The 10 Best Caribbean Snorkel Spots and How to Snorkel Responsibly with Emma Doyle

Ever wondered what secrets the Caribbean Sea holds beneath its waves? Emma Doyle, a marine and coastal management specialist, is here to reveal those mysteries for you. As the coordinator of MP Connect, a network of 40 coral reef marine national parks across 18 Caribbean countries and territories, Emma has dedicated her life to these undersea paradises and the protection of their precious marine life. She passionately shares her snorkeling adventures and offers a  glimpse into her top 10 snorkeling spots in the Caribbean.

Just imagine yourself swimming among the vibrant coral gardens of Tobago Keys Marine Park or exploring the unique underwater archaeological sites of Sint Eustatius. Emma takes us on an underwater journey, sharing her favorite spots and the amazing marine life you can find there. She also provides us with expert tips on how to wear your snorkeling gear properly, interact with marine life responsibly, and enhance your overall snorkeling experience.

However, this isn't merely a guide to a thrilling aquatic adventure. It's also a wake-up call about the importance of preserving our marine ecosystems. Emma highlights the role of marine protected areas and emphasizes the need for environmentally friendly practices while snorkeling. She even walks us through a live demonstration of fitting snorkeling equipment, sans headphones. So, strap on your snorkeling gear, apply that reef-safe sunscreen, and join us on this beautiful journe

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:59

Welcome to Paradise Perspectives, a podcast about Caribbean travel from the locals perspective. Get ready for some authentic Caribbean travel tips, recommendations and more from the people who live where you vacation, straight from Paradise. I'm your host and island friend, rizal the Traveling Island Girl. Hey you, I'm so, so happy that you could make the time to listen to this episode of Paradise Perspectives today, because it promises to be so interesting, especially for those of you whose favorite thing to do when on vacation is to snorkel and discover all the colorful and interesting marine life that the different Caribbean islands have to offer. Right, am I? Right Now?

Speaker 1: 2:41

Today's guest is a true expert and her name is Emma Doyle. Emma is a Caribbean Marine and Coastal Management Specialist. She has lived in Caracas, venezuela, a country she knows from one end of the Caribbean coast to the other, and has traveled extensively throughout the region, so she is definitely the person to talk to. Emma is also the full-time coordinator of MPA Connect, which is a network of 40 coral reef marine national parks in 18 Caribbean countries and territories, so she's definitely the person we need to talk about snorkeling, and I'm so excited to get this conversation with her going.

Speaker 1: 3:22

So I'm not sure if you're ready, but you need to get ready, because you need to listen in as we discuss the 10 best spots in the Caribbean for snorkeling, how to wear your mask properly, how to handle the marine life, how to maximize your snorkel experience and, oh my gosh, so so much more. Are you ready? Before we get started, let me just remind you real quick when you're done, check out the show notes for more information, including where to get your snorkel gear at All. Right, okay, let's get this convo started. I'm here with Emma Doyle and I am so terrifically excited about this episode because today we are going to talk about snorkeling, and there is no better person than we can talk to today than Miss Emma Doyle herself. Now I should say good morning, because I do know that you speak a little bit of Dutch.

Speaker 2: 4:16

Yes, good morning. How are you? Yes, good With you. Yes, very good.

Speaker 1: 4:22

For those of you who don't know, emma is actually at the moment in Brisbane, australia, so while I'm saying good morning, or good morning in Dutch, she's actually I should be saying good evening. Can you get a second to your? What time is it there? By you now, it's probably like almost what. Is it 23 hours later?

Speaker 2: 4:44

Just late in the evening. Don't worry, I'm coming to you from the future.

Speaker 1: 4:48

Probably. Yes, exactly what it is. You are coming to me from the future. Well for you those of you listening we are going to be talking about snorkeling today, which is, of course, one of those, as somebody in the Caribbean who actually promotes the Caribbean all the time it's like one of the questions that I get all the time is about snorkeling spots. So we're going to talk about where are the best places to snorkel in the Caribbean, what the etiquette is snorkeling, and all of that good stuff. So, if you're listening, thank you so much for listening and thank you for tuning in, and I'm going to give the microphone over to Ms Emma.

Speaker 2: 5:22

Doyle.

Speaker 1: 5:23

Zach, I want you to explain a little, because, of course, I've already introduced you to our listeners today, but I did want to also let you have the word and tell us a little bit about yourself and what makes you the expert in our topic today, which is snorkeling.

Speaker 2: 5:41

Thank you, Rissell. Oh goodness, I've snorkeled and lived and worked in the Caribbean through the last 20 years and my background is really from Venezuela. I lived for a number of years in Caracas. Venezuela is a fabulous country and it has the longest Caribbean coast of any country and we have islands there. We have fabulous coastlines and the first place I ever went snorkeling was in Los Roques, which is a really special part of the Caribbean, Not the easiest to visit these days, but nonetheless it's a fabulous national park.

Speaker 2: 6:26

I'm an environmentalist at heart and a marine person who has a great job right now where I coordinate a network of marine national park managers. We get together for training and to share, and that's a network that is actually in 18 countries and territories in the Caribbean and we have 40 marine parks that are members of that network. So I know those places really well and I was trying to count for your listeners' purposes. I was trying to count Now, how many islands have I really been snorkeling in, and I got to about 30 islands that I've snorkeled in and although the reefs of the Caribbean are all connected and they have some similarities, there's quite a range of different experiences on offer. Absolutely, yeah.

Speaker 1: 7:22

Well, take us back to Little Emma. What started this obsession, if I can call it that, with the underwater world and the environment and all of the good stuff that you're involved in right now?

