Looking for a beach vacation where we can snorkel from the beach. Have been to Riviera Maya and El Dorado SeaSide many years ago before the seaweed was bad. Will be taking a 12 year old daughter as well. Really do not want to deal with the seaweed covered beaches. Any suggestions in the Caribbean , Bahamas or other suggestions? Daughter has never snorkeled but wife and I have.

Thanks

Sadly sargassum can happen anywhere. Bahamas doesn't have any family friendly all-inclusive resorts (in Nassau).

I send lots of clients to Jamaica and Dominican Republic. DR. Is more likely to get it, but still typically less than Mexico. The Cap Cana area usually doesn't have much.

What about Turks and Caicos

Beaches Turks and Caicos is one of the highest rated family AI's out there. There is so much to go and it's included. It's also one of the priciest there is.

There are two other AI's there: Alexandra Resort and Blue Haven. They are much smaller with less to do but my clients have enjoyed them.

Feel free to reach out if I can assist.

Turks also has Covid vax requirements in place still through the end of March, and perhaps further if it gets extended again. Anyone 18+ would need to be vaccinated. May not be an issue for you, just just a heads up in case.

We are set fortunately and unfortunately with the vax stuff. Daughter is ok. Young enough.

Any recs to look at as far as AI resorts for us at other locations that are good for snorkeling and beach. Resorts we have stayed at in the past are El dorado Royal and then seaside a couple of times for aome background. We liked them both back then. Thanks

Maybe Dreams Tulum? It has a gorgeous beach if not being hit by the seaweed. Ironically I just booked another Texager there today. The resort is older and the rooms could probably use a refresh but overall there are activities and stuff to do for the kids. It is like 90 minutes or so from the airport, so that is a bit of a bummer.

There won't be any all-inclusives, but have you considered Hawaii? The Big island (Hawaii) has good shore snorkelling.

I've never stayed there but I've seen reviews of Secrets Akumal and people say they snorkel off the beach there. Not the area you were hoping to go to but the snorkeling option may work.

Hotel Xcaret has so many inclusions, is all inclusive and has great snorkeling and beach options not to mention Xcaret park.

AgOutsideAustin said:

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I've never stayed there but I've seen reviews of Secrets Akumal and people say they snorkel off the beach there. Not the area you were hoping to go to but the snorkeling option may work.

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This was my first thought but they mentioned a child.

JMac03 said:

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AgOutsideAustin said:

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I've never stayed there but I've seen reviews of Secrets Akumal and people say they snorkel off the beach there. Not the area you were hoping to go to but the snorkeling option may work.

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This was my first thought but they mentioned a child.

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Oh my bad I didn't read it close enough.

For "walk off the beach" scuba and snorkel, grand cayman and Roatan need to be on your list

ChoppinDs40 said:

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For "walk off the beach" scuba and snorkel, grand cayman and Roatan need to be on your list

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Came here to suggest grand cayman. Not sure if they have any AIs, but I haven't been in 10 years so maybe things have changed. Though there are so many good places to eat around you really don't need one imo.

I will look into all the mentioned. I tend to over analyze stuff as well, which for me is a flaw at times. Take to long or second guess my choices. Thanks for all your help or reaponses

San Andres and Providencia

St John. Get an AirBnB and a rental car. Not all inclusive but fantastic snorkeling from many, many different beaches.

TXCityAggie said:

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San Andres and Providencia

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Bucket list dive destination for me. They got slammed by a Hurricane a few years ago, through.

I know for sure you can snorkel off the beach at Beaches Turks and Caicos. I did so last summer with my girls that are 9 and 7. If you are facing the ocean from the resort walk left and there is a protected reef that has great snorkeling. Also at Beaches snorkeling is included with signing up at the dive shop.
I'm a travel advisor and definitely have first hand knowledge on great places to snorkel with kids. If you want help planning my contact info is in my bio.

The Chicken Ranch said:

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TXCityAggie said:

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San Andres and Providencia

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Bucket list dive destination for me. They got slammed by a Hurricane a few years ago, through.

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I was there in January. You can definitely still see the effects of the hurricane but the beaches are beautiful.

TXCityAggie said:

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The Chicken Ranch said:

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TXCityAggie said:

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San Andres and Providencia

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Bucket list dive destination for me. They got slammed by a Hurricane a few years ago, through.

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I was there in January. You can definitely still see the effects of the hurricane but the beaches are beautiful.

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Do you have details here? Where to stay? How to get there?

Other options to consider Dominican Republic or Aruba.

Turks / Beaches is awesome but will never go back since we stayed there when they first reopened due to taxes at 25% occupancy.

Baja Mar in Nassau, but upgrade to club to create a partial "all inclusive" and bring your own bottles in. We have not been back since they opened their water park.

Regardless of where you go, I would highly recommend global entry for everyone in your group.

Actually Global Entry currently sucks! They redid GE recently so there is really no benefit. You go to the GE kiosk, get eye scanned, take your print out, and then stand in line for 45 min waiting for the 2 immigration officials to work through the entire line going through the same Q&A process as before GE. While in the regular US entry there are like 15-20 open lanes which process the line much faster. 2 weeks ago I went though the GE in IAH and everybody was complaining, including many pilots. It used to be you get your print out and as long as you didn't get an X then the officer took your paper and wished you a good day. The general comments were this is now like TSA pre check…before everybody signed up it was great, but the benefit diminishes once everybody signs up for it.

When I come back from my next international trip next month I am walking to the regular US entry to check out the line before I get backed up in the GE line.

Hidden secret - please don't share.

Global entry is useless. Instead, do the "mobile passport". You download the app, answer 5 questions and take a pic of yourself on your phone.

It gives you a QR code to show the agent. You get to walk through the "airline crew" line which has 0 people in it. It's such a cheat code, people don't even think it's real. Luckily it's not advertised anymore.

Last time we used through DFW, the global entry kiosk line had 100 people in it and the regular entry line probably 200.

Mobile passport/crew had 0 people and 1 immigration attendant twiddling his thumbs. Walked right up and we were through in 45 seconds.

I think it depends on where you flying into.

We fly through Miami and those without GE have almost missed flights waiting through the normal lines. Meanwhile we are on the otherside waiting for luggage to clear customs for 20 minutes with minimal wait.

To each their own.

ChoppinDs40 said:

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TXCityAggie said:

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The Chicken Ranch said:

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TXCityAggie said:

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San Andres and Providencia

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Bucket list dive destination for me. They got slammed by a Hurricane a few years ago, through.

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I was there in January. You can definitely still see the effects of the hurricane but the beaches are beautiful.

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Do you have details here? Where to stay? How to get there?

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I live in Bogota, so we took a direct flight from there on Avianca. I believe American Airlines flies there direct from Miami for part of the year.

We rented an Airbnb in San Luis, which is a small town on the east end of San Andres. The Airbnb had bikes, so we basically just biked around the island for the five days we were there and visited different beaches. A lot of people rent buggies and get around the island that way.

It's definitely underdeveloped, but a great place to go if you just want to chill and enjoy the Caribbean.

I tried Mobile Passport when it first came out but couldn't get it to work. Looks like I will need to try again. And yes I get the effectiveness of GE depends on the airport and time of day, but my point was it used to be automatically great and now it is very hit or miss.