Best shore snorkeling in world ???

[tropikey]

hi everyone,

I'd like to add new place to the list, i.e. Koh Ngai. It's small island in south Thailand, close to Trang city. You can try to find our underwater pics made there in January/February 2010, which are posted in gallery on our website:
tropikey.com/copperminegallery/thumbnails.php?album=37

(due to anti-spam policy of Scubaboard, I'm not allowed to post URLs yet, so the adress is not complete. It's missing something at the begining. I hope that admin doesn't mind this innocent trick)

Once you are in the gallery, in other parts you can find also snorkeling photos made in other part of Thailand, as well as in Bonaire. There are also diving pictures from Mauritius.

Best regards, Bartek

 

[CarlosCabanas]

How about Belize. The Meso American Barrier Reef is the World's second longest barrier reef. On the north end of Ambergris Caye the reef touches land, one of two place in the world where reef touches land! Tranquility Bay Resort is the only resort on the island where you can snorkel safely from the shore right to the reef. Tranquility Bay Resort - Ambergris Caye, Belize, Dive, Fish, Snorkel, Relax, Enjoy!!

Cheers,
Carlos

 

[ronscuba]

The best snorkeling I've ever done.

[vimeo]14103490[/vimeo]

 

[stakanak]

The Place of Refuge,Honaunau Bay, on the Big Island is at the top of my list. Not only is the snorkeling amazing, but the City of Refuge is right off the point and a must see on the Kona side of the island.
Get Wet!

 

[farsidefan1]

I was a total addict of snorkeling before I began diving and tried it all over the world. Tahiti is somewhere near the top. Several of the islands were excellent. It has been several yrs but I seem to remember Moorea as my favorite. The red sea also has some great snorkeling. Best recent snorkeling was off the big island. We were on a boat near some kind of monument named for capn. Cook.

 

[BeckyTV]

I have to agree with Carlos, Belize so far is the best beach snorkeling I have found. We did stay at Tranquility Bay and did as much snorkeling as possible.

Also found a place when I was just learning to snorkel in Negril, Point Village is a 14 acre resort with it's own private cove and had a variety of fish and other creatures.

 

[pughio83]

I have snorkelled in antigua, barbados, jamaica, boracay/bohol/palawan/maniguin in philippines, redang/perhentian/tioman/langkawi/mabul in malaysia, ko tao/pg nan/ samui thailand, nusa lembongan/penida in bali, gilli islands, florida keys and soon to try egypt marsa alam.

If you are really into snorkelling, try nusa lembongan/penida and mainland bali itself. Lembongan offers pristine reefs especially at the mangrove site, great viz, lots of fish. For weird critters mabul in borneo was awesome but little coral. Bohol in philippines is v nice, nice house reef to snorkel and chance of spotting some weird critters.

Tioman island at salang bay offered nice snorkelling too, nice corals, lots fish, turtles, bumpheaded parrotfish etc... as reef drops off to the blue chance of seeing bigger things.. Similar good snorkelling off gilli air off lombok. Redang island and perhentians in malaysia has some nice corals, great viz and a nursery for white and black tiped reef sharks, plus lots turtles and paradise beaches.

Diveristy in Asia much better than carribean and hence see more life. However if its general topography/corals you like then red sea has got to be an option despite less diversity. For me, i like snorkelling nice reefs, but now my snorkelling experience depends on the marinelife itself so i am very happy to snorkel a black sandy bottom if i can see weird marinelife!!

 

[tracydr]

We had the same experience with squid off Karpata. It was very cool!

 

[Maldives Complete]

You have been to so many places yourself - does any one spot stand out above the rest?

I have yet to find the "best" shore snorkeling spot, but I'm sure the best would be found in the western Pacific - Indian Ocean region. There is so much more species diversity there than in the Caribbean or Hawaii. Consistently I see some of the best shallow-water photos coming from two places: Maldives or Red Sea. Fantastic visibilty, corals, and fish diversity. Indonesia and the Philippines would also be very good. All these places are a long way from North America, however.

My experience is that Belize has the best snorkeling in the Caribbean, but most of it is not convenient from shore. Hawaii has some pretty Indo-Pacific fish, but the coral is not that great, and I often found surge to be a problem. In the winter months in Hawaii, you frequently have to snorkel in tiny protected coves which doesn't allow for much freedom to explore.

I think Dave C is spot on here from my own extensive investigation. Maldives and Red Sea. I would put Maldives at the top because you can snorkel conveniently from shore with the bountiful house reefs. Isn't that what snorkeling is all about? Mask, fins, snorkel (obviously) and swimsuit. In the Red Sea, the shore snorkeling is very limited and you almost always have to bother with a wet suit to be comfortable. I must say that I am dying to get to Belize because I have heard so many wonderful things about its snorkeling.

I wrote piece I did on the subject including links to what makes for great snorkeling and the idea of a 'Big 5' and 'Little 5' for 'snorkel safaris' the way they have on African safaris on MaldivesComplete (that '.com' in the 'Blog'...I can't post the link here yet until I get some more posts going due to anti-bot protection).

Bruce

 

[amyeunice]

I've been snorkeling in the Caribbean since 2003, haven't been able to afford going anywhere else in the world.

Caye Caulker and the surrounding reef in Belize was my first experience. To this day I don't think that the coral was very vibrant because of increasing problems with pollution, especially from the cruise line industry.

Bonaire had a ton of shore access but the hurricane Omar in 2009 knocked a lot of the coral down in the snorkeling depths. It made for seeing a lot of fish because they had no where to hide! Klein Bonaire was the best spot of all to see the best coral, everything else was too deep and out of reach.

Bocas Del Toro, Panama was disappointing because of the pollution issues and lack of protection from uneducated tourists. I have to say that near Hospital Point was the most unique collection of coral I've seen so far.

My all time favorite so far is snorkeling at Waterlemon Cay, St. John. Getting out towards the channel is key, there can be too many people on the shore at times. The coral was vibrant and tons of fish and turtles. I enjoyed the rest of the island, especially spots like Haulover Bay, Round Bay, and Salt Pond Bay.

I'm headed to Culebra at the end of Feb. - does anyone have any suggestions?

I've attached a picture I took of a hawksbill at Waterlemon & the friendliest angel fish ever! at Klein Bonaire.

Enjoy your journey!
A