East Island Excursions Snorkeling Adventure

Sandy Ruyack — Sat, 09 Sep 2017 18:28:31 +0000

Explore Culebra with East Island Excursions

Whether you’re looking for a fun day snorkeling or an enjoyable boat ride across crystal clear water, a trip to Culebra should be on your bucket list. A snorkel boat tour with East Island Excursions to Culebra, Puerto Rico offers beach, boating, snorkeling, and wildlife all in one great trip.

About Culebra Island

Culebra is an island municipality, located just 17 miles to the east of mainland Puerto Rico. This turquoise-and-blue paradise stretches along wildlife refuges, permitting the reefs around the island to flourish.

East Island Excursions Catamaran

The trip started on-board East Island Excursion 64’ Island Flyer high speed catamaran. After a safety briefing, cold drinks, and pastries we cast off from the dock at Puerto Del Rey in Ceiba. The catamaran is a pleasant boat, with accommodations for people to relax outside as well as inside the cabin. We spent approximately 45 minutes enjoying the sun, breeze, and magnificent views as we headed to Culebra along the Cordillera Islands. Arriving at one of Culebra’s beautiful reefs we anchored off of Tamarindo Beach for an hour and a half of snorkeling.

Tamarindo Beach Snorkeling

Tamarindo Beach, part of the Luis Peña Channel Natural Reserve, has amazing sea life. The beach is stone and stretches for more than a mile along the coast. Along the shore is where you’ll see a variety fish in a multitude of colors, brain coral, and large, vibrant sea fans. The sandy bottom and abundance of sea grass make it a popular area to view sea turtles and stingrays. After snorkling for a bit, a buffet of salads, deli meats along with fresh bread, fruit, cookies, and an open bar were served on the boat.

Coral Farming

After lunch we jumped back into the water to continue exploring the reefs along Tamarindo Beach.The University of Puerto Rico started a “coral farm” to help rehabilitate the reef. It’s an interesting site, but you need to snorkel quite a way from shore to see it.

Visiting Flamenco Beach

After a short boat ride over to Flamenco Beach – regarded as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world and by far the most popular in Culebra, we had plenty of time to explore the beach, snorkel in the stunningly blue water, or just relax.

Godzilla Grouper Sighting

Flamenco’s wide white white sandy beach stretches along the entire bay. There’s an abundance of good snorkeling just a short distance from the beach along the shore. Underneath our boat was our biggest surprise, Godzilla. This huge grouper hung out long enough for me to snap this photo. People have been known to hand-feed him ham from the lunch buffet, but watch out, he has pretty big teeth and I’ve heard he has nipped a few people confusing a finger with a tasty piece of ham!

A Fun Trip!

This trip is a beautiful experience of wildlife, snorkeling, beach, and boating.The captain and crew made us feel welcome and created a valuable learning experience. Many thanks to the staff at East Island Excursions for this tour. Please note that the snorkel and beach stops aren’t always the same. The captain picks the locations based on current weather conditions which is all in the best interest of your safety.

Disclosure details: Boulevards and Byways attended the tour at a discounted rate as a guest blogger of East Island Excursions. All opinions are my own.

Here’s what you get on the Snorkel Trip with East Island Excursions:

-Lunch buffet

-Beverages, including rum drinks

-Quality snorkeling equipment for all ages. I however, recommend purchasing a full face snorkel mask. I use one all the time and don’t deal with leaks or fogging issues anymore. See the bottom of this article for full face snorkel mask recommendations from Amazon. By purchasing through any of the the links below, Amazon will pay me a small commission which goes toward the fees related to this website.

-Swim platforms where guests have easy access to the wate

-Snorkeling instruction for beginners

-Floating devices

Price per person for a Snorkel Trip with East Island Excursions:

-Adults ……………….$99.00*

-Children (ages 3-11)……………$79.00*

*(Plus taxes 11.5% & DRNA fees $3.00 per person.)

What to Bring on a Snorkel Trip with East Island Excursions

-Sunscreen

-Towel

-Bathing suit cover up or T shirt

-Ziploc bag and/or waterproof beach bag– for your phone, wallet, dry clothing, etc.

-Waterproof camera