Snorkeling with Young Kids

[TheSpooph]

Our Son (5) and daughter (9) are super excited to snorkel on Castaway Cay. They have been practicing their snorkeling technique in the bathtub and pool.

Are the sunken items (Mickey statue, Nautilus, etc) somewhat close to shore? I’m trying to understand how far out they’ll need to swim before they see something ‘cool’ - although, I think it will ALL be cool!!

Also, I would love any tips you all have about snorkeling with younger kids.

Thanks!

 

[DisneyLove2015]

Our Son (5) and daughter (9) are super excited to snorkel on Castaway Cay. They have been practicing their snorkeling technique in the bathtub and pool.

Are the sunken items (Mickey statue, Nautilus, etc) somewhat close to shore? I’m trying to understand how far out they’ll need to swim before they see something ‘cool’ - although, I think it will ALL be cool!!

Also, I would love any tips you all have about snorkeling with younger kids.

Thanks!

One big thing we’ve learned with snorkeling with our kids is to take a noodle if possible for them to hold on to and an adult pull or swim next to them and help push. (Not in lieu of floatation. Just in addition) It helps our son a lot!

 

[Maggie'sMom]

The sunken items are quite far out from shore. And I don't believe noodles are permitted on the ship and I've never seen them for sale on CC. I've also never seen the rental floats and tubes out in the snorkel area so I don't believe they are permitted out there. Everyone must wear a snorkel vest and you can inflate those for your kids to give them some assistance, but it is still pretty tiring for little ones to get out where the fun stuff is.

 

[Rob1872]

I asked the same question last year; the consensus answer was that the submarine was about 2/3 of the way to the breakwater; similar for the other stuff. I went on google earth and was able to see the submarine submerged in the snorkel lagoon myself. They will need to swim over 2 football field lengths each way.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

There's a map at disneycruiselineblog.com that shows the location of the items. Follow the link below and the map is towards the bottom of the page.

https://disneycruiselineblog.com/2017/11/castaway-cays-snorkeling-lagoon/

 

[DisneyLove2015]

The sunken items are quite far out from shore. And I don't believe noodles are permitted on the ship and I've never seen them for sale on CC. I've also never seen the rental floats and tubes out in the snorkel area so I don't believe they are permitted out there. Everyone must wear a snorkel vest and you can inflate those for your kids to give them some assistance, but it is still pretty tiring for little ones to get out where the fun stuff is.

I should have specified that I wasn’t referring to snorkeling on CC, just in general. We usually do private tours when we cruise and most have noodles available if we ask prior to sailing. We haven’t been to CC yet.

 

[susan4875]

My husband and I took our 5 and 7 year old. The 7 year old made it to the minnie statue, and the 5 year old made saw some of the smaller sunken items but couldn't make it that far. Both kids had life vests on, and we taught them to float on their back when they were tired. It was a very slow go, and my husband and I spent a lot of the snorkel swimming on our back and encouraging them forward. On the way back, we had to "tow" them in because they were exhausted. My kids are excellent swimmers, are on a swim team and swim 40 minutes every day in the summer. If you take it slow and keep in mind that you have to back just as far as you came, you will be fine and see some awesome fish. Have fun!

 

[lucyddr]

Not to be a downer, but if there is any way possible....I'd snorkel somewhere else! St. Thomas has some amazing beach and ocean snorkeling areas that would be far more rewarding and family-friendly. We always charter Rumbaba, a private sailboat in St. Thomas where we see thousands of fish and many species of healthy coral. Sapphire Beach, Coki Beach, and Secret Harbor all have decent snorkeling from shore as well. All of the areas I mention would be fine to use a noodle, which I agree is a lifesaver with younger children! We always bring the inflatable noodles, so they take no space and are useful for everything!

If Castaway is your only option, plan to go crazy slow and be prepared to "tow" the kids back in to shore!

 

[SmileEar2Ear]

It is definitely a good ways out. There are actually buoys out in the water to show where the Mickey Statue and submarine are so you can judge from the shore. My kids found that the fins were actually more work than just swimming on their own. I also felt the same way so maybe play in the shallow area in the beginning to see which is more comfortable for them. Do your kids know how to float/tread water easily? Once you make the huge trek out there, there are actually a lot of cool things to see. There isn’t all that much on the way out. So it helps if they can get out there and then sort of “rest up” floating or treading and then there is a lot to explore and see. Just don’t forget you have to save energy for the trip back.

