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snorkling vacation destination (1 Viewer)

ArstenA

ArstenA

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Wife and I wanna plan a vacation. I would love to dive but I am not certified and don't have the time.

Who has vacationed in a place that had good to awesome snorkling? I want to try and see some corals not just fish. Anywhere in the world is acceptable...
 
Quick and easy....John Pennekamp State Park in Key West, FLA. The reef is enclosed by netting so you are less at risk for aggressive fish chasing after you :gay1: They do have barracudas there though. It might not be as clear and eye popping at Fiji but still worth the trip...and MUCH cheaper :)
 
The gal and I try to go to Maui once a year. We've been out to the Molokini crater to snorkel a few times. It was a blast. That's really my only snorkeling experience though, so I'm not sure what the experience would be like elsewhere.

bob_molokini.jpg


molokini_crater.jpg
 
From what I understand Roatan, Honduras has some great walk out diving/snorkeling. If I recall the reef is only 100ft off the shore.
Might be something to look into
 
I was really impressed with the snorkeling in the dominican republic for the price of the vacation.

There is a cruise line in hawaii that takes you to 6 different islands and the karabati islands which has the most pristine coral reefs in the world. That was a great snokeling trip and how I met my wife.
 
Roatan is amazing for diving. I did see some people snorkeling... but it's also the cheapest place in the world to get certified. I got mine on Utila a couple of years before going back to dive Roatan.

The Mexican Caribbean area is a cheaper trip, but the corals aren't that great.

I've heard Thailand is awesome and that's my next pick, but the best I've ever seen is definitely the Red Sea in Egypt.

Walking out from my hotel room to the beach, it was a reef. I saw a blue spotted string ray within 5 seconds of arriving. Tons of corals and fish. Just amazing snorkeling and even better diving.
 
The Caribbean is alright. Mexico has some very good diving and snorkeling. Thailand was absolutely amazing. I would recommend going to Mexico at this time. A lot of people were saying that Costa Rica had good diving and snorkeling but Costa Rica is mainly for surfing and fishing.
 
Hello...? The one and only Great Barrier Reef in Cairns, Australia. I believe its in Queensland. I went diving and snorkling there before, and it's beautiful. only the largest reef in the world.
 
Junior210 said:
The Caribbean is alright. Mexico has some very good diving and snorkeling. Thailand was absolutely amazing. I would recommend going to Mexico at this time. A lot of people were saying that Costa Rica had good diving and snorkeling but Costa Rica is mainly for surfing and fishing.
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I would agree! I lived in Costa Rica for a while and did alot of surfing, some fishing and went snorkeling a few times. Everywhere that I went I was able to see decent fish varieties but little to no coral
 
agears said:
but the best I've ever seen is definitely the Red Sea in Egypt.

Walking out from my hotel room to the beach, it was a reef. I saw a blue spotted string ray within 5 seconds of arriving. Tons of corals and fish. Just amazing snorkeling and even better diving.
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What city in Egypt? How difficult is it to get to? Would the riots make this a bad idea?
 
Well I have been looking into Roatan and it looks pretty sweet. Does anyone have experiance with a good hotel there? The ones I am finding look so-so.
 
RJREEFER said:
Quick and easy....John Pennekamp State Park in Key West, FLA. The reef is enclosed by netting so you are less at risk for aggressive fish chasing after you :gay1: They do have barracudas there though. It might not be as clear and eye popping at Fiji but still worth the trip...and MUCH cheaper :)
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Word....what RJ said. We are going there this summer as well. And if you need a place to stay 2 hours away: http://www.tcmas.org/forums/showthread.php?t=31601
 
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Awesome! I'd like to do the same. Another interesting thing in Roatan if you have the cash is that there's a small submarine there. The guy built it himself. It's only one of two places I guess in the world that you can do this as Roatan sits on a giant wall. Normally the subs have to go out on ships to get you that deep or something. Anyway, I think eh can take two people in it ;)

What part of the island are you staying on?
 
ArstenA said:
Well I have been looking into Roatan and it looks pretty sweet. Does anyone have experiance with a good hotel there? The ones I am finding look so-so.
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I stayed at a place called Anthonys key a while ago. Didnt snorkle, but the diving is awesome!

I would also recommend Akumal, Mexico, 1 hour south of Cancun. www.akumal.com
 
Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands group, has some very nice snorkeling. Some nice corals (though I think you might need to do scuba on the outside of the reef crest to see the most spectacular reef??? - I don't do scuba so I don't know for sure), and LOTS of different kinds of fish.

Here is a small sampling of the many photos I took:

http://www.tcmas.org/forums/showthread.php?t=33799&highlight=rarotonga

Unlike the Florida Keys where you need to take a fairly long boat ride out to the bank/barrier reef, in Rarotonga you swim a very short distance from the beach and you are met by large threadfin butterflyfish, porcupine fish, trigger fish, etc, and not much farther than that you start encountering corals and lots of neat reef fish.

And English is an official language in the Cook Islands.
 
Anyone have recommendations on a underwater camera? Might be fun to pick one up. What's your thoughts?
 
If you looking for something that can be used as a regular camera also, I'd suggest and point & shoot with an underwater case. There's also going DSLR with case and strobe; that get's really spendy.

Several Canon P&S are quite good and you can get a case for them (Canon makes underwater cases, but also look at Ikelite and some others). I've been looking at the Canon S95 with an Ikelite case.

Canon S95
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/729876-REG/Canon_4343B001_PowerShot_S95_Digital_Camera.html

Ikelite case
http://www.ikelite.com/web_two/can_s95.html

The case is as much as the camera,

Here's a video from the Maldives using the S95 for video (I didn't take this video, but oh I was I was there):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1_vXswus-c&feature=player_embedded

Good luck!
Glenn
 
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