snorkel vacation for the moderately disabled

When were you there? We just got back and most of the coral - around
Rarotongan Beach Resort - was dead. Or 95% anyway.

We transferred to Aitutaki - supposed to be better - and it was no
different. Worse iin fact.

The Muri area was said to be better but we never got to look at it.
Somehow I don't think it would have been much different. Same lagoon.

Our copy of Lonely Planet gave glowing reports on all the coral but it
was prinited in 2000.

Something bad seems to have happened since then.

I wonder whether the fantastic coral we have seen over the years in
Hawaii, Vanuatu, Fiji, Moorea, Great Barrier Reef is also affected?
Cyclones? Global Warming? Pollution? In the case of the Cook Islands we
can rule out the latter.

Further to the above, poking around the web I found that my assumption
that the Cook Islands would be free of pollution problems may not be
correct - especially Rarotonga but even Aitutaki. There was also
mention of Crown of Thorns. I saw none of these - maybe they have
finished and moved on.

<kkerrison@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
news:1121674608.189604.117940@z14g2000cwz.googlegr oups.com...
> Further to the above, poking around the web I found that my assumption
> that the Cook Islands would be free of pollution problems may not be
> correct - especially Rarotonga but even Aitutaki. There was also
> mention of Crown of Thorns. I saw none of these - maybe they have
> finished and moved on.

I suspect you are right about the Crown of Thorns. I had forgotten that
they were a major problem around the time of my visit there. They were
indeed doing a number on the coral.

However, there were still lots of fish!

There sre still plenty of fish.
Incidentally your comment in another thread about rough boat rides
reminded me of a good diving resort off Fiji called Naigani. Not only
does the trip out threaten your spine (as the small boat dodges amongst
the reefs) but when you get there, the shore is littered with wrecks of
similar boats which ran into problems. Good snorkelling (or it was
then) and, I understand, good diving.

<kkerrison@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
news:1121745437.056723.256790@g47g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> There sre still plenty of fish.
> Incidentally your comment in another thread about rough boat rides
> reminded me of a good diving resort off Fiji called Naigani. Not only
> does the trip out threaten your spine (as the small boat dodges amongst
> the reefs) but when you get there, the shore is littered with wrecks of
> similar boats which ran into problems. Good snorkelling (or it was
> then) and, I understand, good diving.

I'm assuming you are replying to one of my posts?

Good to hear there are still plenty of fish.

(As an aside, it will be quite helpful to the readers if you learn how to
quote the posts to which you respond)

My wife and I are planning to take a vacation in the last week of July
and we'd like to go someplace warm, with some good snorkeling. I
realize this is a scuba list but I assume many of you know of
snorkeling locations. I used to be an avid spearfisher, surfer,
windsurfer and now I've had some back problems that have taken me out
of all the games I used to play. I think I can go snorkeling however,
if I play it smart. Unfortunately we are used to "adventurous" travel;
camping, making our own itineraries. Her first snorkel trip was a self
directed trip in the Baja in cold water, kayaking aimlessly around the
Bay of Los Angeles. It was great, the whales swarmed us, we will never
forget it but not what many people would consider a great snorkeling
experience. I would really like her to experience some warm clear
water, reef and some proximity to marine life. (and I'd dig it too!)

I am basically admitting to myself that I will need a good comfortable
bed, and many more comforts than I ever have needed in the past, but I
know I'll be miserable if we go for the all-inclusive or awful tourist
trap, I've avoided all of that scene my whole life so far. I can't do
long rocky bus rides, long hikes carrying gear, or crazy bouncing boat
rides. (Basically I have to protect my spine, it gets broke easily.) So
I can think of a lot of places I can't go right off the bat, but I
imagine there have to be some destinations/accomodations that would
work out for us. We love Mexico, but would avoid anything remotely
similar to Cancun like the plague. In the Carribean I've only been to
Nassau and found it pretty depressing. Spent 2 years in Central America
and visited Honduras/Utila and loved it (apart from the jejenes) but
not sure I can handle the trek, I remember the boat ride was utterly
insane. Other than that, Costa Rica was of course idyllic but I don't
recall great snorkeling. The only place I've ever really seen abundant
reef life was near Key West about 20 years ago. We basically need to
find a place that is relatively straighforward to reach, it doesn't
have to be a resort but a good bed. Other than that, I think we just
want to keep it simple. We would choose an interesting or romantic
locale that has some great snorkeling over a place where all you would
ever want to do is dive. I realize late July is in hurricane season,
not sure what that would mean, seems to me like August is when it
starts to blow in Carribean. And yes, we want to try and travel
somewhat inexpensively. I know, I'm expecting a lot.


I've read a little about Bonaire (but it always seems like a local biz
owner's opinion) Cozumel, St. John, Roatan, FL keys. Any suggestions
anyone could give us would be greatly appreciated!

