What Makes a Great Snorkel Site

Aerial view of snorkeling site with coral reef and island lagoon

As a little kid I used to fill my sand box up with water—turning it into a mud box—and then would set out with my ski goggles on to for an afternoon snorkel session. I don’t remember seeing much in the way of tropical reef life in that second or two I had before my ski goggles filled up with water, but I didn’t care, I was snorkeling! With this in mind, I suppose that so long as you have a bit of water you can snorkel anywhere. However, if you really want to get the best snorkels possible then there’s a few key tings you should have in mind as you decide on where your next snorkel holiday is going to be.

Globally

Lagoon in Raja Ampat

If it’s that quintessential tropical snorkeling experience you are after, Asia—more specifically the countries within the Coral Triangle, really tick all the boxes. Why? Well, within this imaginary boundary that encompass Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands you can find 76% of the world’s coral species. Of course, there are great places to snorkel outside the Coral Triangle like the barrier reef off of Belize, or Palau, and French Polynesia. However, if you really want the best of the best of shallow coral reefs, tropical fish, and solid chances to encounter larger marine life like mantas and turtles you can’t really go wrong with the coral triangle.

Topography

Topography and the overall shape of the coast line really do play a big part in how the snorkeling will be. Deep bays for example are generally not great places to snorkel as the water movement is less here and what often happens is sediment accumulates here making the visibility poor. Stretches of reef more exposed to the open ocean are always going to have better visibility as the water movement keeps the sediment and particles in constant motion. This also means more marine-life is it tends to congregate around areas where there is more water movement.

aerial view of tropical island and coral lagoon

Depth

Depth is arguably the most important factor when considering where to snorkel. If we are really going to get the most out of our snorkel session then we want beautiful coral reef and marine life up close to the surface. You don’t want to spend your time cruising over a reef that’s consistently fifteen feet deep where the colors are less vibrant and the fish are well out of reach. The idea is to have the reef and fish at an arms length so we can not only see everything better but also so we can take our photos without becoming a championship freediver. This can become a bit of a tricker thing to find, unless of course you snorkeling in places like Raja Ampat, Komodo, Alor, Palau, French Polynesia, or Belize where the reefs literally come to the surface.

What is the Coral Triangle

over under perspective with reef below and tropical island above

The Coral Triangle is a rough triangular area that starts with the Philippines in the north and runs southwest along the east coast of Borneo where it then follows the the southern chain of islands in Indonesia to the Solomon islands where it then heads north west up the coast of Papua New Guinea back to the Philippines. What’s the significance of this obscure triangular shape that is really more blob than triangle? Within this imaginary boundary lies what marine biologists refer to as the global epicenter of marine biodiversity. This area only occupies 1.6% of the world’s oceans but it holds 76% of all known coral species. Basically what this translates to is hyper-dense and diverse reefs which is home to thousands of different marine creatures that range from tiny nudibranchs, six of the seven species of sea turtle, both species of manta ray, lakes full of stingless jellyfish, shoals of fish, and everyones bucket list animal—the whale shark. What does all of this translate to? A seemingly endless supply of predictably epic snorkeling!

Even though the Coral Triangle area occupies less than two percent of the worlds oceans, it is still a massive area and literally full of islands. Indonesia alone has over seventeen thousand and the Philippines has nearly eight thousand. I suppose technically you just just pick a point at random within this magical blobby triangle in the tropics and have a pretty good chance of the snorkeling being awesome, but we wouldn’t recommend that. There are some destinations which may be better for divers as the reef and marine life start a bit deeper, while there are others areas which are really more suitable for snorkeling because the reefs and marine are quite literally at the surface. Here’s a quick break down of areas we believe to to offer some of the best snorkeling in the Coral Triangle. 

Raja Ampat Indonesia

Aerial view of Raja Ampat Islands

Raja Ampat  is a stunning islands off the west coast of Indonesian Papua, aka West Papua. Raja is usually referred to as the Kingdom of Coral as holds some seriously impressive records for marine diversity. Because of it’s large size and sheer volume of marine life and coral one could literally snorkel the area for years on end and not run out of new things to see. 

Alor Indonesia

Pristine coral reef in Alor

Alor is a cluster of twenty islands in south-east Indonesia and most famous for it’s undeveloped islands and truly pristine reefs. Also, because of the large movement of water through these island it also makes it a great place to encounter larger pelagic species on the surface like the giant ocean sun fish and blue whales!

