Skip to content
ENES
Our pick site-wide ★4.8 · 367 reviews 3 h under sail

The same wreck, the same turtles —
half the deck, better light.

Three hours on a boat that actually sails, with two stops that between them hold everything people come to Aruba's west coast to see: the Antilla — a roughly 400-foot German freighter scuttled in 1940, lying in water shallow enough to snorkel — and the turtles and reef fish at Boca Catalina. It is $74.99 and rated ★4.8 across 367 reviews, the strongest score-plus-evidence pairing in the island's boat market, and it is the tour we recommend by default on every page of this site. The catches are printed just as loudly below.

Duration 3 h Departs afternoon Hotel pickup included Boat sailing catamaran Group shared, mixed ages
What the operator actually sells· 01

The listing in full, before we give an opinion

Everything in this section comes off the operator's own GetYourGuide listing — highlights, itinerary, inclusions, meeting point, restrictions. We have added nothing to it. Our verdict, the comparison and the catches start below it, clearly separated, so you can read the facts without reading us.

Duration3 hours
DepartureAfternoon
Hotel pickupIncluded
Food & drinkOpen bar + appetizers
CancellationFree to 24 h

Highlights, in the operator's own words

  • Learn about the history of the sunken World War II ship, the SS Antilla.
  • Dive into the luscious waters of the Caribbean.
  • Go snorkeling in search of colorful and native marine life.
  • Relax onboard the boat and drink cocktails at the open bar.

What happens, in the order it happens

You are met by the crew as you board, and the open bar is open from that moment — you take a drink before the boat sails, not after. The catamaran then runs out to the SS Antilla, where a guide gives the wreck's Second World War history before the first snorkel stop over the hull.

Back aboard, lunch and more refreshments are served while the boat moves to the second site, Boca Catalina Bay — another short history briefing, then the second and longer snorkel. The trip finishes with a final cocktail on deck during the sail home.

How many minutes each beat gets is the operator's to set and is not published; the sequence above is.

Where you meet

Holiday Inn beach, Palm Beach

The meeting point is a one-to-two-minute walk from the entrance of the Holiday Inn hotel, at the beach hut for Octopus Aruba. Look for staff in orange shorts and white polo shirts.

Pickup is on the beach itself, and a shuttle takes you out to the catamaran — you do not board from a pier.

What to bring

Four things, and the operator names them

  • Comfortable shoes
  • Sunglasses
  • Towel
  • Sunscreen

Aruba restricts oxybenzone sunscreen, so make that one reef-safe. There is almost no shade on a catamaran deck.

Know before you go

Beach boarding, not a pier

The operator's one stated warning is the transfer: you are picked up on the beach and shuttled to the boat. That is what makes the trip unsuitable for anyone with mobility impairments, and it means wet feet before you have left.

Cancellation: full refund if you cancel up to 24 hours in advance.

Source Operator listing on GetYourGuide, checked 3 August 2026. Where the listing is silent — exact start time, minimum age, group size — we leave it blank rather than guess. Confirm your own date's terms on the booking page.

OUR PICK
★4.8the joint-highest rating on Aruba's boat market
361reviews behind that score — evidence, not luck
$74.99per person, live via GetYourGuide
3 htwo snorkel stops and the sail home
Verdict

This boat visits the same wreck and the same turtles as the morning boats — with roughly half the deck traffic, in the best light of the day, and at $74.99 its ★4.8 across 367 reviews is the strongest score-plus-evidence pairing in Aruba's boat market. That is the whole case, and it is why this is the tour we recommend by default on every page of this site. The honest catches are included: it is a shared boat, and you board from the beach by shuttle rather than from a pier — which the operator says rules it out for anyone with mobility impairments.

The route· 02

The afternoon, in one line

Four beats, in the order they happen. How many minutes each one gets is the operator's to set — the sequence below is the shape of the trip, not a timetable.

Holiday Inn beachFirstMeet at the Octopus Aruba beach hut, a minute from the Holiday Inn entrance — or take the included hotel pickup.
Shuttle and sail outThenA shuttle runs you out to the catamaran, the bar opens, and the boat sails the sheltered west coast.
The AntillaFirst swimThe 1940 wreck at snorkel depth, with the WWII briefing first — then lunch back on board.
Boca Catalina & homeLast swimThe sheltered turtle bay, then a last cocktail as the boat sails home into the low sun.
How it unfolds· 03

The shape of the afternoon, in the order it happens

This is a sequence, not a timetable. We do not hold this operator's clock — how long the sail out takes, how long you get at each stop and what time the boat is back are the operator's to set and ours to not invent. The order below is how these trips run; the minutes are on the booking page.

