Small-Group Boat Trips in Barbados

Most of the money on this coast is in volume. A large catamaran sells a full passenger list, feeds everybody a buffet, runs a sound system, and gets through two snorkel stops on a fixed clock. It is a good day out and it is the right answer for a lot of people.

This is the other kind of boat, and the operator is refreshingly direct about which one it is: a 30-foot race catamaran, locally owned, pitched in its own listing as “an ethical alternative to the overcrowded commercial party boats”.

What the small boat changes

Not the destination. The coral, the tropical fish and the wrecks are the same ones the big boats visit.

What changes is the friction. On a full catamaran everybody enters the water through one or two ladders on a stop of fixed length, so a share of your time in the water is spent waiting for it. On a boat this size that disappears, and so does shouting over a speaker to ask a question.

The guide is the other difference. He is a certified instructor and he goes into the water and leads, rather than watching from the rail and pointing. Over a wreck, with someone who knows what is living on it, that is a materially different forty minutes.

The honesty worth paying for

The listing says “sometimes turtles”.

Not swim with turtles guaranteed, not turtle encounter included — sometimes. That is an operator declining to promise an animal it cannot control, on a page where every competitor promises it, and it tells you more about how the trip is run than any review could.

What the boat does promise without qualification is the coral, the fish and the shipwrecks. If a turtle sighting is the single reason for your trip, the Carlisle Bay boats anchor at known feeding grounds and see them more reliably; read the Carlisle Bay page for those. If you want good snorkelling from a boat that is not crowded, this is the better purchase.

The second half

After the snorkel the catamaran sails down the coast to a secluded cove, and this is where a three-hour trip stops being a shuttle and starts being a sail. Light snacks, juice, soda, water and a complimentary rum punch on deck. Landmarks pointed out as you pass them.

You are also welcome to bring your own food and drink aboard, which almost none of the larger boats allow.

Where you meet it

Usually the beach in front of Surfside Restaurant in Holetown, on the west coast, where there is free public parking. In some sea conditions the departure moves to Carlisle Bay in Bridgetown instead.

That is not vagueness on the operator’s part — it is a small boat responding to weather — but it does mean you should check in with the crew to confirm before the day rather than turning up at the wrong beach. They can also help arrange a taxi, or collect from some hotels.

Who should not book it

The exclusions are broader than on the big catamarans, and that follows from the boat: non-swimmers, babies under one, anyone prone to seasickness, anyone with a pre-existing medical condition, and guests aged 70 and over. Thirty feet in open water asks more of you than a stable double-decker does.

The operator also asks guests to leave jewelry behind and not to touch marine life, which tells you something about how the operation is run. More on that in the guide to snorkelling responsibly.

Trips sail Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, so the calendar is thinner than the daily boats’. If you are still choosing, the which-tour guide has all seven side by side and the catamaran versus small boat comparison goes deeper on this exact trade. Otherwise, check availability.