Komodo Indonesia

One of Indonesia’s most iconic national parks made famous by the giant prehistoric Komodo dragons. Large terrestrial reptiles aside, Komodo is also very well known as a place for big action in the water with regular encounters from manta rays, turtles, sharks, giant schools of fish, and the occasional dugong if you are really lucky!

Palau

Nunukan Resort rooms

Ok, so Palau is not technically within the boundaries of the Coral Triangle but it’s so close to the imaginary line that you’ll still be blown away with the diversity of marine life and coral. While Palau hosts a healthy population of reef sharks and mantas thanks to it’s massive preservation efforts, what it’s most famous for is it’s highly unique lake full of stingless jellyfish. 

Moalboal Philippines

Coral Reef Scene with beautiful light in pescador island

Moalboal is a small coastal town in the south of Cebu island and it’s endless  fringing plateaus of reef which abruptly turn in to vertical walls that plunge into the blue abyss are iconic to the Philippines. The disco colored mandarine fish are found in colonies along the shallows while one of the largest residential shoals of sardines swarms just just meters off the soft coral covered walls. 

 

What to Expect on a Snorkel Venture Tour of the Philippines

Local Philippine boat

The Philippine’s unique location in the heart of the Coral Triangle makes it one of the world’s premiere snorkeling destinations. Much like Indonesia, the Philippines hold some of the world’s most bio diverse and pristine reefs, vast quantities of reef fish and larger marine species like sea turtles and whale sharks. With 7,641 islands to choose from in the Philippines it can be a daunting task of choosing the right one to visit. To save you a bit of a headache we’ve taken on the task of narrowing down the destinations to the three we feel offer the best balance between travel logistics, the resorts, and of course the snorkeling.  For those of you who have not had the pleasure of visiting the Philippines, here a little run down of what you’re missing or should expect on a Snorkel Venture trip to the Philippines.

The Snorkeling Around Moalboal-Cebu Island 

Green sea turtle swimming over coral reef

Moalboal is typically our fist stop on our current Philippines itinerary and it’s reefs are on the doorstep of the resort. Moalboal is a small town on the southern side of Cebu, and given the islands elongated shape the reef that fringes it just continues on and on and on. In the shallowest portions of the reef you’ll find vast sea grass and sargasum seaweed beds where strange little critters like pipe fish and file fish hide among the aquatic vegetation. When the water gets to be about three feet deep the sea grass tapers off and you’ll find yourself amongst the fields of hard coral and sponges. The reefs are home to many different marine species from the famous lion fish, a number of species of clown fish, sea turtles, sea snakes, and a rainbow of colorful reef fish that look like multi colored glitter suspended in the water column. One thing that is unique to Moalboal is that just a few meters off the doorstep of the resort is a residential colony of mandarine fish!

The Snorkeling around Cabilao Island

Snorkelers floating above coral wall

Cabilao is a much smaller island just a bit east of Cebu and a few hundred meters west of the island of Bohol. The reefs here in Cabilao are in my opinion some of the most unique of the this particular tour. First of all, the area is quite remote and secluded so you can be sure that you will be the only snorkelers in the area. But what really sets this place apart in my mind is that the shallow reefs, which eventually give way to breathtaking walls full fo sea fans and soft coral, are a labyrinth of coral structures which gave me the feeling of floating over a fantastical city. Dive down and you can get a ‘street view’ of the underwater world as you swim through the surreal coral architecture. 

The Snorkeling around Anda-Bohol Island 

Anda is a small rural town on the south coast of Bohol and along it’s entire coast line is a stunning fringing reef which just goes on and on like Moalboal’s does. The reef itself start a bit deeper than the other two sites with the shallowest point we’ve found to be around a meter or so, but average around two to three meters. While Moalboal tends to be more hard coral, Anda’s reefs can largely be characterized as a mixture of sponges, leather corals, and hard corals. The reefs are home to many green sea turtles as well as sea snakes, scorpion fish, and once again all the glittery little reef fish. Once of the favorite things to do here is to just float over the point of the reef which abruptly turns into a deep blue wall. This allows us to keep an eye in the blue for larger marine life like turtles and the odd whale shark which are not uncommon in the area, while also enjoying the stunning view of the reef. 