Speaker 2: 7:39

Well, look, I love to swim, I love to snorkel, I love to dive. I'm an active sports person. I do triathlons and ocean swims and I grew up in a family that sailed and that fished. And, yeah, I think from the first time that you see underwater, it's just such a different environment. It's a whole other world underwater. So there's a lot to fascinate, there's a lot to learn about and, look, I'm really personally I'm a generalist.

Speaker 2: 8:10

I know a little bit about geography and biology and chemistry and lots of different things, but I have the privilege of working with people who are real scientific experts. While my knowledge is maybe a mile wide it's only an inch deep but I work with a lot of people whose knowledge goes like a mile deep on something very specific an inch wide. So I'm constantly inspired by some of the marine scientists, the fisheries ecologists, the coral reef specialists who I work with. The world is changing, the oceans are changing and there's a lot going on. That's really interesting.

Speaker 2: 8:51

There's a lot of efforts to increase protection of coral reefs and through my work and with the partners who I work with in some of the organizations like NOAA in the US, who work regionally, and with the experts who are involved with the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute, who I work with too, from all across the region. There's just so much interesting work going on that it's constantly inspiring and there's always something new to see and to learn underwater and to observe. And I think back to when I was, when I first was snorkeling and diving, you would kind of speed through an area and rush over and you really wouldn't notice any. You know, you'd see maybe at 1% of the creatures that were looking back at you. But now, as I've learned to go slower and to appreciate and to really look and really open your eyes and observe, you really see a lot more. So it's always a great experience to get in the water.

Speaker 1: 11:33

Well, I'm super happy to be here because you are going to help us a little bit also on how to open our eyes and what to look out for, and we're even going to talk about how to put on your snorkel today, which is, you know, your snorkel mask and all of that. I'm so excited for that part. I hope I get it right. So, for those of you who are just listening to the podcast, you can head on over to my YouTube channel and you can see Emma and myself attempting to put on this mask and how to put on it Right Before we head into you know, all of that really good stuff that I wanted to discuss with you.

Speaker 1: 12:08

Like you know, the best places to snorkel in the Caribbean, etc. I really wanted to first talk a little bit about something that is so close to my heart because, like you, I too appreciate the environment, and that is one thing that I always, always tell visitors that are coming to the Caribbean or that are traveling to any ocean. You know, ocean or beach vacation. Is that? Please, please, please, wear sunscreen. That is reef safe. That is one of the things that is so important, but can you tell us why it is so important, and what is happening to the reefs every time you enter the ocean with one of those generic sunscreens?

Speaker 2: 12:49

Yeah Well, coral reefs are a threat from so many different issues and you know, to give them the best chance of surviving into the future, so that communities in the Caribbean have all the benefits of coral reefs for the long term, and so that we visitors, so that we can also enjoy reefs and all their creatures into the future, it is really important to do what we can, and you know it is hard for small islands sometimes to influence what is happening in the world in terms of global warming, climate change some of the big issues.

Speaker 2: 13:27

Some of the big issues, right, but some of the things that we can do, that our protected areas, for example, seek to do is to increase the resilience of the coral reefs by controlling pollution and minimizing the impact of pollution. So now, as visitors to Caribbean coral reefs, as snorkelers on reefs, something that we can do is minimize our use of pollutants and toxic chemicals, and one of the chemicals that is known to be quite toxic to coral reefs is something called oxybenzone. That is a common ingredient in sunscreen. Now, the best thing that visitors can do is to actually look at the ingredients on their sunscreen and make sure that, not just that the label says reef safe, because that doesn't necessarily get the credit of it.

Speaker 2: 14:19

So do have a look at the ingredients and avoid the ones that say oxybenzone. It's also good to avoid those that come in plastic packaging and in fact, you know, the best thing that to do is really to make sure that you wear a rash guard. So, in place of actually wearing sunscreen, what's something that you can do to minimize the use of the sunscreen is also to wear long sleeves long sleeves and long legs in the water, and you will find that some of the marine parks will sell rash guards lycra that you wear, that are nice and tight like a swimming costume and that will cover your arms and legs. And then you can focus on really good quality sunscreen without oxybenzone that you can use on your face and exposed parts of your body.

Speaker 1: 15:05

Fantastic, that's a great tip.

Speaker 2: 15:07

You spend time in the water, take time and the sun is strong. The sun is strong, but then the water is also quite warm. That's one of the pleasures of snorkelling in the Caribbean is that the water is lovely and warm and you don't really need a wetsuit at all, especially not as temperatures get warmer in the summer period and at the end of summer.

Speaker 1: 15:28

Oh gosh, yes, tell me about that. Absolutely. We've had a brutal summer, that's for sure, and it continues to be quite hot in the Caribbean right now. At the moment of filming or at the moment of recording this, we are in October. It's about mid October right now and the temperatures are still quite hot for this time of year. So let's dive literally let's dive into the world of snorkelling. What can visitors look out for when snorkelling? Actually, no, scratch that. Let's go back to the most important question that a lot of people have on their mind, and that is where are the best sonorical spots in the Caribbean? If you, I know, you've been over 30 islands, so you've been to over 30 islands, it's kind of hard to actually just take a few of those, but let's go with, like, your, top 10.

Speaker 2: 16:24

OK, All right. Well, I think when you think about the top spots to go snorkeling, you really. My tip is that you really want to go for the special natural places in the Caribbean. There are a lot of marine protected areas in the Caribbean that have been legally protected because of the quality of their coral reefs, because of the importance of their coral reefs for fisheries, and there are special places often with special wildlife, special marine creatures that you can find there. So my top tip is that you know it's worth trying to find a good marine national park that has what you're looking for. Those places are typically often well set up for tourism too.

