tamala

I am planning a trip next April. I need to use United frequent flyer miles so am looking at the Dominican Republic, Jamaica (Montego Bay), Aruba or Hawaii. We love to snorkel and have been to Hawaii so I know what that's like but have no clue as to the other places?

iamq

If you can use your points to get to St. Thomas, I'd go to St. John.

patsfan1

Best snorkeling in Caribbean is in
Grand Cayman, Turks & Caicos or ST John.

virginia

as patsfan says unless you go further south then tobago cays in st. vincent and grenadines, or tobago or bonnaire.
friends went to dr and snorkeled out of their ai. they tell me they were taken to some sort of large caged area in the sea and that they felt it was an odd experience.
also coast south of cancun has good snorkeling.

StanKase

Hawawaii of the places you mentioned has the best and even their it is not tops anymore. St. John is still at the top in the Caribbean by going there via St. Thomas and go on day sails to spots around Caneel. Just make sure 2 trips don't go to the same places. Grand Cayman is good at Cayman Kai but stayoing in the Huts are not my kind of accommodaation but they have condo type 1 and 2 bedroom places. The orange vests are too limiting that is why I mentioned the blow up type. A fully equipped dive shop in GC would rent them for $8-$10/day. You could buy one in a US dive sho for $40-$50. since we were caught in an undertow that dragged us 1/2 down the beach and then finally to sakety we wear them in rough Malaysian waters and in flat water bays.
Curacao on the WEST END has 6-8 very good bays with good to very good snorkeling. You need a car though for the hotels are 30 minutes from the beautiful bays. But really a treat.
We were not impressed at all with Tobago but Tobago Caye in the Grenadines is awesome but hard to get to. Bonaire got really slammed by Mitch and beatuiful tall coral was broken down to 10 ft. in several areas plus the global warming killing coral throughout the Caribbean and the Bahamas T&C is better than Tobago but not as good as Curacao or GC.

KVR

tamala, we've been to all the Islands you listed. Of those four definitley Aruba. They water isn't as clear as some other destinations, but there were lots of fish. But, I agree with the others, Grand Cayman, would be my first pick for a snorkeling vacation. St. Thomas/St. John was OK. I think T & C would be better for a diving trip than snorkeling. We weren't impressed there. My second choice would be Cozumel, MX. Lots of great reefs even though the many hurricanes have tried to destory them. We're going to try Cuaraco next year. From reviews they should have really great snorkeling as well as Bonaire. Both of those Islands are close to Aruba.

oceankayaker7

Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands.
You won't be disappointed

StanKase

I must diosagree on VG. Other than the Baths 70% of the coral is dying or dead. Go to St. John, Jost Van Dyke, St. John and a few spots off Tortola. The experts recentltly surveyed the BVI"S and estimate 45-50% of coral dead or dying and USVI's 40% is dead or dying as of Sept. 2006.It talkes a stop to global warming and building and boat pollution to reverse the trend.

bigsur7

Thats terrible about the reefs in VG.
I have heard that Saba has great scuba diving and I would assume good snorkling.

ejcrowe

Unlike StanKase (whom it should be said has snorkeled in some of the best places in the world and rightly has high standards because of that), I loved the snorkeling I did at Virgin Gorda. The best I experienced was at Spring Bay, which is like the Baths sans the crowds, and at Mahoe Bay, which has lots of fish and fascinating coral formations despite the bleaching. I also went on a daytrip from VG to Norman Island and the Indians, which were great! (Daytrip also visited Peter Island which was fair to middling and the wreck of the Rhone, which was more interesting in theory than practice but still cool).

So, if Virgin Gorda appeals to you, by all means go for it! It has a much wider range of accommodation than St. John has, and you can ferry there from St. Thomas, though the ferry schedules are more complicated.