Snorkeling locations.

I will be staying at the Adventura Spa Palace.

Where is the nearest good snorkeling? (not the 'lagoon')

Thanks

[dicesare]

I've been told that Xhu-Pa is great (where Tralin said the equipment is free...also, all Palace resorts have the "1 Palace, All Palaces!" promotion going on until Dec. 23, 2003. This means that if you are staying at any palace resort, you can go to any of the 5 others & still eat & drink,etc. on the AI plan!! ). Also, I think you can take the South road out of the resort & there is a little public beach there that is on a golf course, & the beach is supposed to be much nicer than the lagoon. Someone posted it on the All-Inclusive forum, so you might search ASP stuff & see. It may have been BobintheChuck....he seems to know quite a bit! Oh, by the way, Xhu-Pa is a 5 minute free bus ride, & the beach out the south exit is a 5 minute bike ride or a 15 min. walk!

Has anyone done any snorkeling in the ocean right in front of Adventura?

If so... is it any good?

We found good snorkeling at Ya ku lagoon I think thats how it was spelled it was great we saw turtles and stingrays. Also there was a cenote just before hidden worlds that was actually a back way into hidden worlds it was great.

[dicesare]

Paul-- I was wondering that myself...I know they have the reef & some rocks as breakers against the ocean, but what if you climb over the breakers & go into the ocean in front? I have yet to hear about that, but I am assuming it must be a bit rough, & maybe the undertow is bad...I dont know! But I will ask lots of questions in 9 days & let you know! 8)

[Sayleaway]

I stayed at Xpu-Ha a couple of weeks ago. There is a snorkeling lagoon (saltwater) and a fresh water estuary. Both make for interesting snorkeling, but there isn't a reef so it isn't the greatest snorkeling in the world. The fish mainly gather around some underground concrete tubes and towards to edge. Snorkeling at Xpu-Ha is great if you're not an experienced snorkeler or expecting a rainbow of colors on a reef. You'd probably want to go to Xel-Ha or Cozumel for that.

As far as Aventura snorkeling, we had a room-service waiter at Xpu-Ha tell us that a honeymooning couple was walking on the rocks by the ocean at Aventura (sometime in the past year) and they were swept to their death by the waves :o . He said it was really tragic for the resort. The waves are quite potent and definitely not safe for snorkeling. The rocks are very craggy and volcanic-looking so you wouldn't have much chance if a wave started pounding you against them. Xpu-Ha's lagoon is protected from large waves by rocks, but even it can get too rough. The resort (based on decree by the Mexican gov't apparently) post either red, yellow, or green flags. The flags were mostly red while we were there and yellow a few times allowing for some snorkeling. It was never green. The signs say no swimming if it's red, use caution if it's yellow, and no problem if it's green.

Hope that helps...

[sunnybrook31]

Yeah...that helps. Helped me decide not to snorkel at Aventura!