Snorkel Map – Belize Snorkeling From Shore

Best Belize Snorkeling Sites

Long Caye boasts one of the best swimming beaches in Belize. It’s not easy to find Belize snorkeling from shore, but you can snorkel right from our beach at our Belize snorkeling resort. Daily we swim to a favorite nearby snorkel site, or use our kayaks to access an even greater area. Seventeen spots that we explore regularly are shown below on our Belize snorkel map. A description of each shore snorkeling site is listed below the map.

We do not provide one-day snorkel tours; our island is 70 miles from Belize City and 35 miles from Dangriga. Our shortest package is 5 nights in length.

For more information on Belize snorkeling, visit this page on our site. For our recommendation for the best snorkeling fins, you can also find this on our site.

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Best Snorkeling in Belize From Shore

1. Practice Reef. This is where we conduct our snorkel orientations and where we also go night snorkeling. Our most accessible reef, you can easily swim to it, and much of the surrounding sand at this patch reef is only about 3 feet deep, so you can stand up right next the coral whenever you need a break. This is the perfect first snorkel.

2. The Aquarium. Just a 2/3 mile paddle away, this is one of our all-time favorite snorkels, and it will be yours too! A very shallow reef, you can stand up all around this beautiful patch reef. Most of the incredible snorkel images on this site were taken here.

3. Dado’s Reef. Named after a ship-wrecked sailor (yes really!), this reef is just a swim away. It is quite deep in places. One of the most beautiful snorkel spots you will ever see.

4. The Horseshoe. This nearby reef is accessed by kayak, although for a longer swim you can also swim there with a safety kayaker joining you. It is about a 1/2 mile from our island. This is usually our first paddle/snorkel, where you paddle to a patch, tie your boat up to the guide’s boat, and jump out WITHOUT tipping over (we teach you to do this.)

Related Blog Post: Snorkeling Horseshoe Reef, Glover’s Atoll, Belize-video

5. Lobster Rocks. What a wonderful area this is. The coral is particularly beautiful here, and on one recent snorkel we saw about 12 Caribbean Spiny Lobsters. We usually paddle to this one, but you can swim or paddleboard if you prefer.

6. Conch Central. One of our new favorites. We paddle here every week to snorkel out of the kayaks, sometime combining this one with Sea Fan City. This is a large patch reef with a lot of tropical fish.

7. Sea Fan City. The proximity to the channel means we see a lot of larger fish here, and very healthy Elkhorn Coral (not to mention a whole lot of Purple Sea Fans!)

8. The Channel. We paddle out to a deep patch reef between Long and Northeast Cayes. Huge schools of Bermuda Chub, Black Grouper and Spotted Eagle Rays are seen almost every time!

Related Blog Post: Snorkeling The Channel – Glovers Reef, Belize-video

9. Northeast Caye. There are several areas of reef over near the caye next door that we like to paddle to. A fairly deep snorkel, it’s nice to have your boat to hang on to if you need extra flotation. This is a gorgeous area.

10. Drift Snorkel. We swim out from the north end of our island, and then drift with the prevailing winds which takes us by three small patch reefs. Then we swim back in at the south end. A very aerobic swim!

11. The Wall. When the conditions are right we swim to this famous Belize dive site. This entire snorkel is over your head, and conditions have to be calm. Here we can see huge loggerhead turtles swimming right in front of us!

12. The Cut. A great loop snorkel, we swim from the southern end of the island along the barrier reef of the atoll from the inside. We cut through the boat channel, and return on the outside of the reef. A fantastic, long exploratory snorkel.

13. Snorkel Around the Island. We often swim almost all the way around, and the outside of the island is the best. We are not as far out as The Wall snorkel, the coral and parrot fish here are amazing!

14. Far Tortuga. An absolutely huge patch reef, we have never made it all the way around this one. This is a mile paddle, you really feel like you are way out in the middle of nowhere when you anchor here.

15. Angel Fish Paradise. Not as intimidating as the giant Far Tortuga snorkel, this one is teaming with Angel Fish and other beautiful species.

16. Sponge Forest. What a great snorkel! This patch reef is really 2 patches, we usually anchor in the middle of them. There is an amazing Star Coral canyon here, and lots of sponges and fish!

17. Atlantis. This one is two miles away, so we don’t go here every week, we need a hardy group! This is like a sunken volcano of sand. It is surrounded by deep water (about 50 feet), but is flat and only 3 feet deep on the top, you can stand up anywhere in between the coral patches. We see a lot of really cool stuff here, we doubt if anyone had ever explored it before we found it three years ago.