When you choose to spend your visit to Roatan with us, we don’t take it lightly. We know you have countless shore excursion options to choose from and only one day to explore Roatan during a cruise ship vacation. That’s why Jolly Roger Roatan spends extensive time choosing the best snorkeling site for every individual tour.

We want you to know that we don’t just take you to the closest area near your cruise ship – nor do we waste time driving all the way to the other end of the island.

We carefully select our snorkel sites based on a number of factors. But all of those factors add up to try to give you the absolute best experience you could have here in Roatan.

We take into account the weather conditions, first and foremost. That means recent conditions, current conditions, and potential conditions during your visit.

We know the areas that might not have great visibility if a rainstorm came through yesterday. We also know the areas that are better protected from a south-eastern wind. We know where to go for a calmer area when the sea is a bit choppy.

We also take into account the amount of time we’re given by your cruise ship. Tours vary in length, although within the same general range of time. The location of your cruise ship port also affects our decision, as we have to factor in transportation time.

Based on the weather conditions, we narrow down our snorkel site options and then compare them to your cruise ship port. Again, we don’t want to waste time driving around the whole island, so we try to get you onto your catamaran as quickly as possible and then out to the best snorkeling site from there.

Finally, we need to take into consideration any other boats in the area at the time of your tour. Since Roatan is a very popular island for scuba diving, there are countless boats taking divers out around the same areas for snorkeling. Many of Roatan’s best dive sites are shallow, making them beautiful snorkel sites as well.

If we intend to visit a specific snorkeling site, but another boat is there as we approach, we cannot also tie up at the same location. It’s not safe for their divers and it’s not safe for our snorkelers. So, sometimes, we need to alter our destination at the last minute.

But – even if that happens – we know this reef like the back of our hands and we’ll head straight to the best alternative site.

When choosing the best snorkeling site for you, we choose the best combination of options based on our local expertise. And we hope you have a fantastic experience seeing lots of beautiful marine life!