Best snorkeling spots in caribbean: The 10 Best Caribbean Snorkeling Spots

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May 7, 2023
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The 10 Best Caribbean Snorkeling Spots

FlickR/ rsuehle

By Christiana Mecca

Ready to jump into the clear turquoise water of the Caribbean? Snorkeling is one of the most popular activities among the Caribbean. We give you everything you need to know about 10 great, must-see snorkel spots. Dive on in.

Flickr/ Lenny Baker

Trunk Bay (St. John, U.S.V.I.)

Trunk Bay’s self-guided 205m-long (673-ft.) trail has large underwater signs that identify species of coral and other items of interest. The beach has showers, changing rooms, equipment rentals, and a lifeguard.

Flickr/ snorkelingdives.com

Buck Island (St. Croix, U.S.V.I.)

More than 250 species of fish, as well as a variety of sponges, corals, and crustaceans, have been found at this 340-hectare (840-acre) island and reef system, 3km (2 miles) off St. Croix’s north shore. The reef is strictly protected by the U.S. National Park Service but it is open to snorkelers and divers.

Flickr/ Katy Thebeau

Stingray City (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands)

Stingray City is an easy 4m (13-ft.) diving site that can also be seen while snorkeling. It’s an extraordinary experience to meet the dozens of tame, gentle stingrays that glide around you in the warm, crystal-clear waters.

Flickr/ Tinch72

Curaçao Underwater Marine Park (Curaçao)

In contrast to Curaçao’s arid terrain, the marine life that rings the island is rich and spectacular. The best-known snorkeling sites, in the Curaçao Underwater Marine Park, stretch for 20km (12 miles) along Curaçao’s southern coastline, and there are many other highly desirable sites as well. Sunken ships, gardens of hard and soft coral, and millions of fish are a snorkeler’s treat.

Flickr/ Chris Favero

St. Martin

The best snorkeling on the island lies on the French side, where the government religiously protects the calm waters, which are populated with schools of brilliantly colored fish. Find a tiny cove and explore the shallow reefs along its shores, especially in the northeastern underwater nature reserve.

Flickr/ A Manderson

Bonaire Marine Park (Bonaire)

All the attributes that make Bonaire a world-class diving destination apply to its snorkeling, too. Snorkelers can wade from the shores off their hotels to the reefs and view an array of coral and colorful fish. In particular, the reefs just off Klein Bonaire receive rave reviews.

Flickr/ lyng883

The Grenadines

Every island here offers great snorkeling possibilities right off magnificent white-sand beaches. In most places you’ll have the waters to yourself. One of the best is the reef stretching for 1.5km (1 mile) along the island of Canouan, where waters are filled with beautiful brain coral and vibrant fish. The snorkeling is also good at Palm Island and Petit St. Vincent.

M S/Flickr Photographer/Flickr

Haulover Bay (St. John)

Haulover Bay (St. John): A favorite with locals, this small bay is rougher than Leinster and often deserted. The snorkeling is dramatic, with ledges, walls, nooks, and sandy areas set close together. At this spot, only about 180m (591 ft.) of land separates the Atlantic Ocean from the Caribbean Sea.

Flickr/ Andy Tyler

Antigua

This is a snorkeler’s dream. Most of its lovely beaches open onto clear, calm waters populated by rainbow-hued tropical fish. The marine life offshore is particularly dense, including colorful sea anemones. The rich types of different elk and brain coral make snorkeling particularly rewarding. There are 360 relaxing beaches on Antigua to choose from but some of the best snorkeling on Bird Island and Cades Reef.

flickr/ snorkelingdives.com

Cane Bay (St. Croix)

One of the best diving and snorkeling sites on St. Croix is off this breezy north-shore beach. On a clear day, you can swim out 140m (459 ft.) and see the Cane Bay Wall that drops off dramatically to deep waters below. Multicolored fish, elkhorn, and brain coral abound.

Top 15+ Snorkeling Destinations in the Caribbean (with Photos) – Trips To Discover

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K.C. Dermody

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The Caribbean is full of beautiful beaches, offering access to bucket-list-worthy snorkeling adventures. If you’ve been dreaming of jumping into the Caribbean’s dazzling, warm waters and entering a spectacular underwater world with pristine reefs, tropical fish and a wide variety of other marine life, here is a look at the top destinations where you can do just that.

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The Baths – Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands

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The Baths, Virgin Gorda

The Baths – Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands

Best Places to Stay

The British Virgin Islands is made up of a collection of smaller islands, each with its own unique topography and island vibe, including Virgin Gorda, most famous for the Baths, a unique national park on the island’s southwest coast. The area is unlike anything else in the Caribbean, with some of the best beaches in the Virgin Islands, framed by gigantic granite boulders. The pools and grottoes created by these ginormous boulders make it the most photogenic spot in the region. Snorkelers should follow the rocky trail to nearby Devil’s Bay, particularly in the caves on the south side, where cup corals and multicolored sponges can be seen in fairly shallow depths of 12 to 15 feet.

