Beach Condition CSA?

Just wondering how the beach at CSA is recovering from Nicole? If anybody has some current photos that would be great. My wife and I will be there in June can't wait. This will be our 2nd trip to CSA. I also was wondering if staff were utilizing a glass bottom boat for snorkeling again? The last time we went it seemed very difficult to get ready in the boat with the glass in the middle.

We just got back from CSA earlier this month. The beach is narrower than it was in January 2010, especially the section in front of the beachfront suites. But it is nowhere near as narrow as we've seen it in the past (in 2005, high tide came up to some of the palm trees).

When we were there, they had a replacement glassbottom/snorkel boat. We heard that the normal boat had been put back in service after Nicole, but that there had been an accident with it right before we got there. It's nice that CSA provided any replacement boat at all, but it was nowhere near as nice as the normal boat. There are no shelves up top to stash your towels or gear. You have to exit the boat over the sides rather than at the front (not a big deal for me, but it is scary for some newbies). The boat itself is much smaller, so it is difficult to maneuver if the boat is crowded. The engine is not as powerful, so they could not go to several of the regular reefs. And, most importantly, the ladder to reenter from the water was extremely narrow, making it almost impossible for anyone with knee or mobility problems to reenter the boat. Sorry to go on about the boat, but it really was a big disappointment for us since we love to snorkel so much.

There is another thread about this from a few weeks ago with pictures. The beach is still wide on the newer section of the resort by the swim up bar but the north end by seagrapes looks narrower and has a few tide pools. This will probably be taken care of by the summer. Summer usually means bigger beaches.

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Originally Posted by BobandJudy

We just got back from CSA earlier this month. The beach is narrower than it was in January 2010, especially the section in front of the beachfront suites. But it is nowhere near as narrow as we've seen it in the past (in 2005, high tide came up to some of the palm trees).

When we were there, they had a replacement glassbottom/snorkel boat. We heard that the normal boat had been put back in service after Nicole, but that there had been an accident with it right before we got there. It's nice that CSA provided any replacement boat at all, but it was nowhere near as nice as the normal boat. There are no shelves up top to stash your towels or gear. You have to exit the boat over the sides rather than at the front (not a big deal for me, but it is scary for some newbies). The boat itself is much smaller, so it is difficult to maneuver if the boat is crowded. The engine is not as powerful, so they could not go to several of the regular reefs. And, most importantly, the ladder to reenter from the water was extremely narrow, making it almost impossible for anyone with knee or mobility problems to reenter the boat. Sorry to go on about the boat, but it really was a big disappointment for us since we love to snorkel so much.

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Just got back two days ago, and the normal glass bottom/snorkel boat is back in action!

Dawn - thanks for the good news. Just my luck to be there when the replacement boat was in use for the entire 10 days of our trip.