Speaker 2: 17:12

In some cases, marine parks have been established in order to resolve conflicts between fishers and divers or snorkelers or tourism, and so they'll cater well to tourists as well. To visitors, Marine park managers they want visitors to enjoy the parks. Often, visitors to Caribbean marine national parks are important in helping to provide a little fee for visiting and that can support really important enforcement activity or science and education with local communities. Often there's been efforts to train local people as guides, sometimes as dive masters or snorkel guides too. So it's a great opportunity it's. Visiting a marine park is also a good way to be more environmentally friendly too, because there will be things like moorings so that the visiting boats don't anchor in the coral reefs and cause damage.

Speaker 1: 18:12

I was actually going to ask about that actually, yes, because I've seen so many times that I've been on one of those boat trips and they throw the anchor out and I'm always like a little, wouldn't that be causing any damage down under the water?

Speaker 2: 18:27

Yeah, yeah potentially.

Speaker 2: 18:30

Sometimes they might be able to anchor in sand, which doesn't cause too much damage, but if there's seagrass or if there's coral reefs, then ideally you want to be. If you visit a marine park, then there will be some mooring infrastructure, especially to save that special habitat, and so it's a good way to make sure that your, your opportunity, that your, your operator, is also being environmentally friendly by working with some of those protection measures that that a national park will have in place. Now, often in a national park too, you'll find that the wildlife isn't scared. They're protected and they know they're used to being protected, and so the wildlife won't be timid, which and that enables you to have a really good encounter with marine wildlife and tools often to get good photos too. So that's a really good.

Speaker 1: 19:19

Right, exactly.

Speaker 2: 19:21

You know and in a in a, we want people to have good, positive encounters with marine life and to actually you know and to learn and to appreciate and value what's under the sea, because it's a pretty special opportunity to go underwater. You know, you really get transported to a different environment by snorkeling. You see all the different colors and shapes, you can move with the fish in the water. You can get a real sense of adventure, of doing something different and being somewhere new. It's a great opportunity. There's a great, great amount of biodiversity on Caribbean coral reefs. There's a lot to see, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 19:57

OK, so now your top 10 and just one straight list. What are your top 10 recommendations.

Speaker 2: 20:08

All right, so I guess up there I'm going to put Tobago keys Marine Park, which is in St Vincent and the Grenadines. It's not in Trinidad and Tobago, it's one of the islands in the southern Grenadines. It's not hugely visited. It has quite a lot of sailors who go there, but it's really a great spot to go snorkeling and especially to go snorkeling with sea turtles, and everybody always asks me where can I go and see sea turtles?

Speaker 2: 20:37

Everybody's in love with the turtles, so now the other thing that's important when you're snorkeling the having having calm seas, clear water, shallow conditions so that you can see easily good visibility. Those are important things too, and that's something that you really find in my top 10. Ok, great, OK, so we already got Tobago key keys. Ok, now what I, what I'm suggesting is that you can know what I, what I'm suggesting for our listeners today is that I think you and I want them to have a real champagne experience of snorkeling Right.

Speaker 2: 21:16

We want them to have the best of the best. Now in the Caribbean, there is a place where you can actually go snorkeling with fine little champagne bubbles. There's a terrific place there is Now this is actually associated with under water geothermal activity, but in the on the island of Dominica not the Dominican Republic, but English speaking. Dominica, in the eastern Caribbean has a marine protected area called Soufriere Scott's Head Marine Reserve and there is a fabulous site where there's all these little bubbles that just come out of the reef and come out of the ground and you can snorkel amongst all these bubbles so that one's, that one's on the list.

Speaker 1: 22:01

Oh my gosh. I'm heading down to my list and I'm so, I'm so grateful for you mentioning that you know Dominica, not the Dominican Republic, because you'll be surprised how many people actually make that mistake. Now, none on your. I think we're on number four. Number four on your list, ok All right Three. Oh three.

Speaker 2: 22:21

Sorry.

Speaker 1: 22:21

Yes, you're right.

Speaker 2: 22:23

I need. I need all of these. This is hard, not easy, to get to, so OK. So then, having OK thinking about where you might find some of the best corals, I have to mention Bonneir National Marine Park. Yes, it's one of the Dutch islands, one of the ABC islands in the in the southern Antilles of the Caribbean.

Speaker 2: 22:47

There's a couple of spots that are good for snorkeling in Bonneir. It's really well known for diving but I've found there's some excellent snorkeling. If on the on the main island, you can do a snorkel from the shore from 1000 steps, that's got some really nice snorkeling of shallow reef, of really interesting different types of corals. There are really good brain corals and boulder corals, but there are also different branching corals and it's a good place to watch for turtles and eagle rays and it's in good traditionally in very good condition. It benefits from good protection in Bonneir.

Speaker 2: 23:25

Now Klein Bonneir is also part of the Marine National Park. Now that's somewhere where you really need a boat to a boat trip to go over to do that. But I've done some fantastic drift snorkeling there with friends on Bonneir, where you go in the water and swim along with the current in Klein Bonneir and there's fabulous shallow corals there, lots of turtles, some good fish, really really good, really good snorkeling there. Okay, nice clear water as well in Klein Bonneir, which makes it great Bonneir is so so known for their clear water and so many colorful fishes.

Speaker 1: 24:02

It's what I remember as a child, you know, spending a lot of time in Bonneir Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 24:08

Okay, now, a lot of people love St Lucia and generally often that image of the World Heritage site of the Pitons, the two big steep mountains that's very well known. And now there's a good marine park called Soufriere Marine Managed Area in St Lucia and it's really at the foot of the Pitons and there's a little house reef that's right next to Anne's Chastonet Resort, right just next to the town of Soufriere, and the house reef there is very popular for snorkeling, and with good reason. It has shallow reefs, it has nice clear water and there's some interesting work going on there to help try and save the corals. There's good protection. It's an interesting little reef to go and visit. So I think St Lucia's Anne's Chastonet house reef would be another one that's up there just because of that dramatic partly because of that dramatic position on the Pitons, the World Heritage area Okay. So that's a good one for coral as well.