Pigeon Cay is a miniature, picture-postcard uninhabited island, reached via a 45-minute boat ride from Roatan. It is the largest of Honduras’ Bay Islands and dotted with beautiful luxury resorts, though you may feel as if you’ve stepped onto a number planet once you get there. One side of the tiny isle features a beautiful white sand beach, and on the other, coconut trees provide shade and shelter. But the island isn’t the best part – jump into its surrounding waters to enjoy some of the most amazing snorkeling in the entire the Caribbean, if not the world. The reef starts 15 to 20 feet from the beach, surrounding the entire cay. Ideal conditions for coral growth can be found here, which means you’ll find a wide variety of species, with the bleached ivory sand bottom punctuated by Elkhorn coral as well as an extensive array of tropical fish like parrot fish and iridescent damsels.

Cayo Diablo straddles the border of the Atlantic and Caribbean, located just a 20-minute boat ride from the shores of Fajardo, in the eastern region of Puerto Rico. Many snorkelers and divers come here for the sea turtles that are almost always found lounging in the shallow waters, though you’ll also see stands of elkhorn and staghorn coral that are home to countless tropical fish. This may be the very best spot for a close encounter with turtles, including hawksbill and green turtles that are often calm enough that you can swim right alongside them.

Whale sharks are the world’s largest fish, but they aren’t anything like the star of the “Jaws” films, in fact, some say these fish that can get up to 60 feet in length, are equivalent to the “puppy dogs of the sea.” Isla Mujeres, located in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, is known as one of the best places on earth to snorkel with these gentle giants that congregate in the surrounding waters from June to August in order to gulp up the local fish spawn. You’ll also have a chance to glimpse dolphins and manta rays here.

The Tobago Cays in the Grenadines showcase a variety of colorful hard and soft corals, fans and whips as well as being home to green turtles, nurse sharks and eagle rays that swim in the calm, azure-hued waters. Horseshoe Reef, frequently described as a kaleidoscope of colors, protects four of the five uninhabited islands that are all part of Tobago Cays Marine Park. This treasured area remains under the watchful eye of rangers who ensure the coral-reef system continues to thrive, with lots of tropical fish found in waters only five to 12-feet deep. If you’ve got your heart set on turtles, the protected grassy area right outside the beach of Baradel is the place to go.

Anse Chastanet is not only one of the best resorts in St. Lucia, but it’s a famous snorkeling spot too. It is made up of nearly 500 feet of dark, silvery sands, and is dotted with palms and surrounded by steep, forested hillsides, with a coral reef teeming with fish just offshore. The reef runs anywhere from five to 20-feet deep on the shallow end, and up to 150-feet deep on the far end. In shallow waters look for octopus, needlefish, peacock flounders and turtles, or go down a bit deeper over dense coral growth to see moray eels, parrot fish, puffers and even sea horses.

Champagne Reef is a unique spot in Dominica, one of the Caribbean’s most spectacularly beautiful islands filled with unspoiled natural beauty, including a multitude of waterfalls and hot springs. Dominica’s subterranean geothermal activity pushes up through tiny cracks on the sea floor, filling the water with small, warm bubbles, giving the reef its name. Here, you’ll feel as if you’re swimming in your own giant bottle of bubbly as you snorkel with seahorses, frogfish, parrotfish and lobsters among the brilliant gardens of hard and soft coral.

Glover’s Reef lies roughly 30 miles off the coast of Belize, forming a large, protected link in the massive Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. The reserve encompasses the entire atoll, with its 80-square-mile lagoon inside home to some 700 coral patch reefs that offer endless snorkeling opportunities with common sightings of rays, sharks and turtles. Stay at Glover’s Atoll Resort, with accommodations including everything from campsites to thatch cabins over the water, for the chance to spend your days swimming and snorkeling right from the beach.

Little Cayman is just ten miles long and a mile wide but offers one of the premier snorkeling diving locations in the world. Its tiny population of less than 200, along with scant development, mean virtually no human-caused damage to its reefs, while its marine park status ensures continued protection of one of the earth’s most magnificent underwater attractions, Bloody Bay, regarded as the most breathtaking drop-off in the Caribbean. Snorkelers here have the rare opportunity to swim over a coral cliff, experiencing one of the most amazing undersea panoramas on the planet. While floating in the translucent waters at Three Fathom Wall, you’ll see numerous fish swimming about the bottom, roughly 18 feet below, and you may also notice many sets of curious eyes observing your journey, including the ever-fascinating hawksbill turtle. The walls of Bloody Bay are teeming with healthy creatures, including tangles of rope sponges, gigantic barrel sponges, and webs of soft corals.

