at the Marriott which is on the same premises as the Hotel. They have some rocks as a barrier and it provided great snorkeling. Hopefully you are taking your own equipment, plus if you can pack it a noodle is good to have too! It is a beautiful island.
We had been to St Maarten before St Kitts. Did not do snorkeling there, the hurricane had hit them hard.
Have a wonderful trip.

Whitehouse Bay has the sunken ship (an old wooden sailing vessel) pretty close to shore but (and it's a BIG BUT) it is often covered over in sand and only gets exposed if there have been some recent heavy seas. The odds of you being there when it is exposed are very small. Nearby there are the remnants of a few cannon and canon balls that are usually visible.

For what it is worth, there is very little "walk-in" snorkeling on St. Kitts. The best snorkeling in the area (and it is just mediocre) is accessible only by boat. The full-day and 1/2 day catamaran sails all stop there for about an hour (that's twice as much time as you'll need to "see everything") as part of their respective tours.

For beaches, go to either of the following: Frigate Bay - 12 minute drive from the cruise ship dock, near Marriott Resort, a few restaurants and about 6 beach bars, 2) South Friars Beach - 15 minutes from cruise ship dock, home of the famous Shipwreck Beach Bar, the very upscale Carambola Restaurant and 2 other smaller beach bars, 3) Cockleshell Beach - 30 minute drive from cruise ship dock, where you'll find Spice Mill Restaurant, Lion's Beach Bar (one of the oldest beach bars on St. Kitts), and Reggae Beach Bar plus all types of water sport rentals (Hobie Cats, Jet skis, tubing rides, Banana Boat rides, etc.).

As a follow-up to my post: we sailed into St Kitts on our RCI cruise. We booked a snorkel/sail excursion "Snorkel St. Kitts" (KT04) through the cruiseline. The snorkeling was fabulous. We snorkeled 2 sites within view of the ship itself anchored at Basse Terre. The second site in particular was great-clear blue water and a very good variety and count of sealife, including squid, octopus, turtle, coral and dozens of types of fish. Dear to our children were the green monkeys we could see scurrying around on shore.

We were quite pleasantly surprised.