TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Excursions and passports

This may be a dumb question but Heading to sxm next month for the first time and doing a snorkeling excursion to st. Bart’s, in which we need our passports, what’s the best way to keep Them safe while snorkeling?????...not sure what people do with them while on these excursions.

For that type of trip, both to AXA and StB, we’ve used color photo copies in the past since the boat captain only wanted the passport number and names, etc., to hand to immigration officials on his roster sheet at the respective islands. You might want to check with the outfit you’re booking with since we didn’t do any excursions since 2016 or thereabouts and the laws may have changed.

Copies not allowed anymore.

Thanks, Elaine. As i said, it’s been a while for us so good to know for next trip.

One we gave them the passports and they record the numbers they were given back to us. Since we stayed close to where the excursion departed I took them back to our room safe. This year I opted for the Passport card in addition to the book which will work for international land and sea travel.

Put your passport in a ziplock bag or other waterproof pouch. Leave them with your other personal gear on the boat while you are snorkeling. A crew member or two will always be left on board to watch over “stuff” left by the clients.

If you are a bit paranoid, you can purchase a waterproof pouch with a lanyard that hangs around your neck and take your passports in the water with you. AquaPak and other companies make pouches in all sizes. Google “waterproof pouches” for dozens of links.

Very good question and thanks those who posted. But if I'm in the water and not on land do I still need a passport?

If you are moored in the waters near the island, yes.

Awesome thanks for the replies everyone, am going to get a hold of the outfit and see what they typically do. Will Also look into the aquapak. Thanks again for the info! Can’t wait to get to sxm!