St Maarten: 3-Island Snorkeling & Turtle Tour with Powerboat

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.94 (619 reviews) 96% rated it 5 stars

Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/9

Duration4h

GroupUp to 12

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

Three Islands, Turtles & Snorkeling in One Fast Boat Ride

You board a fast powerboat and visit three islands — Tintamarre, Pinel, and either Creole Rock or Greenkey — in four hours. Snorkeling gear is included, and you spend time in the water with guides who actually know where the turtles and fish are. Lunch and drinks come with it. Small groups mean no waiting and no feeling like a number on a manifest.

Step-by-step itinerary

Snorkeling and island exploration

Visit Tintamarre Island beach
Snorkel at Creole Rock or Greenkey
Feed iguanas at Bounty Island

The Experience

The boat accelerates away from the dock and you're moving fast, salt spray hitting your face as the captain cuts across the water toward Tintamarre Island. This is not a slow cruise — it's a four-hour sprint that hits three separate stops, each one picked for what's actually in the water and on the sand. The powerboat stays small on purpose, which means no crowds and no waiting around while the guide talks at you from a distance. You're in the water with the crew, not watching from the rail.

Tintamarre comes first, and it's shallow enough that you can walk out and still see the reef. The snorkeling equipment is already on board, so you just grab a mask and fins and go. Turtles show up regularly here — not guaranteed, but common enough that the crew knows where to look. After that, the boat heads to either Creole Rock or Greenkey, depending on conditions that day, and the snorkeling gets deeper and more colorful. Coral formations, schools of fish, the kind of underwater detail you miss if you're just floating on the surface. The third stop is usually Pinel Island, where the water is shallow again and you can wade around, feed the iguanas if they're around, and actually feel the sand under your feet instead of just looking at it from a boat.

Lunch is simple and real — freshly made French bread with cheese, ham, or turkey, depending on what you want. Beer, Coke, Sprite, and bottled water come with it. The crew handles the boat, keeps an eye on the water, and doesn't disappear into the cabin. Groups stay small, which is the whole point. You're not one of thirty people on a catamaran; you're one of maybe a dozen on a boat that actually moves. The whole thing takes four hours from start to finish, so it's tight but not rushed.

Cash payment for transportation goes directly to the driver, separate from the tour price. Infants can come along as long as they sit on an adult's lap. The boat runs on local time, so confirm your pickup time the night before — St Maarten operates on Atlantic Standard Time year-round.

What’s included

Snorkeling equipment, freshly made French bread with cheese, ham, or turkey, beer, Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and bottled water. A crew that goes in the water with you and stays with the group the whole time.

Good to know

Easy physical levelInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Captain Alan's Boat Charters

Is this one for you?Book this if you want to snorkel three different reefs and see turtles without spending the whole day on a big boat — the small group and fast powerboat are what make three islands fit into four hours.