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Snorkel Sites

Below you´ll descriptions of a selection of the many snorkel sites Huatulco has to offer. Many can be reached by land, some with difficulty. Others can only reached by boat. For more info on our snorkel tours, go to "Snorkel Tours".

"Magueyito"                    Conejos

This snorkel site is the one furthest out to the east and therefore closest the the mouth of the Copalita River. This means it is relatively quiet and undisturbed, so you tend to see a lot of fish and other marine life in the area. In the rainy season the river will regularly cause the visibility to go down, the best time to snorkel this area would be from October to June. You can get here by land and go off the beach or by boat.

This island, formed by volcanic rock, offers a fantasy landscape full of life in every nook & cranny, cavern, cave and crevice. On the inside of the island you´ll find coral and lots of fish in the shallow part, which is excellent for snorkeling. You could snorkel out from the beach, but it would be safer to go by boat.

"Arrocito"                    Chahue/Tangolunda

This beach is located in a small bay and normally pretty calm and protected. With the wind and waves coming from the South it may be a bit rough, even inside the bay. Along the two sides you´ll find rocks, coral blocks and a variety of aquatic life. It´s in between the bays of Chahue and Tangolunda and accesible by land and of course by boat.

“Campanario”                   Chahué

Only a short boatride from Santa Cruz, this is a shallow site with much to discover. It has a sandy bottom filled with smaller and bigger rocks and pieces of coral scattered around the area. You can find a wealth of smaller marine life on the rocks and in the countless nooks and crannies, amongst others octopi, nudibranches and other sea snails, polyps, sea urchins, starfish, small lobsters and crabs, moray eels, Snake Eels and a variety of small fish species. You can snorkel her off the beach, but be aware, Chahue Beach can be pretty rough with a strong undertow.

"La Entrega"                    Santa Cruz

Here you find big coral plates at an average depth of 3m/10ft and a maximum depth of 8m/25ft, separated from boat traffic by buoys especially for snorkeling. Filled with marine life and very colorful, it´s an ideal site for beginners, training dives or for those who simply like to do a shallow and relaxed dive. Don´t be surprised when during the dive you get “encircled” by a school of thousands of sardines, an amazing experience! There is also an interesting small cavern you can snorkel into on the North side. The site can also be reached by land.

"El Chelo"                    Santa Cruz/Organo

Here you´ll find a beautiful combination of rocks and corals where a cautious observer will discover an impressive amount of small, camouflaged species like sea snails, sponges, star fish, sea urchins, octopus, Christmas Tree Worms, and sometimes even sea horses. In the wintertime this site is the habitat of lots and lots of rays of varies species like the Southern Stingray, Yellow Stingray, Butterfly Ray, Electric Ray, Torpedo Ray and Eagle Ray. They come in all sizes from two centimeters up to two meters. Accesible by land if you don´t mind climbing down a rocky path.

"Organo"                        Organo

It looks here like they threw in a whole bunch of bigger and smaller rocks in the ocean to make long slope, reaching from the surface down to where the rocks meet the sand. It´s a snorkel site full of nooks and crannies which attract a huge amount of marine life, especially, it seems, nudibranches. You can get to the beach by land, it´s easier to get to by boat.

"Morros Maguey"                       Maguey

This is an ideal site to explore in between and around a group of big rocks scattered on the seabed. A place full of Pufferfish, Butterflyfish, Angelfish, nudibranches, mollusks and occasionally turtles resting under the overhangs of rock or coral. In the pieces of coral you may encounter sea horses, they seem to have settled down in the area. In the sand it´s not uncommon to find Stingrays, sometimes big ones. You could swim to this site from the beach, but we normally go there by boat.

This huge coral plate lies between the island and the beach of Cacaluta covering approximately 300m/1000ft with depths of 2m/7ft to 12m/40ft. Very intriguing are strings of gas bubbles escaping from between the rocks and corals on the bottom which possibly attract the turtles and Nurse Sharks that can be found regularly resting in gaps in the coral. It´s one of the more colorfull places with an enormous amount of small fish and perfect for snorkeling and skin diving. I would only go to this site by boat.

“La India”                       Chachacual

Another one of those little protected bays. Perfect for snorkeling due to some interesting coral formations and plates. A little bit further out there is more coral in a very well protected corner. In general we find lots of octopus and moray eels here as well as turtles and big stingrays on the sandy part of the bottom. Only accesible by boat.

"Jicaral"                       Chachacual / San Augustin

Everywhere along the sides of this beautiful litlle bay you´ll find interesting snorkeling. It has a rocky/sandy bottom with coral scattered over the rocky parts. Because of its distance from Santa Cruz, the beach is nice and quiet and often we´re the only people there. The aquatic life seems to enjoy this tranquility as well, you can regularly find turtles and enormous stingrays resting in between the rocks. The area is shallow and well protected from the ocean so it´s ideal for beginners. Only accesible by boat.

This bay furthest out to the west makes for a long boatride, although you can also get there by car most of the year. It´s worth every minute of it though, one of the biggest coral plates of the area awaits you with vibrant colors and an abundance of marine life. Perfect for hours of snorkeling. Towards the island of San Augustin it gets a little bit deeper with some impressive rock formations and bigger fish like Parrotfish, Red Snappers, Spanish Hogfish and different kinds of groupers. Because of the distance we usually make an all-day excursion out of it.