Before you board Beach hut, then a shuttle to the boat

Hotel pickup and drop-off are included in the price, which is unusual in this category and worth more than it sounds if you are not on the high-rise strip. If you make your own way, the meeting point is the Octopus Aruba beach hut, a one-to-two-minute walk from the Holiday Inn entrance — look for orange shorts and white polo shirts. Note that you board from the beach: a shuttle takes you out to the catamaran, so expect wet feet, and this is the reason the operator states the trip is not suitable for people with mobility impairments. Come in swimwear under your clothes with a towel and reef-safe sunscreen; there is little changing space aboard and no shade on deck.

The sail out Sails up, engine off, along the leeward coast

This is the part that separates this boat from most of the fleet. It is a sailing catamaran, and it sails — the trade wind that bends every divi-divi tree on the island does the work, so instead of a diesel drone you get the boat heeling gently and going quiet. The run is along the sheltered west coast, past the hotel strip and up towards the reefs off the north-west corner. Crew brief the snorkel stops and hand out gear on the way, and the open bar is already pouring — the operator's own description has you taking a drink before the boat leaves.

First stop The Antilla — a 1940 wreck at snorkel depth

The reason this coast is on snorkelling maps at all. The Antilla is a German freighter of roughly 400 feet, scuttled by her own crew in 1940 and lying on her side in water shallow enough that you can read the shape of the whole hull from the surface. Most Caribbean wrecks are a dive; this one is not. Expect other boats on the site — every operator on the west coast comes here, which is exactly why the deck traffic on your own boat matters.

Back on board after the wreck, lunch and more refreshments are served while the boat moves on — the one substantial thing this trip feeds you, and something most three-hour boats do not.

Second stop Boca Catalina — turtles and reef fish

A sandy-bottomed bay off the north-west shore, shallow, sheltered and the most reliable turtle sighting on this coast. Sea turtles are wild animals and nobody can promise you one, but this is the site the boats go to precisely because the odds are good. Around them: parrotfish, sergeant majors and the rest of the standard Caribbean reef cast, close enough to the surface that a mask and a snorkel are all the equipment the site needs.

The sail home The last cocktail and the turning light

Once the last swimmer is back aboard, the boat sails down the coast into the best light of the day — the sun low over open water on your beam, which is the single thing the morning boats cannot give you at any price. This is the stretch people remember, and the reason we default to the afternoon departure. It is also when the deck is busiest and loudest, so if you were hoping for a quiet sail, this is not the stretch for it.

What 367 reviews tell you· 04

Read the score with its evidence attached

A rating and a review count only mean something together, so here they are side by side for this boat and the four you would otherwise book. The bar is the record; the star is the score.

Afternoon Sail & Snorkel — this tour★ 4.8
361
Snorkel Cruise, Open Bar & Light Lunch★ 4.7
394
Boat Trip with Snorkeling & Open Bar★ 4.7
145
Sailing & Snorkeling Tour with Drinks★ 4.7
102
Private Boat Trip, Snorkeling & Drinks★ 5.0
10
Bar length = review count (evidence). Sampled 5 Aug 2026. ★ = rating

★4.8 across 367 reviews is the strongest score-plus-evidence pairing in this comparison — the $69 boat has been reviewed more often (394 times) but sits a tenth of a star lower, and the private charter's ★5.0 rests on just 10 people. That is the whole argument of the chart above.

Our verdict Book it. At $74.99 it is the best-rated boat in this comparison (★4.8 on 367 reviews), it visits the two sites you actually came for, it sails rather than motors, and the afternoon slot buys you a calmer deck and the best light of the day for $5.99 over the $69 morning boat. Take the morning boat instead if underwater clarity outranks everything else, or the $398 private charter if sharing a deck is the dealbreaker — with six aboard that is about $66 each, on a record of just 10 reviews.
What people who have done it keep saying· 05

Five things worth doing before you step on the boat

Not the operator's advice and not ours in the abstract — the practical points that come up again and again from people who have snorkelled the Antilla and this stretch of coast. None of it is on the booking page.

Take the tablet early

Seasickness medication works about an hour before boarding, not at the first swell. Sit near the centre of the catamaran, where the roll is smallest — and a catamaran rolls far less than a monohull to begin with.

Sunscreen on before you leave

Reef-safe, on before you reach the beach, topped up after each swim. Aruba restricts oxybenzone. A rash guard saves most of the reapplying out on open water, where there is no shade at all.

Towel and a phone pouch

The operator asks you to bring a towel, so it is not supplied. Add a waterproof pouch — spray on the sail home is constant, and you board by shuttle from the beach with wet feet either way.

Expect chop at the wreck

The Antilla sits in open sea over a sandbank in roughly 60 ft of water, with the mast tips within a few feet of the surface. Wind and a light current are normal there. The crew swims with the group at every stop.

