A Larnaca snorkeling cruise takes a glass-bottom boat out of Larnaca Marina for swim stops over a sunken ferry and beside the airport runway. Browse the wider range of tours in Greece and Cyprus when you plan the rest of the week.
This page covers what the cruise includes, the morning and afternoon trips, the meeting point and pickup, the coast you pass, the Zenobia wreck and the sea life around it, Mackenzie Beach, what to pack and the questions travellers ask.
What does the Larnaca snorkeling cruise include?
The Larnaca snorkeling cruise includes an animator, snorkeling gear, sunbeds and full facilities. It adds Wi-Fi, a glass-bottom boat, and hotel pickup and drop-off. Food, drinks and tips are not included.
The operator is Larnaca Napa Sea Cruises. Its listing names six things that come with your place on board. The boat is a glass-bottom boat, and the same list adds Wi-Fi, sunbeds and full facilities on deck.
Snorkeling equipment is free to use, but the operator asks for a refundable deposit. The Larnaca snorkeling cruise lists the free gear and the deposit in one line. An animator is also on the list. The listing does not say what the animator does, so this page does not guess.
Hotel pickup and drop-off sits on the same list. The operator therefore handles the ride to the boat and the ride home.
Two lines sit apart from that list. Food and drinks are available for purchase, which means you pay for them separately. Tips are also left out of the booking. Plan a little spending money for the day.
The cruise has a simple cancellation rule. Cancel at least 24 hours before the start and the listing promises a full refund. After that point the refund is not promised. For the Larnaca snorkeling cruise, a change of plan costs you nothing until the day before the start.
How do the morning and afternoon Larnaca snorkeling cruises differ?
The morning Larnaca snorkeling cruise lasts 2 hours with two swim stops: the Zenobia shipwreck and Mackenzie Beach. The afternoon cruise lasts 1.5 hours and has one swim stop, at Mackenzie Beach.
The extra half hour of the morning trip buys the wreck stop. There you swim and snorkel at the Zenobia shipwreck. The boat then goes on to Mackenzie Beach for a second swim. The listing says planes fly overhead there.
The afternoon cruise is a shorter trip, designed for the afternoon breeze, says the listing. It does not stop at the wreck. It swims once, at Mackenzie Beach. Choose the morning if the wreck is your goal. Choose the afternoon for a shorter sail with one swim.
The listing gives the length as 1.5 to 2 hours. Starting times show up only when you pick a date and check availability. This page names no clock time. Pick your date first, then read the times shown for each Larnaca snorkeling cruise.
Every departure depends on the weather and on the captain’s decision. The listing warns that routes can change. This rule covers both the morning and the afternoon cruise. If the captain changes the plan, the stops on this page change with it.
Where does the Larnaca snorkeling cruise start, and how does the pickup work?
The Larnaca snorkeling cruise departs from Larnaca Marina. The listing gives the meeting point as the Plus Code WJ8Q+GPR in Larnaca, Cyprus. It also lists hotel pickup and drop-off.
Two lines of the listing point to one harbour. The route text says the boat departs from Larnaca Marina. The operator’s own page for a different trip, its Relaxing Cruise, also names Larnaca Marina as the starting point.
The listing names a meeting point and a hotel pickup, but it does not explain how the two fit together. A travel site’s copy tells guests of the Larnaca snorkeling cruise to check the final voucher. It holds the starting point details.
The operator’s page for its Relaxing Cruise describes the transfer. Private buses carry guests from their pickup points and back again, in the Larnaca region only. It adds that transfer times are sometimes delayed by traffic. That page covers a different cruise, so use it as background.
The start time is not fixed on the page. The listing gives a duration of 1.5 to 2 hours. Choose your day, and the listing then shows the departure times for it. Check them before you plan a Larnaca snorkeling cruise around lunch or a flight.
What do you pass on the way, from Finikoudes Beach to the airport runway?
The listing says the Larnaca snorkeling cruise passes Finikoudes Beach and the Medieval Castle. It also promises planes overhead near the airport. Larnaca International Airport is named after a former president of Cyprus.