Speaker 1: 25:18

Beautiful.

Speaker 2: 25:18

Now, it's not all about coral, though. Fish are really important. The fish in the coral reefs are critical. Now there's something like 60 species of corals in the Caribbean, but there's more than 500 different types of reef fish associated with those corals.

Speaker 2: 25:40

Now, ideally, when you go snorkeling, you want to see colorful fish. It's always fun to see big fish. So in order to see big fish and to see fish that are not scared, one of the best places to go is an island in Belize that's called Half Moon Key, and it's actually Half Moon Key Natural Monument, which is very close. It's actually managed as part of the same area as the Great Blue Hole the Blue Hole in Belize, which is also a famous destination.

Speaker 2: 26:14

But Half Moon Key has a fabulous area of reef just off its beach where you'll see big fish, big parrotfish, you'll see snapper, you'll see grouper, and the fish are just going about their normal lives. They really don't care that you're there. They're eating, they're at the cleaning stations getting there, getting cleaned, they're hanging out doing fish things with no stress, and you can see them without them doing anything different because you're there. So that's a really good fishy experience. If you go to the Half Moon Key, too, you can even go kayak snorkelling and there's a glamping opportunity there where you can stay right on that key and nice little tents, and then you can go kayaking and snorkelling different places with your kayak, which is fun.

Speaker 1: 27:05

Now, you definitely got my attention on that. So that's Half Moon Key Different Right, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 27:12

Now not far away, just a little bit south from Belize, if we go down to the Bay Islands of Honduras, and that's you know, it's an English speaking area of Honduras. They speak Spanish too, of course, but it's an interesting area and there's a. On the island of Roatan there is a marine protected area called Sandy Bay, west End, and it also has really good fish. It has good turtles and sharks too, and that's a great place where you can do easy shore snorkelling at West End, at Sandy Bay or at Half Moon Bay, and in fact the snorkelling is pretty easy there. It's good, and people even go snorkelling at night on the full moon. That's one of the places where it can actually be fun to do a night snorkel. So Roatan is up there too for its fish and for that snorkelling night snorkelling, when fish actually can be more active too. So that's quite different. That's something different to see.

Speaker 1: 28:12

Yeah, absolutely Now all right Now.

Speaker 2: 28:18

The other thing that people love is I think your listeners probably want to go to beautiful beaches.

Speaker 1: 28:23

Absolutely, that's like one of the first things, of course, that everybody asked you know okay, you can find a beautiful beach with the great snorkelling.

Speaker 2: 28:31

Beautiful beaches with great snorkelling.

Speaker 2: 28:33

Then I have to mention the Turks and Caicos and I have to mention Princess Alexandra Land and Sea Park, which is in Provo, main island, main capital.

Speaker 2: 28:44

There's a little reef that you can snorkel out to from the beautiful beach, long beach of Grace Bay, and it's called Smith's Reef and that's a great place to see turtles, to see rays, to see some fish, to see corals. There are some impacts of bleaching and of disease there right now, but we, you know there's a lot of hard work going on also to restore reefs in the Turks and Caicos. So I think it's still, it's definitely on my top 10 list and, for example, that's one of the places where, if visitors can make a difference by not wearing toxic sunscreen, that's, you know that's not reef safe. And if they can, and if you can do the right thing by disinfecting your gear, if the park managers ask you to do that to try and stop disease, well then that's that shows how important it is to do the right thing. Okay, now, near the, near the Turks and Caicos, in the Bahamas beautiful beaches, beautiful keys I have to mention.

Speaker 1: 29:46

Xuma Keys land and sea park in the family islands.

Speaker 2: 29:51

Xuma Keys actually does also have some good snorkelling. Now, quite one of the well-known spots is Thunderball Grotto, which is made famous by James Bond. Now, that's a popular place to go snorkelling. You can go into the grotto and see where the movie was filmed, and there's also cool fish in there. But Xuma Keys land and sea park from these beautiful beaches, there are some other fantastic features like the stromatolites. Wow, stromatolites are the world's oldest remnants of living reefs. They're like historical fossils. They're super special. You only find them off the West Coast of Australia and in Xuma Keys.

Speaker 1: 30:38

No way, I never knew that.

Speaker 2: 30:40

Yeah, so that's kind of special and old reef. But then in Xuma Keys you also get some really good mangroves. In fact, in a lot of places in the Bahamas you get mangroves, but to go snorkelling in a mangrove is actually amazing. Especially when it's a beautiful beach and it's clear water. The mangrove is like an aquarium and you'll see so many fish and lobster and little juveniles. It's typically where you find the babies from the reef are hanging out in the mangroves. So if you have an opportunity to snorkel in the mangroves or anywhere in Xuma Keys or in the Bahamas, then take that opportunity. It's a fantastic experience. Now, thinking of special opportunities, there's some interesting features in the region that deserve a mention. Now, talking about old things, aside from living old things like the stromatolites, you can also find living old things in terms of archaeology, and on the island of Sint Eustatius I would suggest that.

Speaker 1: 31:50

That's really worth snorkelling.

Speaker 2: 31:53

Stacia Marine Park has this in the Bay of Aranya stat. I mean, stacia has so much history and it continues underwater. There's old walls and there's old bits of structures from warehouses and relics of good. You know, you can find all sorts of things underwater. It's really amazing to go snorkelling in Stacia because of that archaeological history.

Speaker 1: 32:19

That's like there and right next to you on land.