Bring cash for tips

Crew tips are customary on Aruban boats and rarely payable through the booking page. Small bills, carried dry — there is no card machine on a catamaran.

Read this before you book.

01 A shared catamaran, not a private sail

Strangers on deck all afternoon, everyone in the water at the same time, and the day timed for the group rather than for you. If that is the dealbreaker, the honest alternative is the private charter at $398 per boat — around $66 each with six aboard, on a record of just 10 reviews.

02 You board from the beach, not from a pier

A shuttle runs you from the sand out to the catamaran, so expect wet feet before the trip has started. The operator states plainly that the trip is not suitable for people with mobility impairments, and this transfer is why. If steady footing on a moving tender is a problem, this is the boat to skip.

03 Afternoon means warmer light, choppier water

Aruba's trade wind builds through the day, so afternoon conditions are typically breezier and the visibility less glassy than at dawn. You are trading a little underwater clarity for a calmer deck and the best light of the day. If clarity outranks everything, take the morning boat.

Side by side· 06

This boat against the four you'd otherwise book

Live USD prices from GetYourGuide, sampled 5 Aug 2026 and re-audited before every release. Read the rating column with its review count attached — the private boat's perfect score rests on 10 reviews. Click any column header to sort.

The afternoon sail and snorkel compared with four alternative Aruba snorkel boats by price, duration, pricing unit and rating
BoatTimePricePriced asRatingThe honest lineBook
Our pickAfternoon Sail & Snorkel, Open Bar↗3 hfrom $74.99per person★ 4.8367 reviewsBest score on the deepest record here — and it actually sailsBook
Snorkel Cruise, Open Bar & Light Lunch↗3 hfrom $69per person★ 4.7404 reviewsCheapest here and the most reviewed — but 0.1★ lowerBook
Boat Trip with Snorkeling & Open Bar↗3 hfrom $90per person★ 4.7145 reviews$15.01 more for the same three hours and a lower scoreBook
Sailing & Snorkeling Tour with Drinks↗2.5 hfrom $70per person★ 4.7102 reviewsShortest trip here, and the thinnest record of the shared boatsBook
Private Boat Trip, Snorkeling & Drinks↗2 hfrom $398per boat · up to 6★ 5.010 reviewsThe no-strangers option — $66 each at six, on 10 reviewsBook
Sort by price, time or rating — click a header. Listings with no rating always sink to the bottom.
Live availability· 07
Afternoon Sailing Trip with Snorkeling & Open Bar

Real departure dates and the current price, straight from GetYourGuide — $74.99 per person, ★4.8 from 367 reviews, three hours off Palm Beach, hotel pickup included. If a date is missing here it is genuinely sold out; this calendar is not ours to edit.

Twelve things worth knowing — six of them catches· 08
01 It genuinely sails

Most of the west-coast fleet motors with the sails up for the photographs. This is a sailing catamaran and the trade wind does real work — the engine goes quiet, the boat heels, and the difference is obvious the moment it happens.

02 Same wreck as the expensive boats

The Antilla and Boca Catalina are the two sites nearly every operator on this coast visits. You are not buying access to a secret; you are buying the boat you see them from, which is why the price spread between $69 and $398 is about the deck, not the destination.

03 Roughly half the deck traffic

The morning slots are where the tour buses and the cruise calls land. Afternoon departures run calmer as a rule, which for a shared boat is the single biggest quality difference available to you — and it costs $5.99 more than the $69 morning boat.

04 The best light of the day

Low sun over open water on the sail home. Photographs from an afternoon boat look nothing like photographs from a 9 a.m. one, and no amount of money buys a morning boat this light.

05 Hotel pickup is in the price

Pickup and drop-off at your hotel are listed as included, which is not the norm in this category and quietly removes the taxi fare at both ends. If you would rather make your own way, the meeting point is the Octopus Aruba beach hut a minute from the Holiday Inn entrance.

06 The wreck works without a licence

The Antilla lies in snorkel-depth water, which is genuinely unusual for a ship of roughly 400 feet. Elsewhere in the Caribbean a wreck like this is a certified dive. Here it is a mask and a snorkel.

07 It is a shared boat

Say it plainly: strangers, all day, and everyone in the water at the same time. The trip is timed for the group, not for you. If that is the dealbreaker, the honest alternative is the private charter at $398 per boat — around $66 each with six aboard.

08 The bar is open from the moment you board

The operator's own description has you taking a drink before the boat sails, not after the swimming is done. Drinks run through the trip and finish with a cocktail on the way home. Snorkelling and an open bar from the start is a combination worth thinking about honestly before you pour the first one.

