Snorkelling at Bocas del Toro

Because the Bocas del Toro coral reefs are mainly quite shallow,
there are many more sites for snorkelling than for scuba diving. The same mooring
buoy system PROMAR are installing will also be used by the
marine tour operators for snorkelling boats to moor to. Some of the snorkelling
sites are also scuba diving sites, because many of the reefs go down up to 60
feet (20 meters).
The best places for snorkelling are in Admiral Bay (Bahia de
Almirante), the waters are calmer, the coral reefs are more protected, waters
usually clearer

- Hospital Point off Solarte
- The Garden off Solarte
- Mangrove Point, Isla Colon
- Big Baight, Isla Colon
- Boca del Drago, Isla Colon
- Crawl Cay
- Cristobal Light, Cristobal Island
- Cristobal One, Cristobal Island
- Zapatillas Cays, in the Bastimentos Island National Marine
Park
- Ola Chica, and nearby Wild Cane Cay, off the Caribbean beaches
of Bastimentos can sometimes be snorkelled. These reefs, facing the open sea,
form walls from 10 to 40 feet high, with small caves which harbour fish and
crabs.
- The outer part of the Zapatillas Cays reefs are not so easy
to snorkel, because the prevailing north wind creates large waves that break
on the reef.
- A different kind of snorkelling can be experienced in mangrove
islets of the Marine Park. Due to the clear waters, snorkellers can see the
beauty and colors of marine life around the mangrove roots: sponges, fire
corals, casiopeas, starfishes, crabs. Other fish find refuge in this underwater
forest which is a fish nursery of many species.
Bocas del Toro Information