Before leaving home, we booked a snorkeling excursion with Princess Cruises for our day in Belize. We again were quickly and efficiently brought off the ship to board a small boat for the forty minute ride to Goff’s Cay. As we skimmed and bounced across the seas, we were fitted with fins and snorkel gear.
The choppy seas and gray skies seemed foreboding, and when we arrived at Goff’s Cay, many passengers went directly to this small, sandy atoll. This actually proved to be a wise decision, as we discovered later that the snorkeling accessed by wading in from the beach was better on this day than on the other part of the reef where we ventured.
We proceeded to a point along the reef that was a few hundred yards away. When we came to a stop, the boat bobbed up and down radically, and many passengers had second thoughts about their decision to leave the atoll. At that point, it was too late. The tour guide asked strong swimmers to get in the water first, and if not the strongest swimmer I was nonetheless the first one in the water, primarily because I didn’t want to be on the bouncing boat. That proved to be a good decision, as the guide seemed to give me greater leeway throughout the snorkeling time.
The choppy seas and gray skies seemed foreboding, and when we arrived at Goff’s Cay, many passengers went directly to this small, sandy atoll. This actually proved to be a wise decision, as we discovered later that the snorkeling accessed by wading in from the beach was better on this day than on the other part of the reef where we ventured.
We proceeded to a point along the reef that was a few hundred yards away. When we came to a stop, the boat bobbed up and down radically, and many passengers had second thoughts about their decision to leave the atoll. At that point, it was too late. The tour guide asked strong swimmers to get in the water first, and if not the strongest swimmer I was nonetheless the first one in the water, primarily because I didn’t want to be on the bouncing boat. That proved to be a good decision, as the guide seemed to give me greater leeway throughout the snorkeling time.
I was particularly proud of Amy and her friend Jamie, who as 15 year-old girls could have easily wimped out and cried about how miserable the conditions turned out, but neither complained at all about the rough seas while on the boat or when they jumped fearlessly into the water. They both did fantastic and seemed to enjoy the day.The tide gradually moved us back toward the island, so to a great extent we drifted effortlessly along. Because of the choppy seas, however, the guide kept the group away from the heart of the reef where sharp but beautiful coral was closer to the surface and could scratch the careless. I went over to the shallow area and found more beautiful coral formations and more plentiful fish than what I saw while staying with the group. Over the course of an hour and a half, we drifted back to the atoll, and then we spent time on the little beach. The only negative of Goff’s Cay was the incessant pounding of a boom box playing salsa music at a volume slightly higher than the speakers could handle without distortion. The snorkeling off the beach, as I mentioned, proved to be excellent, and we were the last ones on the boat to return to the ship.
After a delicious lunch onboard the Grand Princess, we headed into town. I don’t believe I have ever been on a cruise where the ships anchor as far away from shore as in Belize. The tender to shore seems at least twice as far as normal. The homogenized shopping complex is buffered from the old city by a rough looking section that discourages further exploration, so I would definitely recommend some kind of excursion for anyone visiting Belize. We had some friends who raved about their tour to the extensive, well-preserved Mayan ruins, and some other friends had fun on a cave tubing expetion.
