I have never been on a cruise before, so planning excursions is new to me. Key interests are water sports in St. Maarten and Thos. I would like to know the best areas/excursions for snorkeling or other underwater exploration. I have been snorkeling, but have not tried snuba or the BOB underwater scooters. Any opinions on the type of equipment used or best places to go to see underwater life? How about good catamaran cruises? I'm most interested in a fast ride. Thank you.

Hi, congrats on your upcoming cruise, and finding this site.
St. Thomas has ferries to St. John, which has a beach called Trunk Bay, which has an underwater snorkeling trail....either scroll down for previous posts or use the "find" button to enter keywords like: trunk bay, snorkel, st. maarten, st. thomas, excursions, ect. ect.

There are a lot of previous posts that have wonderful details about both those islands snorkeling options.

Trunk Bay is great. I'm going back in a few days, was there in Jan. on a cruise it was heavenly even though it was cloudy and rainy and rough seas, still beautiful. Also, a sail/catarmaran/snorkel excursion to St. John if you can find one is a huge treat! They usually drop you off close to a pristine shoreline with beach so you can snorkel, just awesome, scenery is surreal.

For St. Martin, (been there 4 times) I'd have to say Orient Beach is probably your best bet. Stick to the French side, more upscale and cleaner than the Dutch side. Rented a car there last stop and got really lost all day, not too much fun, seemed like an episode of The Amazing Race.