TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Your top 4 snorkel stops

We are there in 3 weeks. Interested in everyone’s top 4 snorkel stops based on recent trips.

Thanks.

Flash of Beauty
Indians
Norman Caves
Maho Bay or Cooper (turtles and rays)

I'd throw little harbor in there too...ask Cynthia to show you where.

Little Harbor JVD? will have to try that

Little harbour got my attention

Top 9 in no particular order (as long as there isn't much north swell or current). These have probably been my most consistently enjoyable snorkel spots.

- The Chimneys
- The Indians
- Flash of Beauty
- The Aquarium, VG
- Bahia Tamarindo, Culebra
- The Rhone (on a clear day I still find it fascinating to see how much of the bow section you can make out)
- Devil's Bay to The Baths (interesting underwater features with arches and narrow canyons to swim under and through)
- Salt Pond Bay, St John (eagle rays, sea turtles)
- Maho Bay, St John (sea turtles)

Also could add Monkey Point, Guana Island for fish

Keeping them all close together: (1) The Indians when the seas are reasonably calm; (2) The Caves at Norman Island; (3) Kelly's Cove at Norman Island, which also has a few FCFS overnight mooring balls.

Can you tell me where Flash of Beauty is? Or would you then have to kill me

East of Big Bamboo on Anegada

No secrets here....Take cab to flash of beauty. Talk to restaurant there about which way to start. Typically East to West. If so walk down beach to damaged hut swim out and drift snorkel back.

You can walk to Big Bamboo on beach if you want after you have chicken Roti at restaurant (Monica I believe is her name)

I highly recommend to you and insist my crew use noodles when they snorkel for both flotation and identification in water...especially here

Big Bamboo snorkeling is usually also east to west following the semi circle

Some TTOLer put up map of it if you search

Thanks for all the responses. Anyone ever do Mountain Point on VG or Fallen Jerusalem?

I've snorkeled both Mountain Pt and Fallen Jerusalem 20 years and some 50 trips ago. OK, but not spectacular so I've not snorkeled there since.

Kelly's Cove at Norman Island, The Indians, The Aquarium, Cooper Island, and Monkey Point are our favorites. I am interested to know more about The Chimneys--I have not heard about it before (except for scuba diving), If someone has snorkeled there, please share experience.
Thanks!!

The Chimneys is located at the north side of the cove on the west side of Great Dog. There are 6-8 NPS moorings in the cove. If there is little swell, then this cove is a great snorkel and often has more schools of fish than The Indians.

Mahoe Bay - three reefs - walk in

Snorkeling spots
The Chimney Great Dog
Diamond Reef, Great Cameno
The Indians

If you wish to do something a little more than snorkeling we highly recommend Elaine at BVI Snuba. Our kids wished to do this last year and we booked and had an outstanding trip. snuba is a little more than snorkeling but the oxygen tank floats above you on a little boat. We saw loads of things including a turtle and a small shark and our kid were ecstatic. and the best thing is that they only do private trips so it was just us on the boat and it was all done at our pace with no rushing

What is "The Aquarium, VG"?

Mountain Point on Virgin Gorda has a secret hidden grotto accessed by an underwater arch swim through that is incredible. It can only be accessed when the swell is down, however, as you have to swim into the rocks to access it. It is my favorite snorkel spot in the BVI.

https://bvi-dive-map.com/site/the-aquarium/

I know my husband has visited it on one of his dive trips with Dive BVI. IIRC, they did it on one of the rougher days b/c it was a bit calmer.

Cool! Thanks. It looks on the map like it is right by Spring Bay. I had no idea that was a named spot! Great link.

That sounds great, and I have not snorkeled there. Any chance you can pinpoint on a satellite view?

Mountain Point looks like a great place to paddleboard too.

There are 3 snorkel balls at mountain point.

Please see the attached photo for details on the Grotto at Mountain Point. As I said, do be careful. This is only a safely accessible location when the swell and wind is very calm. If it is rough, Long Bay just around the corner from Mountain Point is a great anchorage with good snorkeling. The Wreck of the Kodiak Queen is also sunk there and makes for a great free diving spot. There are two mooring balls to tie up to there for this. Long Bay is a great spot for paddleboarding.

This picture shows Mountain Point in relation to Long Bay. And Kodiak Queen's "relative" location.

Thanks so much!!

Thank you! Top tip

I answer to a previous question, we have snorkelled Fallen Jerusalem. It is far from the madding crowds which we like but if there is a swell running or unsettled weather it can be tough to pick up the mooring. There are 2 NPT balls there, and the snorkelling is OK- lots of corals but few schools of fish...

Actually, I think that map is off a bit - it is more down by Fischer's Cove from what he told me - we stopped there for lunch one day, and he pointed it out. The point they show on the map is right where we stay usually, and that isn't the aquarium.

The aquarium dive site is around 500 feet or so off fort point. Depending where you measure from. If there is a ball on site, it should be easy to find.

Since I started this, I thought that I should report back. Just back from our trip. Where we snorkeled, in order that we snorkeled with relative ranking from the crew:
The Caves #6
The Rhône #7 - I stayed aboard as those mornings are close and the winds were flukey shifting from light Nw to N
Great Dogs South #3 wind and swell was up so Chimney was taken out of the equation as was Mountain Point
Big Bamboo #4a
Anegada reef with Sherry and Team Work Charters #1
Monkey Point #5
The Indians #2
Peter Island just northwest of the restaurant #4b

The quality/ranking seems to be significantly impacted by the overall time of day and cloud cover. For instance, Big Bamboo was basically cloudy and raining while the Indians was at 2 pm with a cloudless sky. We passed on Flash of Beauty because of the weather and opted to hang out with Annie at Cow Wreck instead.

Great Dog and Peter Island were huge surprises for us. Monkey Point was a bit of a disappointment maybe because it followed Anegada. The Indians looked significantly improved from 1 year ago and the conditions could not have been better.

Thanks for your update and insight.

Thanks for the follow-up Philggct. At Peter Island, I presume you were NW of Oceans 7 in Great Harbour, not the shuttered Peter Island Resort restaurants in Deadman's Bay or near Sprat Bay - correct?

Yes. We had a ball just off Oceans 7 and snorkeled just north/west along the shore.