Brunette and Blonde running happily and unknowingly into our snorkeling future
Ever since we were tiny we have loved water and somewhere in our early twenties we both began to try snorkeling. That minor change in our water sport interests has entailed a fortune in travel expenses and “resort wear”necessities and massive grumbling around about it by Brunette’s husband, but we have snorkeled on regardless!
We have a previous post which (surprisingly) has good advice for anyone considering just starting to explore snorkeling. You may want to check it out.
If you are considering trying snorkeling, already enjoy it occasionally or are an experienced snorkeler we think you will be tempted to visit our favorite snorkel spots if you have not yet done so. For an extremely unreasonable fee we will accompany you and be virtually useless to you but happy to share your enthusiasm if you spot a good fish or ride a shark across a reef!
Our favorite spots to date are:
Some of the drab, uninviting scenery on St. John!
St. John, the U.S. Virgin Islands
St. John is an easy ferry ride from St. Thomas (about 4 miles away) but a world away culturally. St. Thomas is full of cruise ships, stores, casinos, tourists and more tourists. St. John is much more laid back and natural thanks to the fact that 60% of its land is a national park (most of it donated by Laurence Rockefeller). Also, much of the island’s waters, coral reefs and shoreline are protected via their inclusion in the park which was expanded in 2001 when the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument was created. In other words, it can’t get commercialized and ruined so that’s probably the only reason it hasn’t been!
When we look for snorkeling destinations our preference is for islands where you can snorkel from the shore rather than have to go out on a boat to a reef. It’s not only more convenient but also less expensive to be able to go from the beach.
We have stayed at Caneel Bay which has lovely off the beach snorkeling and the Westin St. John Resort and Villas which has a very nice man-made beach but no snorkeling. Aside from Caneel Bay there is Gallows Point which we have not personally experienced. Caneel Bay has quite a few of the national park beaches on it and is lovely and family oriented. It does not have in-room telephones, television or internet. That is (so we hear) great for those seeking to be “unplugged”. However, we prefer to be securely plugged in, at least in terms of internet, so when on the island we go snorkel on Caneel Bay’s federal parkland beaches but stay elsewhere (usually for free on our SPG points at The Westin).
All three properties can get you a rental car which you will want for at least a few days to explore the island and sample the various reefs. But be forewarned Americans – they do drive on the left!
Another word of advice, really for all snorkeling destinations to be on the safe side, is to take water shoes to protect your feet from rocks, sea urchins or reefs. And never, ever, ever stand on or touch a reef as doing so kills that spot and it may never regenerate. And don’t forget that a wave can knock you into a reef so keep a safe distance away for the sake of you and the reef!
A sea urchin – something you most decidedly do not want to sit or stand on or pick up!
Roatan, Honduras
When we went to Anthony’s Key Resort (AKR) in Roatan it was a pain to get there but now there are flights directly to Roatan from Miami on American Airlines so another trip may be in our future! Although this is a resort that was originally almost entirely dive focused they have found a lot of value in snorkelers and also offer wonderful dolphin encounters.
This is not a resort where you snorkel from the shore. However, twice a day a boat takes snorkelers out with a guide who shows you all of the amazing and gorgeous underwater goodies to be seen. The snorkel boat trips are included in the price you pay. We never once went out without being amazed by the diversity and abundance of coral and fish life. The guides have some sort of personal radar that allows them to find an eel that’s 6 feet under a rock you would never notice. As most people are there to dive, not snorkel, you will most likely not be snorkeling with a large group of people and we really liked that!
We also greatly enjoyed a dolphin encounter. A surprising and hilarious thing was when the dolphins pushed Brunette through the water using their snouts to propel her by her bare feet! That’s a trick their trainers use and Brunette didn’t know that, or that she was required to wear flippers; her bad but her fun too!
![Dolphin at Anthony's Key Resort in Roatan]()
- Tickling a dolphin at Anthony’s Key Resort in Roatan
AKR is an all-inclusive resort which helps greatly when figuring out your budget and, as of the time of this post, they have an excellent 6 nights for the price of 7 promotion for travel between January 4th and April 26th 2014. We recommend the bungalows on the island, not the mainland, but a good deal is a good deal so make your own choice!
Ambergris Caye, Belize, Honduras
Belize has hundreds of islands (cayes) and Ambergris is the largest and the Belize Barrier Reef runs the length of it. We stayed at Xanadu Island Resort and really enjoyed their eco-friendly luxury and the pleasant walk along the beach to get dinner in town each evening.
One thing to keep in mind for this destination is that you cannot snorkel very successfully from shore – on Ambergris Caye, not only the Xanadu property. This is because the reef is a ways out and also because they are mindful of not destroying the area by making beaches and destroying the natural seafront beach grasses. You need to go out on boat trips which are a lot of fun but add to your trip costs. We had a very fresh bit of fish ceviche on one of our trips as you can see below!
