AndrewCharles

Got an email from Royal Caribbean asking if I want to opt out of the Surfside Family Suite. Even allowing me to get my full deposit back.

2 hours ago, Pima1988 said:

As others have said you just walk out from the beach.  My husband is also a strong swimmer so he did not wear a vest.  If I recall there are 3 platforms with life guards.  The platforms are not for you to swim up to and sunbathe.  It is more of IF you are struggling the guards can get to you faster.   

I know the rental does come with fins, it probably comes with a vest too if you ask for one, but it is not mandatory that you take one, unlike the kayak or jet skis.

When we were there in July, the water was like glass, it really had no waves at all.  IE I am a beach girl, and love to jump waves, there were waves to jump at Horseshoe, but not at Coco Cay.  We also had no real wind as far as I could feel. but from Coco Cays standard it was too windy to send up the balloon..  My husband swam out to the must snorkel areas at least 3 times during the day.  He would be gone for about 45 -60 mins. each time.  I never asked how long it took to swim out there, just illustrating how strong of a swimmer he is.  

The water at Coco Cay is so clear you could be chest high in water and still see your feet clearly.  You will see fish swimming around your feet, but nothing like snorkeling according to my hubby.  He said when he swam out to the known areas that there were hundreds of fish. 

If you rented a cabana at Chill Island there is a rock jeddy by the cabanas (#10 and 11)  The cabanas have a roped off beach area for their personal use.  In that area there is also tiny crustaceans and fish to see inhabiting the formation.  You do not need snorkeling gear for that because it is not deep at all.  Just beware, when we were there, a family thought it was funny to basically tease the fish with food.  They would place it just at the top of the water for the fish to come up and nibble on it, and than yank it up in the air.  The problem with this is as they raised their hand into the air the gulls would come swooping down.  Once one gull finds food, a dozen more will be there within a few minutes.  Meanwhile you have now been under the water looking at the sea life and when you pop back up there are gulls swarming.  This family basically cleared the private lagoon area bc they did this.  They were so into take a picture of me, that they didn't realize or ignored the rest of us, saying quite loudly, can you believe they are doing that as we all walked out of the water.  They only stopped when at the end the gulls only had them to swoop in on.  The Mom of these teenagers even remarked OMG everybody left,  and now they only have us, let's get out.  (I heard her say this because of my cabana location -#10)   The gulls than lived on the rock jeddy for about 10-15 mins more until they realized that they had a better chance of food at the Chill Grill or Snack Shack.

Although it is a popular thing to do at Coco Cay my husband felt that it wasn't overcrowded with snorkelers.  IMPO, this probably is because you get the gear for the entire day.  We were there from 9 a.m. to all aboard at 5:30 (6 pm sail away).  

Hope that helps.

OBTW, we did Coco Cay 1st week of Nov. a few years ago.  The weather was beautiful, but it was chilly in the a.m., and the water temp will also be cooler than July.  You might have less people snorkeling,  due to the weather/water temp.  I recall that at 9 a.m. we wore light weight sweaters when we 1st got on the beach, but that day it also had some winds.  Nobody really went far out into the water until about 10-11.  After lunch it was really nice and warm temp wise and everybody was in the water.  My hubby is a water guy so he was in at 9:30 snorkeling, but he did come back and did the BRRR, I need to lay in the sun to warm up some.

Thanks for this. 

I do have a cabana at Chill Island, so I'm hoping we don't have any obnoxious families like the one you described. Way to ruin the mood for everyone. The kids and I are water people so hopefully we can get in some early morning swim time as well!!

Hello, 

41 Days to go until my first cruise (Harmony 10/27)!!!!!!! 

I am bringing my 3 nieces/nephew along with me, and we are bringing our own snorkeling gear. Do the kids need to wear any type of vest when snorkeling, and do we just walk straight into the water from the beach or is there a certain location for snorkeling?

Do they still provide snorkeling equipment with the cabanas on Chill Island?

I just checked my confirmation email and it says Chill Island Cabanas E  on October 28th. 

20 minutes ago, tiny260 said:

Lot of information on this discussion about Chill island cabanas.

Thanks! that thread was very helpful, and I apparently could not find it on my own. 

I am looking into getting a Chill Island cabana at Perfect Day in October, but it's really hard to find accurate info or photos with all the work being done on the island. Does anyone have any recent info on the Chill Island Cabanas?