09 Afternoon water is not morning water

Aruba's trade wind builds through the day, so afternoon conditions are typically breezier and the visibility less glassy than at dawn. You are trading a little clarity for a lot less crowd. If underwater visibility is your first priority, take the morning boat.

10 Three hours is two stops, not a day at sea

Sail out, swim, eat, swim, sail back. Afternoon appetizers are included and served between the two stops, but there is no beach landing and no third site. Anyone picturing a full day afloat should be looking at a BBQ sail instead, and paying accordingly.

11 Bring cash and a towel

Crew tips are customary in Aruba and rarely payable through the booking, so cash matters. Towels are usually your own problem on a three-hour boat, as is reef-safe sunscreen — Aruba restricts oxybenzone, and there is almost no shade on deck.

12 What we don't hold, we won't invent

The inclusions, meeting point and restrictions in section 01 are copied from the operator's listing. What it does not publish — exact start times, minimum age, group size, whether branded spirits sit outside the open bar — we leave blank rather than print a confident wrong figure. Check those on the booking page.

Questions people actually ask· 09

This boat, answered straight

Is the afternoon sail and snorkel worth it?
For most visitors yes, and it is our default recommendation for a sea day. At $74.99 it rates ★4.8 across 367 reviews — the strongest score-plus-evidence pairing in Aruba's boat market. Three hours, a sailing catamaran with hotel pickup included, and the two stops people come to this coast for: the Antilla wreck and Boca Catalina. The honest catches are that it is a shared boat and that you board from the beach by shuttle — which the operator says makes it unsuitable for people with mobility impairments.
What is the difference from the $69 morning boat?
The Snorkel Cruise with Open Bar & Light Lunch is $69, the same three hours, and rates ★4.7 across 404 reviews — more reviews on a lower score — and it includes a light lunch, which the afternoon trip does not. Your $5.99 buys a higher rating, roughly half the deck traffic and the best light of the day. Morning water is usually flatter and clearer, because the trade wind builds through the day, so if visibility outranks crowds take the morning boat.
Does it stop at the Antilla shipwreck?
Yes — the Antilla is one of the trip's two stops, alongside Boca Catalina. She is a German freighter of roughly 400 feet, scuttled in 1940, lying in snorkel-depth water, which is why non-divers can see her at all; most Caribbean wrecks of that size are a certified dive. The order of the stops and the time spent at each are the operator's to set, so check the listing if the sequence matters to you.
Is the open bar really unlimited?
The open cocktail bar is listed as included, and it is open from the moment you board — the operator's description has guests taking a drink before the boat sails, not after the last swim. Drinks continue alongside the afternoon appetizers between the two stops and finish with a cocktail on the sail home. What the listing does not spell out is whether branded spirits sit outside the open bar, a common carve-out in this category, so check that on the booking page if it matters.
Do you need to swim well?
The category norm is mask, snorkel and fins provided, flotation aids available, and a guide in the water at each stop — which together make these stops workable for weak swimmers. But we do not hold this operator's own ability or health requirements, and both sites are open water rather than a lagoon. If you are a nervous swimmer, read the requirements on the listing and message the operator through GetYourGuide if anything is unclear.
Is it good for kids?
We do not hold the minimum age or the child pricing, so check the listing rather than trusting a guess. What we can tell you is the shape of the day: three hours, a sailing catamaran, two snorkel stops in open water, and a bar that opens for the adults on the sail home. Families do these boats constantly here. The real questions are whether your children are comfortable snorkelling off a boat, and whether three hours with no beach to run on works for them.
What should I bring?
A towel, because a three-hour boat rarely provides one. Reef-safe sunscreen — Aruba restricts oxybenzone and there is almost no shade on deck. Cash for crew tips, which are customary and rarely payable through the booking. Swimwear under your clothes, since changing space aboard is limited. Leave anything that can't get wet ashore, and bring your own underwater camera if you want one.
How far ahead should I book?
A boat holding ★4.8 on 367 reviews is a boat that runs full. In high season, January to March, book several days ahead — earlier still if your dates are pinned to a cruise call. Outside high season a day or two is often enough. Free cancellation typically runs up to 24 hours before departure on GetYourGuide, so booking early usually costs nothing — but confirm the terms for your own date on the booking page before relying on that.
Check live dates ↑ Compare the alternatives ↑

$74.99, ★4.8 from 367 reviews. A shared deck and a beach boarding — and still the one we'd book.

Live availability and prices via GetYourGuide — free cancellation up to 24 h before departure, confirm yours on the booking page. Want a different kind of afternoon? Compare the catamaran & boat cruises or the snorkel trips.

Book now →
Afternoon Sailing Trip with Snorkeling & Open Bar3 h · Palm Beach · ★ 4.8 · 367 reviews
$74.99per person
Book now