Where is the best snorkeling where you can go right off of the beach?

Linda, this is always a favorite topic of mine because I love to snorkle and I love to stay in places where you can just fall out of your bed in the morning, grab your gear, and go for some great snorkeling very close to your room. Great snorkeling for me means lots of live coral with abundant fish (which usually means a rocky beach with some sand) <BR>Here are places that I have stayed where I found this combination. <BR>#1 - Presidente Intercontinental in Cozumel - fabulous snorkeling right on the beach. The hotel has a sunken barge in about 20 feet of water that attracts great fish. <BR>#2 - Caneel Bay - all of its beaches have live coral around the edges of the beach with great fish and turtle watching. <BR>#3 - Little Dix Bay - same as its' sister property above. <BR>#4 - Sapphire Beach, St. Thomas - there is great snorkeling off this beach, however, this property is being consumed with timeshare hawkers and in my opinion looks a bit rundown. We were just there at the beach 3 weeks ago. I would visit the beach for its' snorkeling but I would not stay at this property. <BR>#5 Ritz Carlton - St. Thomas - great hotel.........good snorkeling, but you have to swim way out to get to it. <BR>#6 Hawksnest - Antigua - beautiful property with great snorkeling. <BR> <BR>I would love to see replies from anyone who has been to Bonaire - I understand that the snorkeling is great there as well.

Bonaire was fantastic. Talk about rolling out of bed into the water. There was not really a need to book a snorkel cruise because of the number of off shore spots, not to mention taking a kayak to Klein Bonaire. Of all the Caribbean and Hawaii, this was one of the best! <BR> <BR>Unfortunately, there was damage done to coral heads during a storm surge from Hurricane Lenny last year, so I can't really say what the exact condition of their off shore snorkeling is right now, but in 98 it was fantastic! The fish were bigger, there were more of them in the schools, tremendous variety of fish and octopi. <BR> <BR>Another excellent off shore spot is Coral Gardens in Provo. <BR> <BR>Did you mean Hawksbill in Antigua? We stayed there in the spring and the snorkeling was decent.

Linda, don't forget the South Pacific, great snorkling , beautiful water, warm, fabulous fish, and above all he amazing "GIANT CLAMS" this was quite a site. I would recommend Tahiti and the island around there, such as Bora Bora and Morrea. The hotel have over water bungelows with decks, just jump in from your room and enjoy the wonderful wonders of the sea...and shells too! <BR>Plan a trip there sometime, you will enjoy every minute of it....we love it!

The snorkeling in Fiji is fantastic. And the cost of a Fiji vacation is no worse than the Caribbean. The only problem is that it may be a very long trip (depending on where you live). <BR>

Great thread! I have only been to St. John (of the ones named here) and the snorkeling there was awesome right of the beaches (we espacially liked Waterlemon Cay).

<BR>Don't forget Cayman. Lots of great snorkeling from shore, all around the island. Water clarity is usually unbelievable. Coral in really good shape most places. As of 2 years ago, anyway. <BR> <BR>Jo

The best snorkeling we've ever done was on a visit to Roatan, Honduras. About 20 feet offshore, we saw squid, an octupus, a sea turtle and an eagle ray - in addition to the usual sightings of angelfish and parrotfish (the most colorful I've ever seen).

Meg, Roatan sounds fantastic. Can you tell us if the snorkeling was reachable from the shore? Does all of Roatan have great snorkeling?

Meg, what hotel in Roatan?

The best snorkeling we have ever seen has been off of Anegada in the BVI. This is compared to Bonaire, Guana Island, Cooper Island, Drakes Anchorage, Manihi, Fiji, Caneel Bay, Little Dix, Antigua, Akumal, Cozumel, Isla Mujeres, Lanai, Maui, Bora Bora, Anquilla, Harbor Island, Salt Cay, Bahamas, Belize, Galapagos, Bikini before the atom bomb test and etc. However things have changed in the last 40 years. 85% for the coral has been bleached off of the Maldives in the past 2 years. I doubt if anybody will ever see what I have seen 40 years again. What was there then no long is unless you want to go to very remote areas of the Indian Ocean. There they do not have enough comfort for me today. <BR> <BR>I still hope an look for a great area right off of the beach where I am staying with comfortable quarters and good food. I have not found a new place from this post yet that interests me. However I don't want to be a wet blanket. Everything is reltive to what you have known. That is what is wonderful about nature. Every discovery for the first time is a thrill.

Louis, with all that snorkeling experience I am sure Anegada is great! Where did you stay?

When we were last there it was years ago and we stayed at the Anegada Reef Hotel. There are more choices today and next time will will stay in one of the houses or cottages. See http://www.anegadareef.com or http://www.anegadabeachcottages.com or best for everything http://www.b-v-i.com/Anegada, that have info on about all of the places to stay. The hotel rooms are too motel like for our tastes. Loblolly Bay is where you will find good snorkeling and it is best to rent a car for about $50 a day to get there. This is not the most beautiful island. The maximum elevation is about 28 feet and there is little shade. It is a little on the wild side with quality bone fishing and lobster dinners when they are in season.

I'll be honeymooning on St. John (hopefully) in October 2001. I know Caneel Bay is expensive to stay in, but what does it cost for just snorkeling? Do we need a permit? How do we make arrangements if we're staying somewhere else on the island? Where should we stay?

re: Anegada <BR> <BR>If you're looking to stay on Anegada, I *highly* recommend the Anegada Beach Cottages, run by Wilfred Creque. The number there is (284)495-9466 - there are various websites, but for some reason none of them are up to date. He's got six or seven brand new villas out at the West End which are wonderful - we spent four days of our honeymoon there this past November. Cozy, tastefully furnished and decorated, ten feet from a gorgeous empty beach. Of course, we also met several people who swore by the basic guest rooms at Neptune's Treasure, run by the terrific Soares family, and the Anegada Reef Hotel is almost bustling with sailboats and daytrippers. <BR> <BR>As Louis said, Loblolly (esp. the western 1/2 - head left as you hit the beach) has the most incredible snorkelling we saw in the BVIs. <BR> <BR>That said, Anegada is NOT FOR EVERYBODY (thank goodness). It's eleven miles of dry coral and sand. There are something like four restaurants, two general stores, a couple hundred residents and a couple of hotels. That's it. There were no phones out at the villas and no one within a mile of us (we were still in the off-season). Rustic is an understatement. If that's what you like, you'll love it. If not, there are day-trips on Clair Aero and Fly BVI that'll show you Loblolly and give you a lobster lunch and then whisk you back to civilization.

I love to camp on the East Coast of Barbuda with not a single person within miles of my perfect white sand beach. After breakfast I snorkel from the beach and find better snorkelling than any of the places that I have sailed to in the Caribbean: From DR all the way down to Aruba. <BR>Eli