Champagne Reef Snorkeling Tour at volcanic hot Bubbles Dominica

Good Snorkling spot, with a great team. Many différents Fisher species. Area is very peacefull . Light undersea amazing.

We booked our Champagne Reef tour through Rosalie Bay Eco Resort. Our tour guide, Bevin, fitted us all with flotation devices for safety and ensured we all had the equipment we needed, even baby shampoo to de-fog our masks. It was a little challenging to enter the water through the surf, get fins on, etc, and he helped people in our group as needed, ensuring everyone got in safely. He guided us to the fantastic Champagne Reef bubbles, pointed out a variety of corals and fish, and even found and pointed out a hawksbill turtle. We felt we had plenty of time to look around and enjoy the reef and the very pleasant water (a long sleeve rash guard is a good idea for sun and comfort). Changing rooms were available to change between swimsuit and street clothes - nothing fancy, but perfectly usable. Note that you’ll need good water shoes, and the ability to navigate stairs from the street and a somewhat uneven, rocky entrance to the water. Highly recommended for those who love snorkeling and seeing unusual underwater features. I’m not sure there’s anything like this elsewhere, and it would have been challenging to find without guidance from a local.

This was an amazing place, very un-like the other islands. It had a really natural beauty to it, totally un-spoiled. The reef was just wonderful. My daughter & myself had a private snorkel with Dwayne, a very young man from the island, who really knew his stuff. He took us out where we saw a hawksbill & green turtle, also rays. There were lots of fish everywhere. The volcanic bubbles weren't too far from there, which were really amazing, swimming over these huge hot bubbles coming up from the sea-bed. We had a chair & shade & complimentary drink while there. I only paid 29$ each for the tour, on trip-advisor, so was well worth it. Unfortunately the taxis charged 40$ each way. Still cheaper than the cruise's excursion. Would highly recommend it. Not for older non-swimmers though.

Visibility was good, guide made sure we had a good time. Lots of tropical fish … barrel and tube sponges … and sea fans …

The man was very friendly and guided us nicely to the most beautiful snorkeling champaign reef spots. Also free drink and changing area and free on sun lounger.

Quickly handled by Anderson. A very patient young man, because the sea was rough. I wasn't swimming fast. We saw small fish and turtles.

The location of Champagne Beach is off a windy, rural 2-lane road that doesn’t have a place to park. Instead, you must pull off onto the side of the road on either side of 2 green porta-potties that are also on the side of the road. These are the only toilets at this location. Because it is so rural and there are no public or private transportation options at Champagne Beach (and no Uber, Bolt or other ride share options available) available to get back to town to your cruise ship, hotel, etc., after your snorkeling tour. So, this is why you have to use a taxi who will sit there for however long you are at Champagne Beach to take you back into town at $20-$25 per person, which is not mentioned anywhere in their posting (only in upset reviews). In fact, the only place I can see in their Viator listing about the need for transportation is in Viator’s usual separate section of Meeting Point. And in the smallest font of the posting, it says: “The meeting point is Champagne Beach. This is easy to reach by Taxi or Bus in about 10 minutes from Roseau. We are not responsable for transits from Hotels or Cruiseships to Champagne Beach.” And it’s more like a 16-minute drive from the Roseau Port but a 1 hour 42-minute walk because it is so mountainous & windy (per Google Maps). We were able to rent a car in town for the day for not more than a taxi for the 2 of us, but that was still a last-minute significant expense not inconsequential compared to the tour cost. As to the beach itself, it’s an upgraded rustic area that appears quaint and interesting. There are 2 sets of very steep concrete steps alongside one another down from the edge of the road to the beach location without any guardrails. There are 15 or 23 steps depending on whether you go straight down or slightly winding. It appears this beach location was mostly rocky, but they have removed some of the rocks to make areas to walk and for them to have a few huts to sell things and for beach chairs to sit on. And there’s one ocean edge area about 25 feet wide that they have cleared the rock to get into the water to start your swimming & snorkeling journey. However, the rocks start again before you’re very far into the water. Thus, we concur with another reviewer who recommended wearing water shoes and putting your fins over them: “We put fins on over the water shoes which made a big difference! Very rocky shore.” The sand is brown and mostly hard packed. Our guide was Anderson who appeared to be 19-20 y/, very soft- speaking, not very helpful. I couldn’t get a good seal with my mask, and he said that was because I had a mustache. He directed me to try to adjust it, but he didn’t try to help me for several minutes. I’m treading water and trying to adjust it. Finally, he looked closely at my mask and found it was defective. So, he took it back to shore and came back with another. Nonetheless, that one still didn’t sit tight enough on my face so that I could swim very far with it. So, I went to shore while my wife proceeded on the snorkeling tour. She said, however, that he really didn’t talk much on their way. Fortunately, another guide was leading a large group and giving them info about what they were seeing and she learned from him. All in all, a very disappointing tour. I would not do it again.

My daughter and I were on a cruise and were in Roseau, Dominica for the day. She wanted to swim and snorkel and I wanted to relax on a lounger. She found Champagne Beach and we were able to take a taxi there for $20/person round trip. She rented snorkel equipment for $10 and hired a guide for another $10. I wanted her to get the most out of this experience. She was able to see an eel, lion fish and squid along with the tropical fish. She also was able to experience the warm water bubbles. (She did say that it was difficult getting out of the water because it was slippery and she didn’t have water shoes on). I found a comfy chaise lounge under a tree for $5. We had a great afternoon there.

Great snorkeling. The champagne reef was quite unique. We had time for a short second spot too. Great, friendly crew. We enjoyed the rum punch. Attention to safety. Highly recommend.

It's actually $25 per person for the taxi. I was under the impression it was $25 for the group. That was an unexpected expense. They did not have record of me coming for the tour when I arrived. They finally found our reservation 20 minutes later and we were able to do it. The guided snorkel itself went great!