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 Snorkel Antigua (Ship’s
Excursion)
Ship: Norwegian Dawn (NCL)
Sailing Date: December 19th,
2004
Date of Snorkel: December 23rd,
2004
Equipment Availability: we
have our own which we take with us, but snorkeling equipment
for this excursion can be borrowed from the catamaran, the
Spirit of Antigua, Wadadli Cats. All equipment appeared to
be clean and well maintained.
Water Access: Off the front
and back of the catamaran.
This is a 5 hour
shore excursion (drinks and a delicious luncheon included
for $79) that normally takes one to both Bird Island and
Pelican Island on the Atlantic side of Antigua. However,
the wind, waves and weather conditions on the day of our
trip dictated a change in site to Cade’s Reef (pronounced
“Caddy’s”—rhymes with “Daddy”) on the Caribbean Sea side of
Antigua off Goat’s Head to the southwest. The Wadadli Cats
crew members were high spirited, well informed, and out to
ensure that everyone had a good time, which made for a very
entertaining trip despite its length. Loud music, dancing,
plenty of food and free drinks were the order of the day
after our swim!
Cade’s Reef is
(most unfortunately) largely dead. Our crew explained that
pollution from light industry on this side of Antigua
damaged the reef considerably before anyone realized what
was happening to the off-shore environment. They insisted
that the problem had been fixed and that the reef was
“coming back” although we saw precious little evidence of
this. The area is enormous—covering several square miles,
but snorkeling over what were basically skeletal remains of
a reef was somewhat spooky. We saw a wide variety of fish,
including some beautiful Midnight Trigger fish (an unusual
sighting for us), but no fish survive in any sort of
quantity at this site. Damselfish in all sorts and types
predominate, but you have to swim around and hunt for them
too—no great numbers! With snorkelers spread out over the
large area trying to find things to admire and photograph,
the catamaran’s crew took to small inflatable zodiacs which
periodically zoomed over to where you were swimming to be
sure you were alright and whether or not you wanted a lift
back to the boat! Nice touch for safety!
Recommended!
Snorkeling Grade: B-/C+
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