When you order fresh fish in Belize they take you seriously!
One of the many fun and perhaps idiotic things we did was to take a boat trip to snorkel in Shark-Ray Alley. You snorkel above Nurse Sharks and a lot of Stingrays and generally live to tell the tale and impress your friends.
Turquoise Bay Drift Snorkel, Ningaloo Reef, Australia
We went to Ningaloo Reef in Exmouth, on the northwest cape of Australia. A man we spoke with at a restaurant one night in Boston told us to go to Ningaloo Reef when we said we wanted to snorkel with whale sharks. That was enough for us to book our flights and we were glad we did!
The snorkeling with whale sharks was fabulous and we definitely recommend it but it’s costly and you have to choose your season carefully. But for snorkeling you can just grab your equipment and rental car and head out to Cape Range National Park. There are a number of lovely spots to snorkel from the shore in the park but our favorite, and where we saw a fabulous octopus up close, was Turquoise Bay Drift Snorkel. As the name implies you get in and drift along to the end on a current which we found to be gentle. The recommend you do it at low tide and don’t do it without a flotation vest if you aren’t a good or confident swimmer.
One of the entrances from a car park to Turquoise Bay Drift Snorkel
In Exmouth we stayed at the Novotel Ningaloo which was far and away the nicest hotel in the area at the time. However, we did find their restaurant to be considerably over-priced, have only mediocre food and dreadful service so we always drove into town for our meals.
If you are driving out of Cape Range National Park near dusk be very careful not to hit or be hit by the dozens of kangaroos leaping across the road!
Kura Kura Island Resort, Indonesia
This may very well be paradise! Friends suggested it to us and, once again, we were only too happy to jump on a plane and go halfway around the world to check out a good suggestion for snorkeling! The resort is reached by a small private plane then a sea boat all of which made us feel like Bond Girls even if no one else noticed the resemblance!
Admittedly it was a resort primarily inhabited by honeymooners and two American baby boomer women together seemed a bit out of place to probably everyone but us! There were several options for snorkeling. You could walk a path through the sea to some reefs (remember those water shoes!), they will take you out on their private boat (for no additional charge) or, and this was the best for us, you can go right from the pier where their boat is. You walk down a ladder into the water and almost literally cannot believe your eyes!. That had to be the most magnificent coral we have ever seen. The fish life was less fantastic but the coral was gorgeous and really inspirational in terms of getting across the importance of protecting reefs.
Reef at Kura Kura Resort Indonesia
Reef at Kura Kura Resort Indonesia
The resort has private villas with lovely private pools, a well-trained, friendly staff and an excellent chef. We never would have left if it hadn’t been for a minor thing known as money. Also, we enjoyed the fruit bat “serenade” at dusk every evening. They would get in the trees and screech like crazy for half an hour starting at 7:00. They were very reliable! We asked the extraordinarily Italian manager why the bats did that. In a perfect circle of cigarette smoke, he laconically said “they are either having a fight or making sex”. Good enough explanation for us!
The Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
We had always wanted to go to The Galapagos and after a year and a half of family illnesses and death we decided that life is short and money should be spent on travel so off we went! On the advice of yet another virtual stranger we booked our trip through Myths and Mountains. They specialize in small boat cruises (really the only kind there anyway) and top notch naturalists.
This was a trip for the fairly fit crowd (amusing to see us as part of that but somehow we were) as it involved two daily hikes and two daily snorkels. The Galapagos are literally like nowhere else on earth. They have different species, different topography, different fauna, you name it. We learned so much from the naturalists that it’s a shame that we retained virtually none of it but it made us feel very smart at the time!
Snorkeling in The Galapagos gave us yet another chance to snorkel over sharks (these seemed more menacing but farther below us than the ones in Belize) and many opportunities to have sea lions swim toward us at high speed only to turn away inches from our face masks. Because the area has been so well protected environmentally the coral is beautiful and the reef life is like being in a fabulous animated 3-D film of fish swimming everywhere! We can’t resist a couple pictures from here.
Hey there fella’! A friendly sea lion in The Galapagos.
Overcrowding in fish school in The Galapagos
One reason you may want to wear diapers when you snorkel – swimming over the occasional reef or nurse shark.
As you can probably tell by this point our enthusiasm for snorkeling is fairly extreme and we will go great distances to have a good experience.
This February we are thrilled that Qatar Airways is providing us with two business class tickets to The Maldives where we we are beyond thrilled to be staying at Kurumba Maldives! We fully expect to have yet another amazing and unique snorkeling experience. Watch this space for the posts about it and meanwhile get your gear and get started snorkeling too!
Who knows what floats beneath? We plan to find out!