Speaker 2: 32:23

That's really interesting and that's unusual and that's very, very unusual, right, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 32:29

But also, I think one of those things that Stacia is so popular for is, of course, those blue beads that everybody wants to try to find, and there has been quite some people who have actually found some in the water there. Yeah, correct.

Speaker 2: 32:43

I've looked. I had to buy one from the dive store but I've not managed to find one. But they were around and it's yeah, it's really special. I mean, this is like what 17th century history, I think, in Stacia. It's really old.

Speaker 1: 33:00

Yes, absolutely yeah, pretty unique and there's not many, there's really there's not many people there, you know.

Speaker 2: 33:08

I think, when you think about the impact that we, as that we as snorkelers have the impact of, say, somebody of a group of like or groups of hundreds of snorkelers going to the same spot. That's when you know, that's when the visitors can really have some negative impacts and it's not as pleasant an experience. But if you go to Stacia, you're going to be probably the only person and you'll have a whole reef to yourself.

Speaker 1: 33:31

That's true, I've seen it myself.

Speaker 2: 33:32

It's absolutely worthwhile to find a quiet location. Wow, now thinking about thinking about that pressure of how many people want to go snorkeling in some places. It was originally the Mexicans who came up with, and a former director of the Marine Park in Cancun from the National Parks Institute who came up with the idea of putting an underwater sculpture park in their national park, so it was a way to reduce some of the pressure on the live reef. There's an artist, a sculptor, who has put in a number of installations, in fact, of off Islamujeres in Mexico, you can go to what's called the Moussa Museo Sabacuartico de Arte in Cancun and it's fantastic to snorkel with all these amazing underwater sculptures that now, after some time, they've got sponges and they've got all sorts of algae and growth and some corals forming on them. So that's kind of special and you can do that in off Islamujeres and there's also a sculpture park in Grenada in the Marine.

Speaker 2: 34:52

Protected Area. Molliné Bossejour. Yeah, so that's a good one to go. That's something special to do to go to go snorkeling in the sculpture park. Right, absolutely, you have to do that by boat in Grenada so you can join a tour to do that.

Speaker 1: 35:07

But as one. It's funny that you should mention it because in Martin it's now getting its own sculpture underwater sculpture park as well, and I'm actually part of it. I'm one of the actual we call it sculptures that are going to go in the water at the end of this year, so I'm really looking forward to that and to see it actually become such a lively with fish and all of that's good stuff. How long did it take it in Mexico for it to catch on with all of the sponges and everything that you were talking about?

Speaker 2: 35:45

Oh no, I mean the growth. The growth starts. You know it starts immediately and it just increases over time. So no, within within a matter of months, you'll start to see. You'll start to see the sculptures start to look more natural and they'll change in their environment and they can become particularly the faces and those sculptures of people can be. You know, they can be quite disarming underwater but quite traumatic to see, and it's an adventure snorkeling around finding the different sculptures as well, oh beautiful.

Speaker 2: 36:13

That's yeah excellent, so good on Saint Martin that'll be a good reason to go snorkeling to Martin.

Speaker 1: 36:20

Yeah, absolutely yeah, good yeah, going back to what you were saying on the list.

Speaker 2: 36:27

So you know the I think my last, I think it's probably my, I think I'm up to my last one, which is to think about well, what are the, what are the opportunities for snorkeling are there? Now, I actually get to snorkel quite a lot for my work. You know we go snorkeling to do coral monitoring, to check the health of coral reefs. We go snorkeling sometimes to do fisheries related assessments, you know, to look at how many, what's the density and the, the abundance, the, the size of things like conch or lambi. We do. We do monitoring to to look at how the visitors behaving themselves. We do. We'll snorkel also to to capture and to tag sea turtles, things like that.

Speaker 2: 37:12

And so in some, there are some programs around the region where visitors can actually get involved and help with science, to help with research while there's snorkeling, and that could be an organized program.

Speaker 2: 37:28

Exactly now you could join part of an organized program, like in Carriacou, the island of Carriacou, which is one of the Grenadian islands, there's an NGO called Caribbean Reef Buddy where you can, you can volunteer to go and help with underwater surveys or help with coral restoration work, or you can you can get involved in helping to hunt lionfish various different programs there.

Speaker 2: 37:55

But even if you're on your own, if you're interested in, you know identifying fish, if you like, if you, if you are good at observing how healthy or not the corals are, then you can participate in some surveys through Reef, which is reeforg they do. They have a protocol for counting and identifying fish that you see and submitting surveys, or agra, which is the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment Protocol, you know. So there's there's good things you can do there, and as we, as the oceans are changing and as we are seeing problems with bleaching and new diseases, then snorkelers can help by reporting these things to their local park office and to that some of those online portals through groups like agraorg. So, yeah, so there's there's good things you can do that way, oh fantastic I'm gonna definitely mention the uh sea turtles.

Speaker 1: 38:55

Yeah, I'm definitely gonna be mentioning the agra. You said it's called the agra website. I'm gonna link it and the show notes so if anybody is interested to know and more about that, you can go to the show notes after listening to us here and then get some more information on show okay, perfect, and I think that brings us to number 10, maybe 11 it does.

Speaker 1: 39:22

I know I. It was such a challenge, I think, for you as well, of all of the beautiful places that you can snorkel at in the Caribbean, to just pick 10. So thank you so much for, for you know, putting that list together. Now I think one of the other interesting things that we should talk about today is, of course, to increase your visibility and have a good experience when you're snorkeling. How best to wear your mask I think that is one. You mentioned that. It is one of the questions that you are asked the most, isn't it?

Speaker 2: 39:54

exactly. Well, you know, I don't want to send people to the best places and then they get in the water and they can't see anything because the mask gets foggy or it fills with water or the poor person has. You know, they're drowning because they're breathing in water.