You may have heard that Bonaire, located off Venezuela’s northern coast, is a premier diving destination, but that also holds true when it comes to snorkeling, in fact, the Caribbean Journal once named the island as one of the Top 10 Snorkel Destinations. Here, you don’t have to choose just one spot, you can practically walk anywhere to the water, jump in and find yourself in a beautiful underwater world with shallow terraces teeming with colorful fish.

Los Roques Archipelago National Park is made up of some 50 islands atop crystal-clear blue waters roughly 90 miles east of Bonaire. The isles are ringed with reefs, softened by massive coral-sand flats and turtle-grass beds overflowing with bonefish. Snorkelers can head out on a small boat with local guides to explore the islands and their practically virgin reefs, known as some of the healthiest and most bio-diverse in the Caribbean. Most of the island’s beaches offer outstanding snorkeling if you want to hit the waters right from the shore.

This collection of tiny cays, surrounded by coral reefs sitting in luminous blue waters is the oldest land-and-sea park on the planet, established back in 1959. In 1986, the 176-square-mile sanctuary was declared a no-take zone, resulting in conch populations that are 31 times higher than in the surrounding area, becoming a model for other refuges worldwide. You’ll see a host of marine life on the reefs, including coral, tropical fish, lobster, stingrays, barracuda and the occasional shark. The park is only accessible by boat, with unique Bahamian wildlife species like the Hutia, the only terrestrial mammal native to the Bahamas, freely wandering around. Iguanas scurry about while sea turtles and seabirds lay their eggs on the beaches.

Buck Island, situated near St. Croix, is a U.S. Reef National Monument boasting an incredible underwater snorkeling trail as well as amazing reefs and a beautiful white sand beach. The 176-acre island is fringed by a 704-acre elkhorn coral reef system that starts on the island’s eastern end. Beneath the crystalline waters, snorkelers will get an up-close and personal experience with grottoes and gorgonians along with all types of reef fish. At Turtle Cove, sea turtles can frequently be seen gracefully swimming through the clear waters.

Negril is famous for its seven-mile beach, but its cliff area to the south is amazing for snorkeling in aquarium-like conditions. By staying at the Rockhouse Hotel, you can step right from your own private bungalow and into the intensely colored azure waters that gently lap at the base of the cliffs. Jumping from these dramatic cliffs is like jumping into your personal aquarium, teeming with all sorts of species usually found only on offshore reefs.

It may not be easy to reach, but venturing some 90 miles north of the Dominican Republic to a remote bank will bring you to one of the best places on earth to swim with North Atlantic humpback whales that migrate to the area to mate and calve. Here you can take in breathtaking displays of 30-ton leviathans launching in the air, and then duck into the water to witness what few will ever see. Sharing these spectacular waters with such majestic animals is an experience of a lifetime.

The 12-mile long Curacao Underwater Marine Park sits along the southern coastline of Curacao, renowned as one of the best snorkeling sites in the Caribbean. You’ll find vast coral gardens, sunken ships, schools of nurse sharks and a wide variety of exotic marine life. Marked trails and signs will help you find your way and even identify just what you’re seeing. You’ll encounter hundreds of species of fish and coral just a few fin-kicks from the beach in addition to enjoying average visibility of 110 feet and temperate waters all year round.

Antigua is considered a snorkeler’s paradise, with its powdery soft white sands, warm clear waters, natural coral reefs, shipwrecks, underwater walls and valleys home to all sorts of brightly colored tropical fish. In many areas, there is practically no current, making it ideal for first-time snorkelers and children. At Paradise Reef, just north of Dickenson Bay, you’ll find a one-mile-long coral reef that’s part of an underwater park, home to The Wreck of the Andes, a merchant ship that sank over a century ago. As the ship sits in depths of just 30 feet, it can be explored by divers as well as snorkelers.

The British Virgin Islands is a collection of small islands with a unique landscape and relaxed atmosphere. Among them, Virgin Gorda stands out, best known for The Baths National Park, which means “Baths”. Its coast is strewn with huge granite boulders that form labyrinths, pools and grottoes. From here you should go along a rocky path to the nearby Devil’s Bay, where at a depth of 4-5 meters you can see corals and colorful sponges.

A whopping 10.5 square kilometers – this is the area of the Underwater Marine Park on the island of Curaçao, the largest of the Netherlands Antilles. The park stretches along the eastern edge of the southwest coast from East Point to the Princess Beach Hotel. The beauty of the underwater world here is simply indescribable. 55 species of corals, 250 species of fish – these are the main advantages of the untouched and unspoiled nature of this spot. Divers are especially fond of Underwater Marine Park: they dive here to underwater terraces and a sunken cargo ship.

