Brining our own snorkel gear to Castaway Cay?

[orangesub]

While you can snorkel close to shore in the snorkel area, you can’t hang out, bring chairs near the water, dig holes in the sand, build castles, or that sort of thing by the snorkel area. It has to be kept clear and flat for if they need to rescue someone.

 

[Rob1872]

Thank you for telling me... I had no idea it was far out. Are you allowed to snorkel close to the shoreline or is there a flow of traffic type of thing? If we have to tow in and out we are good with it but, we would rather be safe then sorry.

It is (or at least it was) VERY shallow for quite a ways. I was wading for quite a while before it got deep enough to actually start swimming. One suggestion if you do want to go all of the way out to the underwater items: Don't use the snorkel until you actually get out there. (I had a full face mask that I kept up on top of my head for the swim out and back.) You burn up too much energy breathing through the tube when just swimming for the transit.

 

[TXAGGIE92]

As others have said, you can stay close to shore if you want. One thing I would recommend is go as early as possible. The water visibility is much better in the morning. I don't think it ever gets so bad that you can't see the bottom, but it is very murky in the shallow parts later in the day.

As far as wildlife goes, I've seen sting rays as close as 10 yards from shore and there are fish swimming around as well. I've also seen small hermit crabs. You have to swim slowly or you might miss them.

 

[AZMermaid]

Adding onto to this… my son is a competitive swimmer and trains 5-6 days a week. He’ll be newly 12 when we go. He just swam the mile at the State meet this weekend. Would he be okay without fins? We are thinking of bringing his training snorkel vs renting, but the fins take up quite a bit of space, although he does use the short ones. My 10 year daughter is also a strong swimmer, but doesn’t have the endurance he does but this is high on her list. I’m thinking she’d need fins for sure? She also has a training snorkel we could bring.

 

[Rob1872]

Adding onto to this… my son is a competitive swimmer and trains 5-6 days a week. He’ll be newly 12 when we go. He just swam the mile at the State meet this weekend. Would he be okay without fins? We are thinking of bringing his training snorkel vs renting, but the fins take up quite a bit of space, although he does use the short ones. My 10 year daughter is also a strong swimmer, but doesn’t have the endurance he does but this is high on her list. I’m thinking she’d need fins for sure? She also has a training snorkel we could bring.

You know his swimming ability better than we do. It is a bit of a swim to get out to where all of the best underwater objects are. Both of them would be required to use the free snorkel vest so at least they wouldn't get into serious trouble if they wore themselves out. All I know is that I'm very happy that I was using fins both times I've gone out.

Understand you are trying to save money and luggage space. I think that the better question you need to ask yourself is not, "Can he get through it without fins?" and should instead ask yourself, "Will he enjoy it without fins?"

 

[AZMermaid]

True. That’s a good point. He’d probably enjoy it more with fins and swimming in the ocean is a different beast than the pool. He’d probably be “fine” but not have to think about it with the fins. Now to decide to just rent or bring, lol!

 

[Carrie in AZ]

We bring our own masks, snorkels and fins and it is a lot of space for sure. But, paying for an extra suitcase with the airline still might be cheaper than renting equipment for a family. We bring our own, especially masks, to ensure proper fittings for all of us. I am thinking it may be too far out there for a 4yo, it is a long way, but you can for sure stay close to shore. My opinion is fins are needed to get way out there. I cannot imagine doing it without fins, but I am not in great shape!

 

[Akck]

Adding onto to this… my son is a competitive swimmer and trains 5-6 days a week. He’ll be newly 12 when we go. He just swam the mile at the State meet this weekend. Would he be okay without fins? We are thinking of bringing his training snorkel vs renting, but the fins take up quite a bit of space, although he does use the short ones. My 10 year daughter is also a strong swimmer, but doesn’t have the endurance he does but this is high on her list. I’m thinking she’d need fins for sure? She also has a training snorkel we could bring.

Let me relate what happened to us in Hawaii. We were snorkeling in a protected cove area and because it was so shallow (we walked over half the time), we left our fins on the beach. We’ll, we decided to cross a spit where it was deeper. Little did we know that waves entering the mouth of the cove would create a current over the spit, strong enough that we just swam in place when we tried to get back to the spit. We had to swim parallel to the spit before we reached shallow water where we could walk again. Our intention was to go back and get our fins, but we were too tired to go back in the water. We would’ve had no problems had we had our fins in the first place (others were snorkeling in the area).

I recommend bringing fins. While I don’t know what the currents are like at Castaway Cay, it’s better to be prepared. Also, make sure your daughter knows how to swim with fins properly.