A Guide To BVI Snorkeling

If you're going to the British Virgin Islands for snorkeling, take my advice: print out a good map to mark up for BVI snorkeling and sharpen your pencil. There are hundreds of snorkeling places around the islands, many of them world-class. The combination of crystal-clear water, lots of sunshine, and clean sandy bottoms make it easy to see all the wonders of the underwater world throughout the area. Make special notes of reefs, shipwrecks, caverns, and undersea walls, where you'll see the bulk of the beauties that extend far beyond the BVI's shores.

When To Go BVI Snorkeling

You'll find the waters clearest in the winter, when you can see about a hundred feet. In summer, plankton cloud the waters, reducing visibility to about sixty feet. Summer through the end of November are also hurricane season, and these storms can also cause very cloudy water even when they have no other effect on the BVI. Because water temperatures are pretty constant, from a low of 77 degrees in winter to a high of 84 degrees in summer, the winter months are overall a better choice.

Where To Go For The Best BVI Snorkeling

The British Virgin Islands are of volcanic formation and situated on an ocean plateau, with tectonic activity primarily to the north. This means the waters around them are shallow and filled with unique features that provide perfect hiding places and hunting grounds for all sorts of ocean life, from flying fish to hawksbill turtles. In other words, snorkeling is good anywhere you are sheltered from too much current. The best of the best follow:

The Indians are a group of large rocks northwest of Norman Island and right next to tiny, uninhabited Pelican Island. If you're in your own boat, pick up a mooring from the National Parks Trust and dive in anywhere. This isn't a place where you go to look for a fish or two; instead, it's been described as like diving in an aquarium, a place where schools of all kinds of ocean wildlife congregate throughout the water. Snapper prey on the smaller fish near the top, while gulls fly in from the rocks and islands to gleefully fish from above. Look on the numerous ledges for sponges and gorgonians, sun anemone and sea fans, and check out the bright parrotfish and schoolmaster fish all around you. It's like an aquatic walk through a park.

The Caves off Norman Island are grottos that, while fairly plain above, provide awesome snorkeling below. Bring a flashlight, don't go into anything too dark, and enjoy the brightly-colored cup coral and sponges on the walls, while avoiding the bright-colored fish of all sorts that haunt the waters. Don't forget to look at the caves themselves, which in spots have bright veins of color against the gray rock, and bring an underwater camera with you.

Off Tortola, Dead Chest Island is the home of Dead Chest West, Coral Gardens, and Painted Walls, all premium snorkeling sites. Any of these sites are ideal for looking at corals and sponges, along with less well-known aquatic creatures like flame scallops. While you should avoid the area during strong surge, the Dead Chest area is one of the best places in the world to take underwater pictures.

Finally, at Salt Island you'll find the wreck of the RMS Rhone, its century-old decks crusted with corals and sponges and schools of fish creating a picturesque scene beneath the waves.

There are dozens of other wonderful BVI snorkeling sites. Wherever you are in this tropical gem, ask locals for the best areas, and you are certain to find hidden treasures.

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