Castaway Snorkeling Question

[pschro1]

We are going on our first ever disney cruise next year. My boys and I have been watching all kinds of videos to get us excited for the trip. One thing my boys are the most excited for is snorkeling on Castaway as they have never been snorkeling before, I have been snorkeling a couple times. One thing I notice on the videos people post of the snorkeling is that they all are staying at the surface. Are you not allowed to "dive down" and get closer to the items on the sea floor? I seem to recall possibly watching a video a while ago that the person (it might have been Tim Tracker), was "yelled" at by the life guards for going underwater. I haven't found any published rules online. Totally could understand why the lifeguards would want you to stay on the surface, but I wouldnt want to break an"unwritten" rule and put us in a uncomfortable situation. Obviously if the vest is inflated, this would prohibit you from diving. But most of the people I see have the vest de-flated.

 

[tvguy]

Never heard of any restriction of on diving down. We did.

 

[Rex1993]

We were there in June and diving down a lot. At least a few times right in front of the lifeguard tower way out in the middle. If snorkeling is the focus, get started first thing in the morning. As the day wears on the amount of people out there just increases. It makes the water very murky and difficult to see anything.

 

[Rallard21]

We normally go earlier in the day. If they've never done it before get ready for a little work. Most of the good stuff are on the far end of the area. We've never had problems with going underwater.

 

[lanejudy]

How old are the boys and how strong are they as swimmers? Not to be negative, but just be aware it can be a LONG swim out to where most of the advertised snorkeling stuff is seen. Younger kids often tire trying to get there or and it's tiring to the adult to haul them back to shore. You can snorkel closer to shore, you just won't see the Disney stuff that's been placed out in the more open area.

 

[Disneyfam854]

Removing my comment because I was completely incorrect in my statement

 

[pschro1]

At time of sailing they will be 13 and 8. I of course would start them slow and have them practice shallow before we work our way out.

 

[Marc D]

At time of sailing they will be 13 and 8. I of course would start them slow and have them practice shallow before we work our way out.

The problem with CC snorkeling is the sheer size of the lagoon. Getting to the far end and reaching the statues is not difficult, but you or they might be exhausted at that point and you still need to come back to shore, often swimming against the current. We are proficient swimmers in good shape and still had some difficulty on a couple of our visits, mostly because of the descending tides working against us.

 

[dcassetta]

I don’t think it is that easy to “dive down” as you are required to wear a life vest wether you use their rentals or take your own- though I will be honest, I never tried or even thought to deflate as you mentioned!

You are not required to wear a life vest, you are required to wear a brightly colored snorkeling vest. Although they can be inflated, this is not required. They are for the lifeguards to have an easier time seeing people.

 

[pschro1]

Can you use one of the regular life vests from the regular beach in place of one of the snorkeling vests?

 

[dcassetta]

Can you use one of the regular life vests from the regular beach in place of one of the snorkeling vests?

You can wear a life vest with the bright-colored snorkeling vest over it.

That being said if you need a life vest to snorkel, you might want to rethink snorkeling. Parts of the snorkel lagoon are deep and as others have mentioned the Disney placed underwater items are quite a distance from the beach.

 

[Mango7100]

Consider the stingray encounter instead for a first taste of snorkeling. We did it in July and really enjoyed it. You feed the stingrays for 20 minutes first and then have 30 minutes to snorkel in the lagoon with them. It’s shallow and in a smaller area so it’s not tiring but you get a great experience in seeing so many of them! They have 48 in there so they are around you all the time. It was DD10s second time snorkeling and she just swam around following them.

 

[pschro1]

What if we have some family members that just want to feed and others that want to swim/feed?

 

[Mango7100]

What if we have some family members that just want to feed and others that want to swim/feed?

That’s fine. I know one woman on our excursion just fed and then stood back on shore watching the rest of her family. You do have to walk into the water to feed them, it was not quite to my waist and I’m 5’3. I am sure you are charged the same amount though.

