We’d spent the morning in Antigua doing one of the most fun holiday excursions we’ve ever done at Stingray City and, with the afternoon free, wanted something else to fill the time before heading back to P&O Arvia for an evening departure.
While we were at Stingray City, we noticed a leaflet advertising a snorkelling tour at Galleon Beach in Antigua, which promised exactly what we were looking for: the possible chance of snorkelling with turtles and other more varied marine life around one of Antigua’s best places for snorkelling – Freeman’s bay.
Considering it was so last minute, we were very lucky that Bernie of Snorkelling Antigua WI had availability that afternoon and, after a quick phone call, we booked him up and he came straight out to pick us up and take us snorkelling from Galleon Beach.
Our original plan had been to abandon the P&O bus trip back to Arvia from Stingray City and to get our own taxi to Galleon Bay, which we’d read was the best place in Antigua to see turtles.
However the chance to be taken snorkelling by a professional snorkelling guide, who knew all the best places – and who provided all the equipment plus transport back to the ship afterwards seemed a much better option.
And even better, it was a completely private tour – he only does private group snorkelling tours, so it was just us without any other participants at all.
Bernie arrived to pick us up in his people carrier and it was immediately clear it was going to be a good day.
He was very friendly and knowledgeable – and one of those tour guides who seemed genuinely only to care that we had a great time, with our enjoyment and experience seeming to be his top priority.
He drove us to Galleon beach, but on the way he stopped off at the superyacht marina in Antigua and, seeming to know everyone who worked around the whole island, he got the security staff to agree to let us walk around the pontoons amongst some of the biggest superyachts in the world.
That was a fun detour, and soon we were back in the car and heading for Galleon Beach, with a couple more quick stops for photos at viewpoints along the way.
Bernie had a variety of professional quality snorkels, masks and flippers, which were way better than the basic ones we’d bought from Argos back home.
He showed us how to wear the snorkelling masks correctly (there are techniques to putting them on which we had no idea about) and how to swim and snorkel in the most effective way – again using techniques that meant we could snorkel further and for longer than we’d have been able to by ourselves.
We got into the water off the beautiful Galleon beach and into Freeman’s bay, following Bernie to the first point of interest – a shipwreck just off the shore in the bay.
This was when it became clear that having a snorkelling guide like Bernie was so much more valuable than just trying to do it ourselves.
To start with, the visibility under the water wasn’t great and I think we’d probably have just flapped around a bit, seen nothing and then abandoned the trip if we were by ourselves.
But with a snorkelling guide who’d spent many years living and working here, we were able to go beyond the area of beach we started at and out where the water was clearer and the fish were more plentiful and visible.
And we’d have had no idea there was a shipwreck, let alone the confidence to swim out to it and snorkel around it if we were by ourselves.
After about 10-minutes, whilst on our way out to the shipwreck, we got our first sighting of what we really hoped to see – a huge turtle just sat down on the seabed.
Bernie had a GoPro camera with him, which meant he was filming and photographing us and the turtle, which gave us extra footage along with that from our own GoPro we’d brought along too.
The first turtle didn’t stick around for long, so we carried on our way to the shipwreck, where Bernie showed us how to dive down deep and swim around alongside the ship and even through a metal hoop that was stuck in the seabed.
He had a lifeguard-style float with him, so we always had something to grab onto if we needed to rest or to adjust our masks.
That alone made a huge difference and meant we were happy to swim a long way offshore and for much longer than we’d ever do so by ourselves.
We were literally out snorkelling for hours without ever really feeling too tired or in any danger.
Both our children are confident swimmers so they had no problem swimming this far out to sea for this long, but Bernie would completely tailor the snorkelling tour to your own requirements and if you’ve got younger children or aren’t as keen on being out so far, he’ll just take you to places you feel comfortable with – it’s completely bespoke and tailored to what you want to do.
Eventually we found ourselves at a large rock formation known as the Pillars of Hercules, which you can only view from out at sea.
There was a great variety of fish around – trumpet fish, blue tang, puffer fish, a lion fish – and all manner of other brightly coloured tropical fish and corals – far more variety than we’ve ever got to see when snorkelling closer to home in Europe.
Eventually we started heading back and, along the way there was another turtle – just calmly sitting on the seabed, pecking up bits of food and relaxing as we swam above him.
Bernie swam down and took footage of him and, with our newly-learned deep-diving (or “skin diving”) skills, we were able to swim down and get video and photos ourselves.
Unfortunately in the excitement I forgot about Bernie’s advice to keep a bit of distance from the turtles and to gradually get closer, swimming around them so as not to scare them away.
I did get some great photos and a nice video of him, but ended up scaring him away and off he swam into the distance.
Unlike some of the other excursions we’d done earlier in the week, with Bernie’s Antigua snorkelling tour there was no time limit or schedule – we were totally free to spend as long as we liked snorkelling at Galleon Beach and around the Freeman’s Bay.
And Antigua is one of the ports on Arvia’s Caribbean cruise where the ship is in port until later in the evening (8.30pm) meaning we had plenty of time without needing to rush back to the ship.
But eventually we were getting a bit tired and decided it was time to head back to shore.
Bernie took us to a restaurant on Galleon Beach that he knows and recommends and we sat with some drinks and food in the setting sun, a DJ at the restaurant playing atmospheric tunes in the background, soaking up the hot sun and unbelievable scenery of this beautiful part of Antigua.
We could easily have sat here for the rest of the evening, chatting with Bernie, hearing his stories of life on the island and his snorkelling adventures around Antigua.
But eventually we had to head back to the ship, so we got back in Bernie’s car and he drove us right to the dockside, leaving us feeling that we’d had a brilliant day – and that his Antigua snorkelling excursion in Galleon Bay was money very well spent.
Galleon Bay is known as being the best spot in Antigua for snorkelling and you can of course go there yourself – it’s about a 40-minute drive from the cruise terminal in Antigua and there are plenty of taxis dock-side willing to drive you there.
But actually doing a snorkelling tour with a professional snorkelling guide made a big difference.
How else can you know where to find the shipwreck, the sunken anchors, the sea grass reefs, the rocks around the Pillars of Hercules, the favourite hangouts of the turtles?
And also to know that everything you do and see will be filmed and photographed by Bernie who, by the end of that day, had edited his footage and emailed us hundreds of photos and a nicely-edited video to remember the day by.
Snorkelling Antigua WI isn’t a big business or corporate enterprise – it’s just Bernie, a local expert making a living for himself by giving tourists memorable experiences around his home island – one of the most beautiful of the whole Caribbean.
If you’re looking to go snorkelling in Antigua, around Galleon Beach, we highly recommend him.