The coast has a second name. Skala is a colloquial name for Larnaca, Wikipedia says, and it comes from the Greek word for a ladder. The commercial port stood at Skala during the Ottoman period.
The castle has a layered story. A small Byzantine fort stood by the harbour first. The Genovese took Famagusta, the main port. Larnaca then grew into a port of the Kingdom of Cyprus. The fort became a stronger castle in the late 14th century. The listing asks guests of the Larnaca snorkeling cruise to admire the Medieval Castle.
In the 18th century the explorer Abbot Giovanni Mariti found the castle semi-ruined, yet a garrison still guarded it. He thought the Ottomans built it, because of its Turkish style and inscriptions. Today it is a museum with three rooms. They hold early Christian and Byzantine antiques, Byzantine wall paintings, and medieval pottery and weapons.
Then comes the airport. Wikipedia says Larnaca International Airport opened on 8 February in prefabricated buildings. Departures and arrivals had separate halls. Cyprus Airways and Olympic Airways were its first airlines.
Later work changed the place. The expansion added a control tower, a fire station and a runway extension. The new terminal opened on 7 November and has 16 jetways and 48 departure gates. The old terminal now serves visiting heads of state and private aircraft. The Larnaca snorkeling cruise listing promises the view of planes, not these buildings.
What is the Zenobia wreck, the swim stop of the morning cruise?
The Zenobia was a Swedish roll-on roll-off ferry that sank in Larnaca Bay on her first voyage. The morning Larnaca snorkeling cruise stops at her wreck for a swim.
The Kockums shipyard in Sweden built her as a Challenger-class ferry of 10,000 gross tonnes. She was 28 metres wide. She left Malmö for Tartous in Syria with 104 tractor-trailers on board. She sank on 7 June, about 1,500 metres from the shore.
The wreck is the first of two swim stops on the two-hour morning Larnaca snorkeling cruise. The listing says guests swim and snorkel at the Zenobia Shipwreck, a site rich in history and marine life. A travel site puts the wreck about two kilometres from Larnaca Marina.
Today the ferry lies on her port side on a flat bed of sand and rocks. The seabed under her lies about 42 metres down. A travel site and Wikipedia agree on that depth. The Larnaca snorkeling cruise visits a wreck that lies far below the surface.
Wikipedia adds that the wreck is consistently ranked as one of the top 10 recreational dive sites worldwide. Her sister ship, the Wawel, still sails today. A Larnaca snorkeling cruise brings you to a site that divers travel to visit.
What lives in the water around the Zenobia wreck?
Groupers, barracuda, moray eels and turtles live around the Zenobia. The sea around the wreck has been a protected area for years. A Larnaca snorkeling cruise swims in that water.
The Larnaka Region tourism page calls the marine life on the wreck abundant and diverse. It says no fishing is allowed within about 3 miles of the site. It names large dusky groupers, schools of greater barracudas and moray eels.
The Visit Cyprus page describes a shy, resident moray eel and visiting turtles. It also lists breams, jacks, kingfish, lionfish, octopus, stingrays and triggerfish. Sea slugs, starfish, sponges and tube worms complete its list.
The Larnaka Region page adds large turtles that patrol the wreck and the occasional dolphin. It also says the wreck is home to a large number of coral species. These pages describe what divers meet. A Larnaca snorkeling cruise promises marine life in general.
The Larnaka Region page also gives the conditions. In good weather, the visibility can reach 30 metres. The water ranges from 15 to 28 °C over the year. Its monthly table runs from 16 °C in February to 28 °C in August and September.
Those numbers tell you how warm the sea feels in each season. They help you pick the season for a Larnaca snorkeling cruise. The page ties the 30 metres to good weather.
What is Mackenzie Beach, the swim stop of both cruises?
Mackenzie Beach is the swim stop of both the morning and the afternoon Larnaca snorkeling cruise. Wikipedia puts the Mackenzie Beach area inside the Skala quarter of Larnaca, whose southern end lies close to the airport.