 

[Jack_Sparrow_NJ]

You can wear a dive vest or life vest, your choice. They are constantly making announcements about it. I have seen videos where people were instructed not to dive down yet I did not personally see that so your mileage may vary depending on the lifeguard

 

[tlprice]

My daughter was 8 on our first DCL cruise and we snorkeled out to most of the Disney stuff. She did get tired on the way back, but she did it. She is a strong swimmer though. It has definitely gotten easier for her as she's gotten older though.

I feel like our first time out there seemed the longest because we didn't know how far it was. Now that we know, we tend to take it slower and know what to expect.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

It is a long swim. The cool stuff is all marked by buoys. You will see how far they are when you enter at the snorkeling lagoon. If you can not swim, I would not recommend it, at all. Have your kids practice in the shallow water before you head out. And be prepared to haul them back if they get tired-my husband and I had to do that when the kids were little and it was exhausting.

I like to go first thing when we arrive at castaway. It is quiet and the water is clear. People dive down all the time. But it just scares the fish. If you stay at the surface and remain still or move slowly, they will swim all around you, which is cool. You can still see everything perfectly without diving down. To each their own. Have fun with it!

 

[OpieDoodle]

I saw the video you're talking about, my understanding is the life guard told him not to go down because he thought he was trying to get under boo's door which is a safety issue.

I'm not sure how old your kids are or how strong of swimmers they are but here's some ramblings from a mom who has now taking quite a few snorkeling trips and a couple with kids. Snorkeling there is AMAZING. Not rough currents to deal with and you can do it at your own pace. So I've been out with kids on two occasions, both occasions one of the kids with me panicked and did not have a good time. On my last Disney cruise my oldest son was 5. We took him snorkeling in Castaway and he FREAKED OUT. He was not a fan of the deep water and even with a life vest he was in a sheer panic to the point we took him back out. My second time snorkeling with kids I was with my same son (now 9) and my 12 year old nephew. My son took off like a fish no problem. My nephew, who could swim, was very unsure and nervous and did not have a good time. To the point he wouldn't put his face in the water to even look. On both occasions, as the adult, I spent my time focused on helping them versus enjoying the experience. I also had to drag both of them back in, which for me wasn't a huge deal as I am a stronger swimmer but its pretty exhausting.

We are going on another cruise with my kids and all my nephews in November. We have been spending the summer practicing in the pool to snorkel so I feel even my youngest (5) is confident with how the experience is going to go but we do have a back up plan for if anyone gets scared.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

We have been spending the summer practicing in the pool to snorkel so I feel even my youngest (5) is confident with how the experience is going to go but we do have a back up plan for if anyone gets scared.

Fabulous idea. Our family is (now) proficient and enthusiastic snorkelers. The first few were a bit...exciting. We've been to CC 18 times and both my wife and I agree that the snorkeling there is fabulous. 'Ware the tide and current, though. It can make the return trip a slog. There's plenty of apps that can be used to determine ebb/slack/flood and Verizon services the island for data. We're headed back in early October and it's not soon enough

 

[Rob1872]

I think a lot of it has to do with your overall physical shape. My oldest is not a swimmer; however, he had heard me talk about having fun in the snorkeling lagoon on one trip so he really wanted to try it when he was 15. With the floatation vest and the fins, he was fine going all of the way out and back because he has strong legs. (Even though he couldn't swim 25 feet without the vest and fins.) The main thing is to not let your kid get into a situation that they can't handle, or you can't handle. If you can't tow a 5 year old back the length of the snorkeling lagoon, then don't take the 5 year old out. If it won't bother you, then go ahead and try it.

It is a similar thing to people who take the large paddle boats out without realizing that the wind blowing away from the shore makes it really easy to get across the lagoon but then get exhausted trying to paddle back into the wind and get in danger of going up on the rocks. I've seen plenty of jet-ski lifeguards having to tow boats in because people overestimate their physical condition or underestimate the effort to go against the water and wind.