Best place to go snorkling
May 23, 2017 7:42 AM Subscribe
I'm hoping to go on vacation in the winter one year, preferably to somewhere with white sand and warm water. I'm not rich, and I am concerned with safety.
I'd like to visit somewhere and float in turquoise water that has colourful fish in it and white sand, but I don't have the money to stay anywhere very expensive. I'll be going by myself, so I am concerned about feeling secure at night (I've stayed in tents on beaches with groups of friends before, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that by myself). I'd prefer the Western side of the map, as it'll save on plane tickets as well as avoid jet lag. I'm not sure where to go, and vacation sites and photos are often flat out lies.
I'm fine with staying in hostels with bunk beds, but I have absolutely no interest in the loud music and drunk tourist aspect of beach going. The timing would be January or February, so not during the Christmas season.
Any suggestions?
I'd like to visit somewhere and float in turquoise water that has colourful fish in it and white sand, but I don't have the money to stay anywhere very expensive. I'll be going by myself, so I am concerned about feeling secure at night (I've stayed in tents on beaches with groups of friends before, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that by myself). I'd prefer the Western side of the map, as it'll save on plane tickets as well as avoid jet lag. I'm not sure where to go, and vacation sites and photos are often flat out lies.
I'm fine with staying in hostels with bunk beds, but I have absolutely no interest in the loud music and drunk tourist aspect of beach going. The timing would be January or February, so not during the Christmas season.
Any suggestions?
Check out Key Largo. It has two underwater parks - John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuar. I have not been there in about ten years, but they are both beautiful.
posted by rtimmel at 8:52 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by rtimmel at 8:52 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
Playa del Carmen, Isla Mujeres, and/or Tulum.
You won't find a ton of hostels anymore, but you will find some budget hotels and resort deals. It's been about a decade since I did yearly vacations in the area, but it's a heavily-reviewed location. Playa.info was my #1 resource back in the day, and it appears to still be going strong.
Tripadvisor can also be a good resource, but it does tend to suffer from a certain Americanness that thinks modest local hotels should be like a freshly-remodeled La Quinta in Denver when these areas are much more geared to the sensibility of domestic and European tourists. (They are clean, relatively safe places to sleep and bathe and store your stuff. They are not refrigerated high-thread-count entertainment palaces.)
Isla Mujeres in particular is a pretty family-friendly location, it's a small mostly car-free island and good jumping off point for snorkel/dive/wildlife-watching excursions without the cruise ship/party atmosphere of Cozumel, though that's probably an option you should check for budget accommodations if you need a really really cheap place to stay.
Tulum used to be a string of beach hotels (good beach, too, with lots of shade and little coves) with only a few hours of generator electricity a day. Now it seems to be massive resorts down one end and a few beach hotels left that are now luxury eco-hotels down the other (closer to the Sian Ka'an biosphere/preserve). Over the years it sounds like all the budget accommodations remaining were in the town of Tulum rather than out at the beach, but you run the risk of eating up all your savings on transportation out to the beach. It's not nearby.
Playa del Carmen also has an in-town area vs outlying (Playacar), but many of the in-town hotels are a few minutes' walk to the beach. 5th Avenue (Calle Quinta Avenida) is the closest street to the sand, and you can stay up into the 20 or 30 streets and still only be a short walk. There are a lot of excursions out of PdC, and I know a lot of divers who stay there for flexibility instead of getting more locked in to the options out of Cozumel, and Cancun is a) too big b) too oriented at a different market share to be a great dive/excursion base. Just getting to a spot on the water where someone can get you into a boat is a tough slog.
Jan-Feb is low season in the Riviera Maya (in Feb you may run into European families on late-winter break, but not a lot of American party-breakers). It's about as cool as the weather gets outside of Christmas/NY high season. Isla Mujeres requires a 30min ferry from the Cancun ferryport that is about a 20-30min transfer from the airport. Playa del Carmen is about 90min from the Cancun airport shuttle stop, with frequent shuttles. Tulum will take more like two hours and change.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:32 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
You won't find a ton of hostels anymore, but you will find some budget hotels and resort deals. It's been about a decade since I did yearly vacations in the area, but it's a heavily-reviewed location. Playa.info was my #1 resource back in the day, and it appears to still be going strong.
Tripadvisor can also be a good resource, but it does tend to suffer from a certain Americanness that thinks modest local hotels should be like a freshly-remodeled La Quinta in Denver when these areas are much more geared to the sensibility of domestic and European tourists. (They are clean, relatively safe places to sleep and bathe and store your stuff. They are not refrigerated high-thread-count entertainment palaces.)