 

[mousefan73]

the underwater things are a bit out there. I spent a good hour with my kids and they are tweens and could handle it on their own.. I was exhausted a bit myself and was glad in the end I had an inflatable vest. ( at first I thought it was stupid and didnt want one, didnt really put air in it). What was making me exhausted was that my googles didnt fit and I wasted too much energy and frustration dealing with equipement.

my tip practice while standing / kneeling in the water.. then swim or float on back slowly out to the statues ... then start snorkeling.. if the little onse start snorkeling from the start they will get tired (water getting in and out etc) ... the whole breathing, and getting water in the goggles this is what makes is so exhausting. a simple ,slow swim out there is not the issue. have them lie back on their back and kick to move if they get tired. make sure there is tons of air in the vest

 

[TheSpooph]

Not to be a downer, but if there is any way possible....I'd snorkel somewhere else! St. Thomas has some amazing beach and ocean snorkeling areas that would be far more rewarding and family-friendly. We always charter Rumbaba, a private sailboat in St. Thomas where we see thousands of fish and many species of healthy coral. Sapphire Beach, Coki Beach, and Secret Harbor all have decent snorkeling from shore as well. All of the areas I mention would be fine to use a noodle, which I agree is a lifesaver with younger children! We always bring the inflatable noodles, so they take no space and are useful for everything!

If Castaway is your only option, plan to go crazy slow and be prepared to "tow" the kids back in to shore!

That’s a great tip for next time. We are on a 4 night cruise on the Dream so CC is our best bet. But, I’ll keep that in mind for our next cruise....

 

[TheSpooph]

Thank you everyone for all the great tips and comments. I hadn’t seen the map yet - those buoys are definitely far out there. I think we will just play it by ear for now and see how much energy they (and my husband and I!) have.

 

[LizGirl]

I bought inflatable snorkel vests for our last cruise. It seemed to help my kids a lot at Maegans Bay and they fold up flat for transport.

 

[Starwind]

This blog has a couple pictures of the snorkeling area: http://www.disneycruisemomblog.com/snorkeling-at-castaway-cay/

In them you can see the marker buoys for the sunken items, most of which are out past the lifeguard stations.

Per Google maps, the lifeguard station closest to the picture taker is about 200 m (655 ft) from shore [beach to the right].

 

[mab2012]

Thank you everyone for all the great tips and comments. I hadn’t seen the map yet - those buoys are definitely far out there. I think we will just play it by ear for now and see how much energy they (and my husband and I!) have.

The other thing to consider is whether your kids have spent much time in open water?

My kids are decent pool swimmers, but the movement of deep open water freaks them out a bit. They would likely be able to handle the distance (it's easier to float in salt water anyway), but floating face-down in the waves is a different matter. We've made a couple of attempts to take them snorkeling, so far without much success. And they're a good bit older than your youngest (would have been 8 and 11 at the last attempt).

I'm sure it's very kid-dependent and yours might be just fine, especially if they're already excited about the idea. And the water at Castaway is probably a bit more sheltered than the places we've tried. It's just something to keep in mind if they've never tried it before.

Also, I'm not sure when you're going, but we've found the water at Castaway Cay to be cool-ish in the winter months (we've only ever been there in March). Not so cold that my kids wouldn't go in at all, but they've never wanted to stay in for long. It's too cold for ME to want to go in at all, but I'm a very warm-weather swimmer.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

All I will say is that when my kids were that little, they made it out there on their own and then on the way back, my husband and I had to tow them. It was a long way and tiring. Just keep that in mind. Happy snorkeling!

 

[Weedy]

For the mask make sure there is no bits of hair in the edges of the mask this causes it to leak. Pull all the hair back away from face.
I know this is kinda gross but have everyone spit in their mask and rub spit around it keeps the mask from fogging up.
Most important lots and lots of sunscreen. Your back will be facing the sun with reflections from the water. Make sure to play close attention to the bathing suite lines and behind the knees

 

[elaine amj]

It took me about 30 mins to swim out to the statues at an easy breast stroke pace. For littles with breaks, it could take quite a bit longer. I loved the snorkel path at CC (but I am crazy and like swimming for 2+hr stretches) but would be hesitant to recommend it without a strong swimmer or two in your party. And definitely inflated life vests.

Later in the afternoon, I took my DH (who swims a little but prefers laying in the shallow end) and our friend (who doesn't know how to swim) out. The two men both wore inflated life vests. They got out there okay with a couple of breaks. Coming back I had to assist them at least half the distance and they took many more breaks. Doubt I would take DH out again - way more swimming than he likes.

Snorkeling in open water with no sides to grab can be tough, even for decent swimmers. And masks, etc can be a pain if water gets into them.

If they do run into problems, tell the kid to flip over and have a strong swimmer tow him for a while. Even easier if you have a swimmer on each side to tow. And if you have mask problems out there and simply cannot manage to adjust it while treading water, I highly recommend just giving up and swimming (getting towed) back to shore without the mask. I had to do that a couple of weeks ago when we were snorkeling 10 mins from shore and my friends' 11 and 14 year olds both had mask problems.

On the good side, there are lifeguards on duty along the snorkel parp and they keep a watchful eye on swimmers.