Best shore snorkeling in world ???

[BLUESEASONBALI]

Bali has some fantastic snorkeling sites that match some of the regions best diving. Tulamben (USAT Liberty Wreck) especially sounds like it wwould be a great idea for you guys..... A 120 yard transport ship literally 30 yards off shore.Covered in Life......great for diving as well with allsorts of depths for all levels, shallow snorkeling where you can see thousands of schooling jacks and trevallies to the beautiful shallow reefs of Coral Garden that is merely 50 yards away.

 

[Dave C]

Amy,
I sent you a private message on ScubaBoard about Culebra.

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

 

[riwa50]

my first snorkling at Gili Trawangan..there is awesome...if lucky, we can see shark...

 

[scubareen]

Awesome feedback as a starter myself. I've only been in Cali and Puerto Rico so this could help me pick my next destination! Thanks all

 

[crayolabarb]

My most memorable snorkeling spots, for color and diversity of corals and cool fish, have been:

most of the small beaches on St. John USVI,

incredible canyons of huge corals just off the beaches of Plantation Inn in Ocho Rios, Jamaica (34 yrs ago. Went back 15 yrs ago and it was all bleached- sad),

St. Lucia off Anse Chastenet. The diving was AMAZING at the foot of the Petons!!

Grand Cayman, anyplace!

Bonaire had nice diving, although the entries were difficult carrying your gear over the sharp and uneven corals. And the best of the reef started around 20- 30 ft. so seemed alittle deep for snorkeling, although Klein, Bonaire was shallower and it was really beautiful! We saw huge, free swimming moray eels and beautiful corals.

While I did not see very colorful coral in Hawaii, we found ourselves snorkeling with a pod of wild spinner dolphins in one of the bays, and we enjoyed watching the turtles cruising around a bay on Maui.

The sea life was incredible- barracudas and black tipped reef sharks sleeping in caves- around Isla Del Cano off Drake Bay, Panama, or Costa Rica.

I'm looking forward to our first trip to Belize and Roatan and hoping to find beautiful snorkeling and diving there next month.

Happy Floating!

Crayolabarb

 

[TropicalSnorkeler]

For shore snorkeling we have enjoyed Bonaire, although it does drop of quickly. It has had a bit of storm damage, and while there are still many good shore spots, now some of the better spots are out on Klein Bonaire, so you will need to take a water taxi or rent a boat to access it.

We have a video on Youtube of our Bonaire snorkeling experiences:

YouTube - Snorkeling Bonaire - Heaven!

We also love Hawaii for it's shore access. It may not have the variety of corals of say Belize, but we love it non-the-less. As mentioned above, we have several times found ourselves snorkeling with a pod of dolphins. And on Maui in particular snorkeling with Green Sea Turtles is a great joy and very common.

Here is our Maui turtle video:

YouTube - Snorkeling Maui - With Hawaiian Sea Turtles (& Fish, Octopus & Eel).

As for Belize, it is great, but I would not consider it a shore snorkeling destination. Almost everything of quality in our experience must be reached by boat.

I would also agree with Dave C above about some of the best pictures from snorkeling coming from the Red Sea and Maldives. We are both part of a snorkeling group on Flickr and I always get excited by what I see from the Maldives, and can't wait to go.

I have been maintaining a favorites folder of snorkeling pictures by people on Flickr for some time. It is a handy resource for seeing where the best snorkeling is (and many of my favorites are from Dave C).

TropicalSnorkeling.com's favorite photos and videos | Flickr

 

[medic5]

We recently returned from the South Pacific. Moorea has spectacular snorkeling as did the lagoon at Bora Bora and Taha'a. Aitutaki in the Cook Islands was also world class.

 

[Jody2803]

I thought I would drop in and say Hi!

I love snorkeling, could spend all day doing it . I'm off to the Maldives in 10 weeks and I can guarantee I will have hundreds of pictures to share as our Island has a great house reef and the pictures I have seen from recent visitors have been amazing.

Unfortunately I don't have any pics to share as I only bought my U/W camera last year when I went to the Red Sea and I didn't do any snorkeling, only diving :depressed:

 

[Dave C]

Jody,
Based on all the photos I have seen (especially on flickr, where I am an active member), the Maldives consistently show up as a great place to snorkel. I will be looking for some snorkeling photos from you when you return!

 

[Jody2803]

I will certainly bring lots back and if they are half as good as yours Dave then I will be a happy girlie!

These are not mine so I cannot take any credit but these were taken by a lady who stayed at 'our' island in Jan, enjoy!

Maldives 2011 - a set on Flickr

I hope the link works!