Isla Mujeres in particular is a pretty family-friendly location, it's a small mostly car-free island and good jumping off point for snorkel/dive/wildlife-watching excursions without the cruise ship/party atmosphere of Cozumel, though that's probably an option you should check for budget accommodations if you need a really really cheap place to stay.
Tulum used to be a string of beach hotels (good beach, too, with lots of shade and little coves) with only a few hours of generator electricity a day. Now it seems to be massive resorts down one end and a few beach hotels left that are now luxury eco-hotels down the other (closer to the Sian Ka'an biosphere/preserve). Over the years it sounds like all the budget accommodations remaining were in the town of Tulum rather than out at the beach, but you run the risk of eating up all your savings on transportation out to the beach. It's not nearby.
Playa del Carmen also has an in-town area vs outlying (Playacar), but many of the in-town hotels are a few minutes' walk to the beach. 5th Avenue (Calle Quinta Avenida) is the closest street to the sand, and you can stay up into the 20 or 30 streets and still only be a short walk. There are a lot of excursions out of PdC, and I know a lot of divers who stay there for flexibility instead of getting more locked in to the options out of Cozumel, and Cancun is a) too big b) too oriented at a different market share to be a great dive/excursion base. Just getting to a spot on the water where someone can get you into a boat is a tough slog.
Jan-Feb is low season in the Riviera Maya (in Feb you may run into European families on late-winter break, but not a lot of American party-breakers). It's about as cool as the weather gets outside of Christmas/NY high season. Isla Mujeres requires a 30min ferry from the Cancun ferryport that is about a 20-30min transfer from the airport. Playa del Carmen is about 90min from the Cancun airport shuttle stop, with frequent shuttles. Tulum will take more like two hours and change.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:32 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
Check out Rincon, Puerto Rico. You can snorkel right off the beach.
posted by MelissaSimon at 9:57 AM on May 23, 2017
posted by MelissaSimon at 9:57 AM on May 23, 2017
If you're considering the Virgin Islands, you should check out places in the British Virgin Islands. I've found better snorkeling there than on the US side, and it's a little more rustic beach bar than high end resort, so you might find cheaper accommodations. Anegada is the most remote of the British islands, but it's amazing.
We sail in those islands every year, so I've been to most of them for at least a day. Feel free to mail me if you're considering it and have specific questions.
posted by thejanna at 10:13 AM on May 23, 2017
We sail in those islands every year, so I've been to most of them for at least a day. Feel free to mail me if you're considering it and have specific questions.
posted by thejanna at 10:13 AM on May 23, 2017
I was snorkeling in Key Largo in February about 2 years ago, and it was beautiful and relatively cheap. The snorkeling tour people warned that we needed wetsuits because the water was "really cold"; when I (from New England) questioned them for details, they said "we always recommend suits (gesture at short-sleeve short-leg body suits) when the water temperature is under 78 degrees F, and today it's only 75". My mind boggled, the water on my local beach only hits 72 in the middle of August. So yes, it seemed warm, but then yes I was glad to have the suit after a little while. In any case, I remember from the hotel search that actual hotels were pretty expensive, but B&Bs were super cheap, especially if you're up for the idea of bunking on a boat. We had a large room with a kitchenette, on a houseboat for $75/night (fairly sure there were smaller/cheaper options) it was much less than resort quality but had a nice homey "camping cabin" feel to it (crooked, as clean as it gets which still involves sand in the cracks) that was pretty well suited to the feel of the vacation we were doing. (But if you've got a cleanliness baseline that will start imagining bodily fluids if you don't smell bleach, you may not be happy.) In any case, I'd recommend looking into Key Largo as a low-airfare option. You'd probably want a rental car, though, so that would eat into the savings.
posted by aimedwander at 11:03 AM on May 23, 2017
posted by aimedwander at 11:03 AM on May 23, 2017
I'd recommend Isla Mujeres. If you're on a budget, fly into Cancun, take the bus to Centro, take a taxi to the ferry, take the ferry to the island and stay in one of the many $45 - $75 rooms available. There are a couple of hostels on the island, but I've never stayed in them so I can't vouch for them. The island is safe, the beach is lovely, you can find a snorkeling tour from one of the locals, the food is inexpensive and delicious, and Iwanttobethererightnow!
posted by Floydd at 12:24 PM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Floydd at 12:24 PM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
You might check out hostels or other accomodations on St. John, which is less touristy and crowded than St. Thomas. You'll still have to fly into St. Thomas and take a ferry, unless you make friends with someone with a boat.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:44 AM on May 23, 2017