|
Snorkeling Turks and Caicos
Anyone give any tips for snorkeling in Turks and Caicos from shore? From what I see most stuff shows Smith's Reef and Bight Reef, are there any other locations to check out?
|
Smith’s Reef and the Bight are the top two walk-in snorkeling sites on Providenciales. You’ll find a list of lesser sites here: Snorkeling in Providenciales - Turks and Caicos Tourism Official Website there’s quite a few very good sites that are accessible only by boat. Take one of the snorkel excursion trips to reach them. |
I plan on doing a snorkel excursion by boat, if you have any suggestions on the best outfit, please let me know. I'd also like to find some snorkeling from shore locations so I can just go on a whim instead of sitting around the hotel. Have you been to Malcom's Road Beach? The reef balls sound interesting, I've never seen that before.
|
We went scuba diving, I believe the same operators will take you on snorkelling excursions. Of the 3 we used, I recommend the following
Caicos Adventures We used Flamingo Divers too but I don't think they do snorkel excursions but you could ask them. We attempted to go to Malcolm's Beach but our rental car was not suitable for the bumpy unmade road, if you rent a 4x4 it might be ok to get there yourself. The snorkelling on Smith's Reef is very good, I saw a turtle almost immediately and very close to shore. |
Thanks for the tip on Caicos Adventures, that lobster safari looks pretty cool.
So Malcom's Beach is a rough road? Sounds like an adventure! I wonder how the snorkeling is there. Are there any other things that can be done from shore? I've read about some snuba thing which sounds interesting. |
Yes the road to Malcolm's Beach is a rough unmade road, it splits with one direction going to Malcolm's Beach and the other direction it goes to the Amanyara hotel. To get an idea of the terrain, look at this video where they show the road.
https://www.aman.com/resorts/amanyara |
It doesn't look that bad from the video, although I get that it's not paved. Can I rent a paddle board or sail boat over there? Or is that just for that fancy hotel?
|
It is that bad in places, it’s risky to do it in a normal rental car, ours was the size of a VW Polo, if it gets damaged you might not be covered by insurance and that’s why we didn’t go all the way, as it became worse after the point where the road divides. If I rented a Range Rover it would have been fine. You can read more opinions about the road on TA. |
Agree with Odin - if you do attempt the drive make sure you have a 4WD vehicle with very high ground clearance. The road is very rough in places.
Watercraft at Amanyara are for use by resorts guests only. There's no rental facilities at Malcom's Beach for the general public. |
The beach at Malcolm’s is nice, but years back before Amanyara it was spectacular—especially when it had abandoned tiki huts (those were the days) i havent been snorkeling there in years, but then it was just okay. Haven’t snorkeled since the balls. Rentals you have to bring bring your own—yes the resort is exclusive. The public park area has tons of rocks and boulders now because of Amanyara. Big Blue offers terrific snorkel trips, even to West Caicos and French Cay. (For me the dive shops are snorkelers over divers) Best off shore snorkel is Smith’s Reef. |
Easy to snorkel from the beach at Coral Gardens. Then you can have some snacks,food, or drinks at Somewhere Café.
|
Good snorkeling day yesterday at Smith's Reef with my 2 boys - turtles, rays, small reef shark and a baby octopus!
|
| All times are GMT -8. The time now is 07:13 AM. |