You’ll recognize this place at a glance if you’ve seen the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. They say that here Jack Sparrow grabbed two sea turtles, tied them up and swam to the mainland on them. We can’t vouch for the authenticity of the story, but we definitely guarantee magnificent hours of snorkeling and watching those same turtles – they are just found in local waters. The bay of the island is protected by reefs, so the underwater world here is very colorful and rich. There are few people on the island, so it’s people.

We have already written an article for those who are looking for an answer to the question “where is the best snorkeling” and going on a honeymoon trip! A strange combination, you thought? But no! That article attracted a large number of our readers, so we wrote a sequel!
Previous article – “Snorkeling spots, best hotels for snorkeling and honeymoon in the Indian and Pacific Ocean” .

If you are interested in seeing the second largest reef in the world with your own eyes, combine your honeymoon with a trip to Belize. There aren’t many of the traditional reef-dwelling fish here, but the marine life is rich and varied. Under water you will meet red-speckled coral shrimp, reef sharks, porpoises and seahorses and, of course, leisurely turtles. The length of the coral reef reaches 50 km, which gives an exciting opportunity to explore the numerous underwater caves and grottoes. The water is so clean and transparent that visibility reaches 45 meters from the surface!

Book a room at the luxurious The Phoenix Resort . This is an ideal place for a wedding vacation, and according to the rating of the TripAdvisor portal in 2012 and 2014, the hotel was recognized as the best in the world in the categories – Luxury, Service, Small Hotels ! On the territory there is a large pool with a bar and several small pools. The luxurious suites offer a wonderful view of the ocean. The spacious bathroom, among other things, has a jacuzzi. Nearby are snorkeling spots and various island activities.

Choosing between snorkeling and scuba diving? In Providenciales you will be offered to try snuba diving, yes, yes, exactly C H UBA DIVING – a new type of scuba diving that combines diving with a mask and snorkel and scuba diving. In other words, when you swim underwater, you breathe using an oxygen container that is on the surface of the ocean, in a boat or boat. As a bonus, you can take colorful underwater photos that will remind you of this wonderful vacation for many years. Smith’s Reef (photo, reviews) and Bight Reef (photo, reviews) are especially picturesque reefs, besides, they are located near the coast.

And you will surely like luxurious hotel Seven Stars Resort . The number of rooms offers a variety of accommodation options, each of which includes a fully equipped kitchen. Additional amenities include: DVD, book library, Wi-Fi by the pool, room cleaning twice a day and a wide range of sports programs. It also provides personalized dining options and access to numerous island activities that you can take part in after colorful snorkeling.

This island offers a magical honeymoon experience and amazing underwater scenery if you love snorkeling! The water of the Caribbean Sea in this place is especially clean and is famous for the brightest inhabitants of the reefs. Professional tours are organized here, where experienced guides show the most picturesque sea corners. You will be offered to swim along underwater routes, where you can see the most beautiful species of fish and corals. If you do not have enough experience in snorkeling, there is an opportunity to learn how to behave underwater. The island is inhabited by different types of sea turtles, meeting with which will leave the most joyful impressions!

Among the chain of the Cayman Islands, Grand Cayman Island is especially good for snorkeling. Visit the legendary Devil’s Grotto – photos, reviews – snorkeling in this place you will never forget! This is certainly not the only place in the Cayman Islands where your couple can enjoy a romantic wedding vacation. Also here you can see shipwrecks, caves in the rocks, colorful reefs and picturesque coves. And an excursion to the city of Skatov – a unique strait where you can see these amazing creatures up close – will make the strongest impression on you. There are different programs for beginners and experienced underwater athletes.

Overlooking the Seven Mile Beach (photo, reviews), elegant villas offer first-class accommodation. The hotel has a pool on the beach, an outdoor restaurant, a gym, and a food and drink delivery service. The hotel is located near Georgetown (George Town – photos, reviews), guests can play golf, visit nature reserves and visit recreational activities. The hotel management organizes snorkeling, diving and other interesting excursions at your request.

This place on the Caribbean coast with crystal clear waters is ideal for snorkeling in paradise. Arashi Beach (Arashi Beach – photos, reviews) is known for its wonderful climate, bright corals, an abundance of fish and starfish. Show your sweetheart the sea turtles and triggerfish, and don’t forget to take a photo in front of the California Lighthouse (California Light House – photo, reviews, coordinates). You can hide from the sun on a hot day in beach huts. Numerous boats will take your couple to any part of the island.