Wikipedia lists what else sits in that quarter: Finikoudes, Larnaca Castle, and the old Turkish quarter with its great mosque. The listing says the boat sails past Finikoudes Beach early in the route. The swim stop of the Larnaca snorkeling cruise comes later on the same route.
The name Skala has its own story. Wikipedia says the settlement on the modern shoreline took the name of a landing stage for ships. The word comes from the Italian for a flight of stairs.
The morning cruise swims here second. The listing says the boat leaves the Zenobia wreck and goes on to Mackenzie Beach for another swim. Planes fly overhead. On the afternoon cruise, this beach is the only swim stop. The listing promises views of planes approaching the airport.
The listing also describes planes passing low above the sea in the afternoon light. That is its wording, and it gives no flying height. Wikipedia adds one fact about the beach itself: its Larnaca page lists a windsurfing centre and an extreme sports centre there.
A travel site’s copy of the listing says guests snorkel by the Zenobia wreck and Mackenzie Beach. That matches the listing, which includes snorkeling equipment on the boat. Both departures of a Larnaca snorkeling cruise therefore end the swimming at the same beach.
What do you bring to a Larnaca snorkeling cruise, and what stays ashore?
Bring your booking confirmation, either printed or on your phone, plus a swimsuit and a towel for the swim stop. Glass containers and large luggage stay ashore. A Larnaca snorkeling cruise needs only a light bag.
A travel site’s copy of the listing asks for the booking confirmation at boarding. A printed copy works, and so does a phone. The same page says to read the final voucher for the starting point and instructions.
The swimsuit and towel are for the swim stop of the Larnaca snorkeling cruise. The copy says to pack them if you plan to enjoy the scheduled swimming and snorkeling. Snorkeling equipment is on the listing’s list of inclusions, so you do not have to bring your own.
Two things are not allowed on the boat. Glass containers and glass items stay behind. Large luggage and oversized bags cannot come aboard either. A small bag with your swim things suits a Larnaca snorkeling cruise better than a suitcase.
The weather decides the rest. The listing says all cruises depend on weather conditions and on the captain’s decision, and routes can change. Read your confirmation again before you leave, so you know the plan for the day of your Larnaca snorkeling cruise.
What else do travellers ask about a Larnaca snorkeling cruise?
How does a glass-bottom boat work?
A glass-bottom boat has panels of glass below the waterline. Wikipedia says passengers watch the underwater world from inside the boat and stay dry. From above, surface ripples disturb the view, and the glass avoids that. Wikipedia lists shipwrecks among the sights of these tours. The listing says the Larnaca snorkeling cruise sails on a glass-bottom boat.
What do you show at the starting point, and which language does the listing give?
A travel site’s copy of the listing says the voucher is emailed shortly after booking. At the starting point, show it on your mobile phone together with a valid photo ID. The operator’s listing gives English on its language line. It names no other language for the Larnaca snorkeling cruise, so ask the operator about others.
Does the operator run other cruises from Larnaca?
Yes. The operator’s own page for its Relaxing Cruise combines fishing and snorkeling in Larnaca Bay on a glass bottom boat. It lists optional fishing with gear provided and a buffet with barbecue. A fish you catch can be cooked on board for lunch. That is a different trip from the Larnaca snorkeling cruise on this page.
Do other companies run a swim cruise to the Zenobia wreck?
Yes. The Yellow Semi-Submarine company describes its own two-hour Zenobia cruise on its website. It offers a 30-minute swim and snorkel at the wreck site, with equipment supplied. Its boat has a fresh water shower, toilets and a bar. Those are that company’s facilities, so do not expect them on a Larnaca snorkeling cruise.
Which other trips does a travel site list under the operator’s name?
A travel site’s boat-trip list for Larnaca names two more offers from Larnaca Napa Sea Cruises. One is a boat trip to the Zenobia shipwreck and the Blue Lagoon with lunch. The other is a glass-bottom boat trip to the Zenobia shipwreck and Mackenzie Beach. The list gives only titles, so compare each page before you book.