TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Snorkeling at Prickly Pear

Hi -

We'll be back on island in April and we were thinking about heading over to Prickly Pear for some snorkeling. We're staying at Orient, so would prefer to leave from Oyster Pond or Marigot.

The 'excursion offers' seem oriented toward the cruise traffic, are expensive and mostly depart from the Dutch side. Could anyone make a recommendation for an alternative that is not too large and is more affordable than the big guys. For $160 USD PP, I would expect more than a sandwich lunch <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />.

I checked into Captain Alan's and a couple of others but no one seems to go over to Prickly Pear except the large cats. Any suggestions appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Don

Been on this one many times. Fun day.
http://www.stmaarten-activities.com/en/activity/35496/lambada-to-prickly-pear-anguilla

An option from the French side. Did this trip a few years ago and enjoyed the day.

http://www.scoobidoo.com/Destinations/prickly-pear.html

Try Funseaker out of Anse Marcel. funseaker.com
We took a trip last year in April & it was wonderful.

Scoodidoo broke free from it's moorage and was damaged on the rocks. Will be out of commission for some time for repairs.

The name of the boat that broke loose was the ScoobiToo. Not sure if that is the only boat ScoobiDoo charters has or not.

ScoobiToo

Scoobitoo is the only one shown on their web site and going to Barths, Prickly Pear and Anguilla.

I'm not sure what you're looking for but Lambada does and excursion to Prickly Pear although as you have noted, it is out of the Pelican. Your reference to "sandwich lunch" leaves me a little confused as the lunches for most of the excursions are at the restaurant on Prickly Pear and you have a choice of fish, chicken, ribs or vegetarian meals. Drinks on the boats are free both coming and going and they are free with snacks of cheese, baguettes and apples for the trip.

The Lambada day sail to Prickly Pear is $105.00 +$20.00 port fee per person. Again, not sure where the $160.00 came from. The crew is excellent and on occasion the Captain will anchor off Cap Jaluca on the return trip for some snorkeling and beach time.

My wife and I have done this trip several times and thoroughly enjoy the day.

So very sad. We had a great day on Scoobitoo back in November. Great crew!

Tripadvisor has a review from an Anguilla trip done in early Feb.
Since we will be at GCBC in late June, Scoobidoo is on my short list.

The damage to Scoobi Too was very recent. Souligacaptn said in the other thread that it was unclear whether it would be repairable or not.

We are big fans of the ScoobiToo. In December my sister and I took both the excursion to St. Barts and Anguilla/Tintamarre. Upon hearing about the accident I emailed the company directly out of concern for both the catamaran and the employees. I am returning to SXM in June. I received the following response:

Hi Karen,

Thanks so much! Yes, it was a shock to all of us, and the circumstances are
still mysterious. It was touch and go, but we did manage to get her off the
rocks eventually and she is now safely in the boat yard. It will take a
while, a lot has to be ordered from the original builder in France etc - but
thankfully it is all fixable. She is a tough cookie our ScoobiToo... and I'm
sure she felt all that positive energy people sent from all over! It has
been quite impressive actually - we knew Scoobidoo has a lot fans, but the
feedback was overwhelming and touched us deeply.

The current estimate for the complete repair is about 2 months - so no
problem for you guys in June. And we will be delighted to have you on board
again!

Thanks so much for posting that update.

That's good news but we all know what 2 months really means in island time with "about" the key word. Hope she is correct and it's back in the water on time.

Thanks for the info, everyone! We'll do some more research but your input is really appreciated!

Don