Location Description Belize is home to some of the Caribbean's best snorkeling sites, without a doubt. With the second largest barrier reef system in the world starting just 1,000 feet of the country's shoreline and extending for over 190 miles—the entire length of Belize, it should come as no surprise. Belize City is the main port for the country, despite not being the capital city. This coastal city hosts the country's primary airport, Philip SW Goldson International Airport, (BZE), and is also the jumping-off point for all snorkeling excursions to the great Belize Barrier Reef. While there are many smaller atolls, cays, and hundreds of islands within this massive reef system, there are three large atolls that sit just east of the main barrier reef where nearly all the snorkeling will take place. Liveaboard snorkeling safaris will primarily concentrate their time around the Glovers and Turneffe Atoll, while resort snorkeling safaris will spend their time around Turneffe Atoll and Lighthouse Reef. Lighthouse reef is where the famous Blue Hole is located. Snorkeling in Belize Snorkeling in Belize, regardless of the Atoll you are on, is the quintessential Caribbean snorkeling experience. Clear warm water with patches of pristine white sand intricately framing and wrapping around an undulating network of shelves, plateaus, slopes, and valleys plastered with brightly colored corals, fans, and sponges. Not to mention plenty of critters and schools of fish to gawk at as you float above this surreal landscape. The coral is absolutely exquisite in Belize, and at low tide parts of it will even breach the surface. Some reefs will be largely made up of expansive fields of hard coral colonies where the famous brain corals and elk-horn coral can be seen all over the place. Other reefs will be dominated by sea fans and sponges. The
Location Description Belize is home to some of the Caribbean’s best snorkeling sites, without a doubt. With the second largest barrier reef system in the world starting just 1,000 feet of the country’s shoreline and extending for over 190 miles—the entire length of Belize, it should come as no surprise. Belize City is the main
Location Description Alor is one of Indonesia's newest snorkeling destinations and is quickly becoming one of the top places to snorkel in the world. Alor is actually just one island—the largest, within a small regency known as the Alor Regency and is made up of twenty islands in the far eastern corner of Indonesia. Like many of the islands in this part of Indonesia, the landscape is volcanic—with several of the dormant conical peaks clearly visible from the horizon. The most iconic volcano in Alor is Pura, and sits just outside Kalabahi bay between the island of Alor and Pantar. This dormant volcano is where a lot of the area's best snorkeling sites are located and where we concentrate our time on our Alor snorkeling safaris. There is one airport that services the Alor Regency and it's located on the northwest tip of Alor Island and is just forty-five minutes by car to the resort that always hosts us, Alami Alor. Snorkeling The snorkeling in Alor is truly exquisite and offers a seemingly endless variety of stunning coral reef vistas and marine life encounters. Within the area just outside Kalabahi bay, we have a large variety of types of snorkeling sites, from vibrant walls that drop of into the deep blue water to vast coral plateaus, reefs made up almost entirely of sea anemones, village piers completely encrusted with soft coral and sea fans, to gentle drifts over beautiful sloping reefs where the village children will often swim along with you in their home-made wooden goggles posing for photos. Then there's the house reef in front of Alami Alor, which has so much to offer despite just being a few steps from your bungalow. One of the key things that make Alor such a unique place to snorkel is the
Location Description Alor is one of Indonesia’s newest snorkeling destinations and is quickly becoming one of the top places to snorkel in the world. Alor is actually just one island—the largest, within a small regency known as the Alor Regency and is made up of twenty islands in the far eastern corner of Indonesia. Like
Location Description Raja Ampat is often referred to as the crown jewel of snorkeling. Its reefs, many of which have yet to be explored, are teeming with life big and small and are astonishingly vibrant. With over 1,766 fish species and counting, and more than 550 coral species, Raja Ampat is the most biodiverse marine environment in the world and a truly incredible place to snorkel. Raja, as it's often called, is made up of over 1,500 islands and located off the western coast of the island of New Guinea― the world's second-largest island. The eastern half of New Guinea is known as Papua New Guinea and is its own country. The western half is part of Indonesia and known as West Papua. Sorong is the main port of departure for Raja Ampat, and it's where the newly built airport is located. The harbor is just a quick fifteen-minute drive from the airport and where you will either board the transfer boat to your resort or join your liveaboard. Raja Ampat is a massive area that is broken up into several different regions. The area around the Dampier Strait and the Fam Islands are typically referred to as the north—even though it's actually more central, and then in the very south, we have the area known as Misool. If you compare Komodo National Park with Raja Ampat on the map you can clearly see the size difference between these two iconic snorkeling destinations, it's not even close. Unless you are on a liveaboard or intend to spend some time at one of the resorts around the Dampier Strait followed by a visit to Misool Resort, there's really no way to snorkel in both the north or Raja and the south in one single trip, it's just too big. In light