<designtaco@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1119328685.647165.47650@g43g2000cwa.googlegro ups.com...
> My wife and I are planning to take a vacation in the last week of July
> and we'd like to go someplace warm, with some good snorkeling. I
> realize this is a scuba list but I assume many of you know of
> snorkeling locations. I used to be an avid spearfisher, surfer,
> windsurfer and now I've had some back problems that have taken me out
> of all the games I used to play. I think I can go snorkeling however,
> if I play it smart. Unfortunately we are used to "adventurous" travel;
> camping, making our own itineraries. Her first snorkel trip was a self
> directed trip in the Baja in cold water, kayaking aimlessly around the
> Bay of Los Angeles. It was great, the whales swarmed us, we will never
> forget it but not what many people would consider a great snorkeling
> experience. I would really like her to experience some warm clear
> water, reef and some proximity to marine life. (and I'd dig it too!)
>
> I am basically admitting to myself that I will need a good comfortable
> bed, and many more comforts than I ever have needed in the past, but I
> know I'll be miserable if we go for the all-inclusive or awful tourist
> trap, I've avoided all of that scene my whole life so far. I can't do
> long rocky bus rides, long hikes carrying gear, or crazy bouncing boat
> rides. (Basically I have to protect my spine, it gets broke easily.) So
> I can think of a lot of places I can't go right off the bat, but I
> imagine there have to be some destinations/accomodations that would
> work out for us. We love Mexico, but would avoid anything remotely
> similar to Cancun like the plague. In the Carribean I've only been to
> Nassau and found it pretty depressing. Spent 2 years in Central America
> and visited Honduras/Utila and loved it (apart from the jejenes) but
> not sure I can handle the trek, I remember the boat ride was utterly
> insane. Other than that, Costa Rica was of course idyllic but I don't
> recall great snorkeling. The only place I've ever really seen abundant
> reef life was near Key West about 20 years ago. We basically need to
> find a place that is relatively straighforward to reach, it doesn't
> have to be a resort but a good bed. Other than that, I think we just
> want to keep it simple. We would choose an interesting or romantic
> locale that has some great snorkeling over a place where all you would
> ever want to do is dive. I realize late July is in hurricane season,
> not sure what that would mean, seems to me like August is when it
> starts to blow in Carribean. And yes, we want to try and travel
> somewhat inexpensively. I know, I'm expecting a lot.
>
>
> I've read a little about Bonaire (but it always seems like a local biz
> owner's opinion) Cozumel, St. John, Roatan, FL keys. Any suggestions
> anyone could give us would be greatly appreciated!
>

Cocoview Resort in Roatan (Honduras).

Rudy Benner wrote:

> Cocoview Resort in Roatan (Honduras).

I have heard of it. Do you have any more information on why you'd
recommend this?

Thanks!

designtaco@gmail.com wrote:
> My wife and I are planning to take a vacation in the last week of July
> and we'd like to go someplace warm, with some good snorkeling. I
> realize this is a scuba list but I assume many of you know of
> snorkeling locations. I used to be an avid spearfisher, surfer,
> windsurfer and now I've had some back problems that have taken me out
> of all the games I used to play. I think I can go snorkeling however,
> if I play it smart.
SNIP
> I've read a little about Bonaire (but it always seems like a local biz
> owner's opinion) Cozumel, St. John, Roatan, FL keys. Any suggestions
> anyone could give us would be greatly appreciated!

You might find snorkelling in Bonaire feasible for your condition, if
you can walk carefully and slowly across gently sloping broken coral,
perhaps with a collapsible walking stick of some sort. You wouldn't
have far to walk, since quite a few of the dozens of shore dive sites
allow bringing a vehicle to within 50' of the water's edge. Also, waves
are minimal or absent at most sites.

Since Bonaire was my only Caribbean dive trip, I don't know how the
snorkelling compares with other places. However, my wife, an absolute
newbie to snorkelling, enjoyed it immensely. She was able to see quite
a bit of coral and fish, and even saw a turtle at one site. I enjoyed
the snorkelling, too, even if it offered much less than my dives. It
was easy to see a hundred or more fish from several different species
in an hour of snorkelling. 8^)

HTH.

Dave C

"mslf500" <mslf500@netzero.(remove)com> wrote in message
news:1119709128.250609b786199b023bf3c62a8fff5a04@t eranews...
> Ambergris Key in Belize has good easy snorkeling from a boat. Shark Ray
> alley is only a 5 minute boat ride from town. All the operators do this
> trip. All of the roads in town, with one exception, are sand. Most
people
> simply walk along the beach to get to the restaurants.

And that's the problem with snorkelling at Ambergris Caye. Generally people
that like to snorkel, expect to be able to just wander in from shore and not
incur a fee because they have to take a boat to get to the snorkelling.

Some of the best snorkelling I've ever done was in the Cook Islands. Not
exactly the Caribbean, but it was very beautiful.

(snip)