Baby beach....

[fattypatty]

i'm planning on hitting up the baby beach for some snorkeling this time around. however, i'm not sure on how it works. is it a public beach area with palapas available for use? i presume you have bring all of the essentials yourself - towels, etc... and so for the snorkeling - is it that great there? what's this natural rock barrier that i keep reading about? are you not suppose to cross it? thanks in advance for your comments.

[Splash]

It is a public beach. They rent 2 types of chairs, one for 8 dollars each which are a blue canvas that you can take into the water. The others are 6 dollars, look a bit beat up and you can't take them into the water. There are a couple of large palapas that I think are public so you can likely hide out under one of these if you need to get some shade. They also rented smaller sun shades but not sure of the cost for those.

You should bring what you need including towels, snacks and drinks. There is a couple of small food shacks there but one was closed and the other was a bit overpriced and the food didn't look so great.

The snorkeling is good. Most of the entire bay is very shallow. Off to the left you will see the darker, deeper spot where all of the snorkelers will be. There are plenty of nice fish there but not to much coral, etc. If you go just around the point towards the mouth the coral is nice there. Be careful not to go beyond the mouth of the outlet as the currents can be strong. You will sense how far it is safe to go as you go out near the mouth.

They do rent snorkel gear there but I don't know what the price is.

One other word of caution: Keep an eye on your stuff. Unfortunately, when I was there on May 4th someone had their beach bag stolen with his credit cards, cash and hotel ID and key. The poor guy was freaking. Either don't bring anything of value or just be sure to keep an eye on it if you go off to snorkel.

We brought a couple of floats along with us and left them with a nice bunch of New Yorkers we met when we left for the day.

Have fun.

Splash

[Chadd]

Picture is huge and I'm too lazy to edit it. There were a few palapas there that I don't recall seeing on any of my previous visits.
http://www.modsquadhockey.com/pics/chadd/baby.jpg

[fattypatty]

Much appreciated. Thanks for the detailed description.

[cindyo]

Originally Posted by fattypatty

i'm planning on hitting up the baby beach for some snorkeling this time around. however, i'm not sure on how it works. is it a public beach area with palapas available for use? .

See my pics that I put in gallery.

[Andrea J.]

hey ness
be careful in the area thru the opening at the break in the sea wall where one snorkels.
there are some currents and sometimes pretty high waves.
lovely sights and sometimes difficulty snorkeling in that area.....only sometimes though.

and BRING nothing of value
as the other poster said, keep a good looksee on your stuff.
leave nothing visible in your car (use the trunk)

creepy thieving crooks on occassion prey on the snorkeling tourists.

baby beach is very crowded on saturdays, sundays and holidays.

have a ball
andrea

Originally Posted by fattypatty

Much appreciated. Thanks for the detailed description.

[Chadd]

There is a small channel between the beach area and the open water. If you go slightly out of frame to the left of the picture I posted, you can drift down to the opening to the sheltered beach area. The water can be a little shallow in some spots at lower tide, but there are usually some beautiful fish. Going beyond the breakwater into the open water can be difficult and tiring, you don't want to try that unless you are a strong swimmer.

[Arubalisa]

Here is another view
http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=12.4124362&lon=-69.8796022&z=17&l=0&m=a&v=2

[Andrea J.]

thanks for posting that photo lisa
that area SNORKEL SPOT can get a little dicey
it is the spot i was referring to and i assume the spot that chadd was referring to.

hubby and i always snorkel out in that spot and sometimes it is tough going, but our snorkel companions never venture out in that area.
andrea

Originally Posted by Arubalisa

Here is another view
http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=12.4124362&lon=-69.8796022&z=17&l=0&m=a&v=2

[Chadd]

That's why I like the mostly sheltered east-west channel just to the east of the "snorkel spot", you could exit before you get to the "snorkel spot" if you're uncomfortable with the wave action and we've seen far better quantity and quality than just in that one little spot. The current will drift you gently from east to west and drop you right at the "snorkel spot".