Location Description Raja Ampat is often referred to as the crown jewel of snorkeling. Its reefs, many of which have yet to be explored, are teeming with life big and small and are astonishingly vibrant. With over 1,766 fish species and counting, and more than 550 coral species, Raja Ampat is the most biodiverse marine
Location Description For years now, Komodo National Park has been one of the top snorkeling destinations in Indonesia, if not the world. Located between the islands of Sumbawa and Flores, Komodo National Park is made up of three larger islands - Rinca (pronounced Rincha), Padar, and of course Komodo. These are just the three larger islands, as you'll find by looking at a map or by joining a snorkeling safari, there are around one-hundred smaller islands, many of which are exceptional snorkeling sites. Labuan Bajo is a small town on the western edge of Flores that acts as a sort of gateway to Komodo National Park. This is where the newly built airport is and where all flights will arrive and depart from. The harbor is just a five-minute drive from the airport where board the resort's transfer boat which will take us to our snorkeling resort located on its own private island. Snorkeling in Komodo Nearly all of the snorkeling on a snorkel safari—whether it be on a liveaboard or via resort—will take place in the north and central area of Komodo. This area is best suited for snorkeling as the water is typically clear and warm, and the snorkeling sites are more protected from bad weather. It's also where you'll have the best chances for encounters with all the iconic marine life while also having plenty of vibrant reefs that come right up to the surface. Many people will have no doubt heard about the currents in Komodo, and the rumors are true, Komodo does have some strong currents. It's one of the main reasons why the area has such an abundance of marine life. Fish and corals love current as it often brings nutrients with it. However, as snorkelers, we honestly have very little to worry about.
Location Description For years now, Komodo National Park has been one of the top snorkeling destinations in Indonesia, if not the world. Located between the islands of Sumbawa and Flores, Komodo National Park is made up of three larger islands – Rinca (pronounced Rincha), Padar, and of course Komodo. These are just the three larger
Ok, so there's a lot of awesome snorkeling out there, in places like Indonesia, there's an amazing mix of colorful coral and mesmerizing marine life, while in places like and Mexico and Tonga it's all about the adrenaline pumping open ocean adventures with some of the world's most iconic big ocean animals like sharks, whales, and sea lions. With such a wide variety of snorkeling styles and destinations, everyone is going to have their own ideas as to what defines a great snorkeling destination. I know I have mine. So, rather than say something like “this is the number one snorkeling destination in the world, and this is the second-best, etc...” I'll just carefully put a list together of what we Snorkel Venture guides—based on our collective snorkeling experience, believe to be some of the ten best snorkeling locations in the world. Please keep in mind that these are in no particular order. Here we go. Komodo, Indonesia Komodo is one of the most predictable places we've ever snorkeled. Manta and turtle encounters are as close to guaranteed as you can where marine life encounters are concerned, while schools of big fish and small fish reside on all the different reefs—which are absolutely stunning and prolific. Glovers Reef & Turneffe Atoll, Belize These two atolls are a part of the larger Belize Barrier Reef and are just amazing for snorkeling. The shallow reefs come right up to the surface and are made up of layer upon layer of brightly colored sea fans and large coral heads. Cabilao, Philippines Cabilao is a small island just off the much larger Bohol island and offers incredible shallow reefs and steep walls. Hard coral and soft coral grow in stunning formations here while an interesting array of critters like frogfish, sea snakes, octopus, and
Ok, so there’s a lot of awesome snorkeling out there, in places like Indonesia, there’s an amazing mix of colorful coral and mesmerizing marine life, while in places like and Mexico and Tonga it’s all about the adrenaline pumping open ocean adventures with some of the world’s most iconic big ocean animals like sharks, whales,