Speaker 1: 40:12

Oh, yeah, drowning is definitely not part of the yeah circular experience that we want to have so and we can talk safety.

Speaker 2: 40:19

So this is gonna be a little tricky.

Speaker 1: 40:21

Yes, please, no, we should talk safety as well, but, um, let's, before we start this, it's like, again, if you are listening to the podcast, you might not be able to see it, and I'm gonna try to explain what it is that we're doing on camera here, but if you want to actually see it, then you can go over to my youtube channel and see it for yourself. How I'm gonna give a little, or I'm gonna attempt at giving this demonstration right now, with the help of Emma, of course, and it's probably gonna be hilarious, because I don't know how I'm gonna fit it all in without headphones, so I won't be able to hear you once I take these off. Okay, so that's gonna be funny. I'm gonna try to, okay, so hold on. So in terms of.

Speaker 2: 41:05

So, in terms of in terms of gear, there's a traditional mask and snorkel. You know the mask that just goes over your eyes and it also goes over your nose. There's also a full face. These days you can get a full face mask and snorkel. That's kind of one piece all built in. Some people like those better.

Speaker 2: 41:22

Um, if you, when you, when you're wearing a full face mask and snorkel, you really you have to stay at the surface. Uh, you can't dive down because you can't squeeze your nose at all to equalize the pressure. So so just be aware of that. If you have a full face mask and snorkel, that's good. If you're just going to stay on the top of the water, that's fine, and that's often that combines well, like, if you're, if you're not a really confident swimmer, or if you're a little bit worried, then take a pool noodle or take a life vest and a full face mask will work for you. Now, the more.

Speaker 2: 41:59

The traditional mask and snorkel is the one that risel has here with her and it, you know, it comes with a. It'll come with a, the glass front and, these days, silicon edging around it and with a snorkel attached on the side. So when you're in the water, the very first thing that you want to do is you want to put your mask and snorkel down in the water and give it a good rinse out. You want to make sure it's all nice and clean, and so you want to put it in the water and really get your fingers in there and rub the inside of the glass to make sure it's all clean and good. Wash it out now. The trick to stop your mask from fogging is you have to spit in it now.

Speaker 1: 42:43

Xyman, I was just going to ask about the spitting part, because I see people spit in their mask all the time, and I've done it too, but I have no idea why. What? Purpose of spitting in a mask so now you can.

Speaker 2: 42:56

You can also, you can also buy antifog. You can buy a little bottle of antifog material or some dive shops might use a little, a little bit of um, a little bit of detergent in water. But really, if you can just spit in the mask and then rub that all around really really well, spit more, rub that around really well and then just give it a little wash out so that you know so it's clean, you're just putting a little layer on the glass, that helps, okay, so that's, that's the first tip. Is that? Yes, it is. It is a good tip to spit in your mask and to clean it out. Okay, good. Now. Sometimes, if you have a very new mask, sometimes they'll they and, depending on the quality, sometimes they'll have like a layer in them and you can't. You almost have to put a little bit of toothpaste in the glass on the inside and rub that around just to abrade the surface a little bit. That can be another tip, like, if you're really having trouble with the mask fogging up, you can try that, try the toothpaste.

Speaker 1: 43:59

Okay well that's new. I definitely have never heard of toothpaste in a mask before.

Speaker 2: 44:05

No, but that works. Now the mask should fit your face such that if you take your glasses off and if you put your mask on, then you should be able to press it onto your face and there should be a little bit of suction, such that it should pick comfortably.

Speaker 1: 44:24

It's a little bit tricky. I took my glasses off and I'm putting the. Let me see if I can still hear you with the if I put the headphones around my neck.

Speaker 2: 44:35

Okay, okay, I hope you can hear me.

Speaker 1: 44:37

Let's hope this works. It's a cat's ear, so I'm just going to try to put this on.

Speaker 2: 44:42

Try putting it on your face first to make sure and I'll keep speaking and explain what you're doing as you put it on, you want to make sure that it'll fit on your face and you can press it so that you can feel it suction onto your face a little bit without falling off. Okay, let's try that and then put the band on the back.

Speaker 1: 45:02

Okay, so hair out of my face.

Speaker 2: 45:06

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1: 45:09

Oh, this is the tricky part. Always, you know, hair's all over the face. Looking good, looking good, all right, okay, hold on, I'm just going to and then press it. You said oh yeah. I can feel the suction.

Speaker 2: 45:26

Okay, perfect All right.

Speaker 1: 45:27

I'm going to probably sound all nasy now. I'm nasy right now.

Speaker 2: 45:32

But you're looking good, there we go. You're looking the part, okay, perfect, yay, now. Now you don't want it. You don't want it to be too tight, but you don't want it to be too loose. Now, the reason why the mask will get water in it is always because you've got hair. You literally have to get every piece of hair out of that seal, if there's any hair.

Speaker 1: 46:00

I was thinking you just mentioned it because it did have a little bit of hair still in it, exactly.

Speaker 2: 46:04

That's bad. Hair is bad. You have to have all the hair out of the mask, out of the seal, so that it's all perfectly clear. If you have one little piece of hair, then the water will get in and the mask will flood and you will not see anything. So that's really important. Okay, all right, that's a great tip. Now you also want to make sure that the snorkel is as high as it can be. So put the snorkel in your mouth, and you want it. Hopefully it's sitting high and you want to make sure.

Speaker 1: 46:37

So tricky to listen to. You put this up with a head fold, but I think I got it.

Speaker 2: 46:42

That's it Because you want to make sure that and you want to make sure that the snorkel is sort of pointing up and not into the water. So that's looking good, that's great, rissell, well done, very good.

