Best Abacos Islands Snorkeling Dive Spots
Abacos Islands has 17 snorkel dives.
Located in Bahamas, the snorkeling in Abacos Islands offers over fifteen scenic snorkel dive spots. The best Abacos Islands snorkeling based on popularity are considered to be Elbow Cay, Great Guana Cay, Sandy Cay Reef, Coral Caverns, and Pelican Cay National Park. For a detailed dive site description and printable snorkel dive map, just select a Abacos Islands snorkeling dive below.
Featured SNORKELING SPOTS
Elbow Cay
East of Marsh Harbour off Great Abaco, the snorkeling off Elbow Cay is popular for its clear waters. There are plenty of good snorkeling spots with diverse marine life.
Great Guana Cay
North of Marsh Harbour off Great Abaco, the snorkeling at Great Guana Cay off the Abaco Islands is known for its shallow reefs. It is located off the old Guana Beach Resort. The best snorkeling spots are at Guana Cay Beach and Atlantic Beach. The Great Guana Cay is about 50 feet offshore of Abaco and has shallow reefs as well. During Guana Cay snorkeling, you may encounter angelfish, spotted eagle rays, parrotfish, stingrays, turtles and occasional resting nurse sharks.
Pelican Cay National Park
North of and just east of Great Bahama, the snorkeling at Pelican Cay National Park off the Abaco Islands is known for its shallow reefs that are habitat to sea turtles, grouper, jacks, spotted eagle rays and anglefish. The Pelican Cay National Park is a 2,000 acre maze of coral reef.
Coral Caverns
North of Great Abacos Island and Green Turtle Cay, the snorkeling at Coral Caverns offers sea fans and good biodiversity. This is a boat-accessed snorkeling dive site in waters from 5 to 40 feet deep that is known for its open water surf. During a Coral Caverns snorkeling dive, you may encounter angelfish, jacks, butterflyfish, barracuda and grouper among the sea fans, sea tubes and hard corals.
Mermaid Reef
North of Marsh Harbour off Great Abaco, the snorkeling at Mermaid Reef off the Abacos Islands is renowned for its clear waters. It is a very popular snorkel spot with local divers. While snorkeling Mermaid Reef, you may encounter butterflyfish, green moray eels, barracuda, yellowtail, trumpetfish, and occasional sea turtles.
Angelfish Reef
North of and just east of Great Bahama, the snorkeling at Angelfish Reef off the Abacos Islands is known for the resident Angelfish. The water depth at Angelfish Reef is about 20 feet.
Green Turtle Cays
Northwest of Marsh Harbour off Great Abaco, the snorkeling at Green Turtle Cays offers healthy elkhorn coral, staghorn coral and large sponges. The best snorkeling on Green Turtle Cay can be found at Gillam Bay in the southeast and also at Ocean Beach which has a shallow reef between 150 to 300 feet offshore.
Maxi Cave
Northeast of Marsh Harbor off Great Abacos Island, the snorkeling at Maxi Cave offers plenty of sea fans and sea whips on coral pillars. This boat-accessed snorkeling dive site is in waters ranging from 10 to 35 feet deep. During a Maxi Cave dive, you may see plenty of brain coral, coral pillars and southern stingrays.
Hope Town Reef
North of and just east of Great Bahama, the snorkeling at Hope Town Reef off the Abacos Islands is known for its brain coral and elkhorn coral formations. These corals provide plenty of habitat for large numbers of schooling reef fish.
Fowl Cay Reef
North of and just east of Great Bahama, the snorkeling at Fowl Cay Reef off the Abacos Islands is popular for its resident friendly grouper. The dive site is located roughly 6.5 miles to the north of the middle of Marsh Harbour on Fowl Cay.
Shark Rodeo
Northwest of Great Abaco Island and northeast of Walker Cay, the snorkeling at Shark Rodeo (aka Snoopys Reef) offers plenty of sharks to observe. On a typical boat trip out to Snoopys Reef, the waters are chummed with a frozen block of fish parts to attract a couple hundred sharks including nurse sharks, Caribbean reef sharks, blacktipped reef sharks, lemon sharks, tiger sharks and bull sharks. It is a crazy high speed frenzy. The central area inside the circular Snoopys Reef is 40 foot deep sand flats with 50 foot visibility.
Spanish Cannon
Northwest of Great Abaco Island and east of Walker Cay, the snorkeling at Spanish Cannon (aka Charlies Canyon) is a popular for its anchors and cannons. This boat-accessed snorkeling dive site is in waters from 10 to 25 feet deep. You encounter plenty of star coral, brain coral and elkhorn coral along with squirrelfish, octopi, grunts and grouper.
Barracuda Alley
Northwest of Great Abacos Island and northeast of Walkers Cay, the snorkeling at Barracuda Alley is known for its plentiful namesake fish. The water depth is roughly 25 feet deep. This is a boat-accessed snorkeling dive site in waters from 10 to 40 feet deep.
Travel Tips
To reach the Abacos Islands by air, most travelers will fly commercial airlines into Nassau on New Providence or fly into Freeport on Grand Bahama Island. To reach the Abacos' Marsh Harbour Airport (MHH) from Nassau, you can either use Bahamas Air (which is known for late departures) or use the mail boat ferry service (393-1064). Note: If you are coming from Miami, there may even be a direct flight to Abacos Island Marsh Harbour Airport (MHH) on the weekends. There are regular flights from Florida (Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville) into Marsh Harbor Airport (MHH) on Silver Airways (a United Airlines partner)