Snorkeling in the North of Raja Ampat

Choosing a destination to snorkel in Indonesia can be confusing, and with over 17,000 islands knowing which one is best is no easy feat. To make things even more confusing, certain snorkeling locations, such as Raja Ampat, are broken up into sub-regions. If you’ve ever looked into a snorkeling trip through Raja Ampat you’ve probably noticed that it’s broken up into either cardinal locations like “the north, or “the south” or into areas knows as the Dampier Straight and Misool. Just when you thought you had it all narrowed down to a single destination you’re forced to once again make the hard decision of figuring out which location will be the absolute best for your snorkeling trip. So, to help provide a little insight, I’ll go ahead and quickly explain what to expect from Raja Ampat’s north. 

over under perspective with reef below and tropical island above

When people refer to the north of Raja Ampat they are typically talking about the area around the Dampier Straight. This is arguably one of the most popular areas to visit in Raja for multiple reasons. One being that it’s logistically a lot easier to arrive to when compared to Misool in the south, and two it offers some incredibly diverse snorkeling. Snorkelers will enjoy fantastic drifts, pinnacles, manta cleaning stations, channels, mangroves, and the infamous village jetties. The variety of types of snorkeling sites in the Dampier region is absolutely one of the highlights of this area. 

oceanic manta on cleaning station

The marine life is equally impressive as each locations offers something unique. The mangroves are a great place to find archerfish and some other fish you wouldn’t otherwise find on a typical reef snorkel, while the shallow pinnacles and channels are a great place to encounter larger marine life life like schools of jacks, barracudas, and manta rays. Like Misool in the south, the north is also one of the few places in the world where you can see both ocean mantas and reef mantas in a single day. One of my personal favorite places to snorkel in Raja Ampat is around any of the jettier or wooden piers in front of the little villages. The hand built wood structures are typically full of fish as they provide a hiding place from larger predators. Not only that but the pilings will usually be covered in brilliant soft coral and sponges. 

sun shining through mangroves with coral reef below

Snorkeling in Misool

Orange soft coral in front of swim through in reef

Choosing a destination to snorkel in Indonesia can be confusing, and with over 17,000 islands knowing which one is best is no easy feat. To make things even more confusing, certain snorkeling locations, such as Raja Ampat, are broken up into sub-regions. If you’ve ever looked into a snorkeling trip through Raja Ampat you’ve probably noticed that it’s broken up into either cardinal locations like “the north, or “the south” or into areas knows as the Dampier Straight and Misool. Just when you thought you had it all narrowed down to a single destination you’re forced to once again make the hard decision of figuring out which location will be the absolute best for your snorkeling trip. So, to help provide a little insight, I’ll go ahead and quickly explain what to expect from Raja Ampat’s Misool in the south.

snorkelers floating above coral reef wall

Misool is the southern most region of Raja Amapt, and in many ways it is the quintessential Raja. The landscape is made up of hundreds of small limestone islands with that classic mushrooms shape where they meet the ocean. The snorkeling is characterized by shallow reefs just beneath the iconic islands which give way to ridges, plateaus, pinnacles, and amazing shallow swim throughs. The coral is easily some of the best of the world with vast colonies of hard and soft coral as well as sponges and sea fans. Raja Ampat is often referred to as the Kingdom of Coral, and it’s my belief  that people are referring to Misool when they say this. 

orange soft coral and underwater topography

While the coral might be absolutely amazing, the marine life is equally impressive if not more so. In a lot of snorkeling locations around the world big schools of fish are a bit deep snorkelers, not in Raja Ampat and definitely not in Misool. Shoals of fusileers can be found around each of the different islands and on certain islands there are exceptionally large schools of barracudas, jacks, and friendly batfish hanging out just beneath the surface. Another charismatic ocean resident not uncommon in Misool are the manta rays, and actually it’s one of the only places in the world where it’s possible to see both species of manta ray, the oceanic manta and the reef manta. 

Reef manta cleaning on reef

Another awesome thing about Misool is that because it is quite isolated down in the south or Raja, it’s out of range of the speedboat day-trips leaving from Sorong in the north, as well as many of the liveaboards, completely eliminating crowded sites. Not to mention the fact that there is only one resort in all of Misool, and it just so happens to be one of the nicest snorkel and dive resorts in Indonesia and we are very pleased to be be offering our guided snorkeling safaris with them!

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