Speaker 1: 46:59

And then thank you so much. Now we try to take this off now. Wow, now you don't want it to be. It's on the suction because I definitely felt that suction when I was trying to take it off. So, yeah, oh wow, great tips. Thank you.

Speaker 2: 47:19

Emma. Now make sure it's not too tight, though you might need to loosen it off a little bit. You don't want big rings on your face when you come out of the water and if the mask does flood, just lift it off a little bit, let the water out and keep going. If it gets foggy, it's worth taking the time to stop. And to stop where you can maybe stand on sand or where you can tread water, or you can lean on your floaty and clean it out and spit in it again, put it on, make sure all the hairs out and go again. You've taken all this time and energy to get to a great snorkeling spot and there's fantastic stuff to see. We want you to be able to see. Well, absolutely, wow. What great tips. Now, some people if you wear prescription glasses and if you're going to do a lot of snorkeling, you can get a prescription lens made for the mask.

Speaker 2: 48:16

And that makes a big difference.

Speaker 1: 48:18

I'm going to have also in the show notes. I'm going to have a company that is specialised in that. So if you need to get your prescription mask, you can head on over to the show notes and click on that link. I'll take you to the company that actually does these. Emma, I am so eternally grateful for all that you shared today, but before I let you go, there's one more thing.

Speaker 2: 48:42

There's one more thing. There's one more thing. On the gear, you know the band on your mask and snorkel. Is it just silicon? Yes, on your mask. Show us your mask.

Speaker 1: 48:55

It is, it's all silicon.

Speaker 2: 48:57

So what you can do, and especially for us ladies with longer hair. Your hair gets all tangled and it can get really painful. So you want to get a neoprene cover for the that goes over. The cover fits over the back of the mask and then it just smooths onto your head, no problem, and your hair won't get all tangled in it. Oh, so you can buy those in a dive shop or in a gear shop Sometimes they'll be sponsored or in the Marine Park office. Look for a little cover for the back of the mask, a cover that goes over the strap of the mask. Wow, that's a really good tip.

Speaker 1: 49:39

That is indeed one thing that I don't think anybody thinks about it, but indeed, especially with wet hair, it gets all tangled up and it becomes such a mess when you want to take it off and put it back on. Exactly Great tip, Emma. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 49:52

I'm really looking for that next time I'm going to snorkel on a snorkel adventure. You know, one thing that I really wanted to discuss with you before I let you go today is you know the sea turtles, and I think why this is coming up is because one a lot of people want to snorkel with sea turtles. It's like every time when you mention oh, you can see sea turtles, people's face just lights up. Right, it is what they really really are looking forward to the most. But I've seen firsthand.

Speaker 1: 50:22

I was recently in Curacao, where also there's some good snorkeling, especially on the western side of the island. As you know, unfortunately, good old Instagram has done a mess of things by sending so many people to play a piscado where the fishermen, but it's always been this quiet little beach that people used to just feed the turtles after they've brought in their hole. Unfortunately, it has become such a tourist attraction at a moment that the turtles are being touched and the turtles are being like taking pictures with, and there's like dozens of people in the water at the same time. The turtles are still there because that's where they get fed. But how dangerous is this practice? And I think a lot of people don't understand the importance of actually not touching you know, of not touching the marine life when you're snorkeling or diving.

Speaker 2: 51:19

Yeah, no, it's really important to be respectful of what's under the water. In terms of dangers, there's the danger to the creatures or to the reef itself, but there's also danger to you as a snorkeler Now with sea turtles if we start with that. You know, yeah, there's a lot of business that's really being driven by this desire for the ultimate wildlife selfie and it's a problem for the marine park managers. You know we want people to have a good experience and to have an ethical encounter. You've got to be sensitive to the creatures that you're snorkeling with. These are endangered species that you're saying. You know this is serious. Yeah, health is at risk.

Speaker 2: 52:09

This desire for the ultimate selfie is driving a lot of tour operators to feed wildlife, to feed sea turtles, and there's been some research done in Barbados at the University of the West Indies, where the sea turtles have actually been found. Those sea turtles that are being fed by tour operators have been found to have, basically, cholesterol problems because of the unnatural diet. You know this affects their blood chemistry. Because they're eating an unnatural diet, they're being fed, they're congregating where diseases can spread more, so it's bad for the wildlife to be fed. So, please, to visitors who really, who are looking for a good experience. Please don't feed. Don't take part in tours where there's feeding of wildlife whether it's fish or sharks or rays or sea turtles.

Speaker 2: 53:07

Please don't take part in things where the tour operators are handling creatures, where they're taking them out of the water, where they're giving them to you to hold or letting you touch them. These creatures don't need to be, don't want to be touched. The best thing you can do to really see a sea turtle well is to go to somewhere like Tobago Keys Marine Park where the turtles are not scared, where they're accustomed to snorkelers being around, where the snorkelers generally behave well, because it's in a marine park, where there are ranges around and if you want to get the best photo and the best sighting of a sea turtle, just hang back, take it quietly, don't splash like crazy, don't make a lot of noise, don't try and chase them. You're not going to be able to out swim them. Just hang back and watch them and let them do their thing and before you know it, they'll be eating and then they'll be coming up for air right next to you, because you're not a threat and they're not scared away, and you'll.

Speaker 2: 54:12

That's the best way to get nice photos and to get a close experience of wildlife. Now that, I guess, makes me also think that I should mention a couple of other things about being respectful. You know, it's very true. Sometimes you'll see this written around beaches. It'll say take only photos and leave only footprints. You know, and that's true, but please take respectful photos with wildlife.

