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
Muck snorkeling is a really unique type of snorkeling. For many people it can be an acquired taste, like certain types of aged cheese. And just like someone who's developed a pallet for Limburger cheese, for example, what once used to be a casual affair with muck snorkeling or something you would dismiss altogether, can quickly turn into an obsession. So what is muck snorkeling, well it's basically the same as your tropical reef snorkeling, only muck snorkeling typically takes place in areas where there is more sand—usually black—and where an assortment of sponges and different types of algae grow. Reason being, this unique environment is one of the best types of environments—most likely due to the nutrient-rich volcanic sand—for finding some of the most unique and interesting creatures. Frogfish, nudibranchs, a vast assortment of crabs and shrimps, moray eels, stargazers, and some of the most ornate and interesting types of cephalopods (octopus, cuttlefish, and squids) can only be found in 'mucky' environments. If you've never been muck snorkeling before, it can seem a bit strange when you first jump in, simply because it's not your classical reef scene full of color. Floating over a black sandy substrate is not what people typically have in mind when they imagine a tropical snorkeling holiday. However, as I said, once you get in the zone and start finding these cool critters all by yourself, that dark sand punctuated by unusual colonies of sponges will quickly become a beautiful thing for you.
Muck snorkeling is a really unique type of snorkeling. For many people it can be an acquired taste, like certain types of aged cheese. And just like someone who’s developed a pallet for Limburger cheese, for example, what once used to be a casual affair with muck snorkeling or something you would dismiss altogether, can
Location Description North Sulawesi is home to Bunaken National Park, Gangga Island, and Lembeh—which are some of Indonesia's most beautiful and tranquil snorkeling destinations. Manado is the capital city of North Sulawesi Regency and is where all the flights will arrive and depart from. From Mando Airport it's just a quick car ride to the harbor followed by another quick and comfortable boat ride to one of Bunaken National Park's resorts. There are many great resorts in the Bunaken area, but our go-to resort for our snorkeling safaris is Siladen Resort & Spa, which is located on Siladen Island—the smallest of the islands in Bunaken. The Bunaken area is comprised of five tropical islands, one of which is a stunning dormant volcano called Manadotua. The islands are all quite close together making travel times between the different island's snorkeling sites quick and easy. Lembeh is a beautiful island just off the northeastern tip of Sulawesi. It is easily accessed by boat from Bunaken with good weather, or by car should the sea conditions not be ideal for a boat transfer. This area is quite volcanic with several semi-dormant volcanoes clearly visible on the horizon. Every now and then, if you are lucky, you may see one of them give a little smokey 'burp'. Like Bunaken, there are a number of fantastic resort options, but our go-to resort is Lembeh Resort as they are not only one of the oldest and most reputable resorts in the area, but also very well set up to accommodate snorkelers. Gangga Island is a small tropical island fringed by white a white sand beach and sits just off the northern tip of Sulawesi. Gangga Island does have a very beautiful boutique resort that is well equipped for snorkelers, however, for the snorkeling safaris we typically
Location Description North Sulawesi is home to Bunaken National Park, Gangga Island, and Lembeh—which are some of Indonesia’s most beautiful and tranquil snorkeling destinations. Manado is the capital city of North Sulawesi Regency and is where all the flights will arrive and depart from. From Mando Airport it’s just a quick car ride to 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 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