Speaker 2: 54:39

Oh my gosh, yes, don't get too close, don't feed them, don't hold them. We don't want to go out with a tour operator who you can see as restraining a sea creature anyway, or holding them or touching them. There's also a danger to you as a visitor.

Speaker 1: 54:58

Exactly yes.

Speaker 2: 54:59

You don't want to touch corals, because there are such corals as fire corals which will actually give you a really nasty sting if you touch that coral. There are sea urchins if you touch the reef there are black spiny sea urchins, which really can be very painful.

Speaker 2: 55:17

If you get their very sharp spines at all in your skin and they, that will hurt. They also have a sting. There's fish lionfish in the region. You do want to be careful with them. They're an invasive species. It's very good to eat lionfish, but if you're in the reef and if you're involved in trying to capture lionfish or hunt them at all, you want to be very careful because they are venomous and that really does hurt. That's a bad sting. You want to know what you're doing before you handle any fish. Yeah, absolutely With reptiles, with sea turtles also. Reptiles and sea turtles also can transmit salmonella. So you really don't want to be touching sea turtles, holding them, or iguanas on the beach. In some places people try and feed them. Just, you don't want to be bitten by any of these creatures because of the risk of salmonella. You really can get a nasty infection from them. Similarly, from eels more eels. If you're snorkeling, you don't want to aggravate eels because they'll give you a nasty bite too.

Speaker 1: 56:35

So be careful.

Speaker 2: 56:38

It's important to be respectful. Sea creatures belong in the sea and please don't take starfish sea stars. Please don't take them out of the water to take photos. It's actually very damaging to them. Leave them in the water. Take photos there, okay.

Speaker 1: 56:57

Now what about some general safety things that snorkelers need to keep in mind when they're in the water?

Speaker 2: 57:05

People. Sometimes there have been accidents that have happened around the region, whether collisions between swimmers or snorkelers and boats. You don't want to get chopped up by a boat propeller, so please make sure that where you're snorkeling it's safe, that it's not in a boat channel, that it's not an area where fishermen or where tour boats are coming and going from the beach. Make sure you're aware of what boat traffic is around you.

Speaker 2: 57:33

If you're on your own or in a well. It's always good to snorkel with a buddy. Go with a partner. That makes it much more fun and you have two sets of eyes who can be extra observant and spot interesting things. It's good to have someone with you, but when you go out you might like to drag a marker, a boy, a swim marker or a boy that you can drag with you as you're snorkeling. So that's something that's highly visible, sometimes with a flag or a bright color on a marker. That's a swim marker is useful to carry if you're somewhere where you're really on your own.

Speaker 2: 58:06

But generally when you go snorkeling you do want to be aware of the wind and the currents.

Speaker 2: 58:12

It's good to look for a protected spot, but it always observe what the wind is doing, observe what the currents are doing when you get in the water, and if you're going to do a snorkel where you go out and back, you should always go first, go upwind or go up current. That takes more energy to go out and that way you make sure that you've got enough energy to swim back and you can use the current or the wind to help you to come back to where you started. Okay, tell someone when you're going snorkeling. It's good for them to know and you know if you like. If you'd like to see what's under the water but you don't want a snorkel, then you could always look to rent a clear kayak and go out with the snorkelers that way, paddling in a clear kayak. If you really want to stay dry, then you could look for a glass bottom boat a row a tan, and in the Bahamas there are glass bottom boats that you can go on.

Speaker 2: 59:08

Now, if you're becoming more adventurous, then you can always look to go next, to go free diving, which opens up an even a slightly deeper underwater world, or to go scuba diving as another venture.

Speaker 1: 59:21

Oh, yes, I've been meaning to try that, but it's definitely on my list and I just have been a little bit scaredy cat when it comes to diving, but it's definitely something on my list. Emma, I am so, so grateful that you made the time to be on the show today to speak your mind about snorkeling, but also to give us these fabulous tips of where the best places are to snorkel, how to wear our snorkel masks, what to do and what not to do when it comes to animal encounters and, of course, you know all your great tips when it comes to safety and that sort of thing as well. I am so, so grateful that you were able to be here. Thank you so much, emma. Okay, and also, you know, if you don't mind, let the listener know where they can find your or how they can connect with you.

Speaker 2: 1:00:13

Well, thank you so much to the Traveling Island Girl for the opportunity to share some of these tips with you. You can always reach out to me. You can find me at mpaconnectorg, you can find me at GCFIorg, and don't hesitate to email me at mpaconnect, at GCFIorg, and I'll be happy to have you to point you in the right direction. Of some of our member marine parks, you can find a map and a list of the parks that we work with in terms of training, capacity building, networking and sharing experiences around the region, and we'll be happy to help you out. Have a great experience snorkeling in the water, keep safe, do the right thing by the reef and by the sea creatures that you might encounter, and hope to see you again online with Russell. Thanks, thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 1:01:11

Emma. Thank you. Now. Did I tell you this was going to be an interesting episode? Or did I tell you I know I am so grateful that Emma was able to be on the podcast today? I don't know about you, but I learned so much about snorkeling who would, I thought? I mean, we learned about the ethical ways to snorkel, what to do and what not to do, and all of those places I now have to add to my travel list to maximize my snorkel fun. I mean, come on, this list keeps getting longer and longer. Now I am really curious to know what you thought of today's episode. So, if you are listening on Apple podcast, please, please, please, please, leave me a review, and if you have any questions about the Caribbean that you would like me to answer on a next show, then please go ahead and email me. That information is in the show notes as well. Now, after all, you know, without you, my friend, there is no show. Now, don't forget to check out the show notes for all the different ways that you can get in contact with Emma and the MPA Connect. I've also added a link to Snorkel March. It's that company that I talked to you about in the beginning. It's a one-stop shop for all of your snorkel gear and personalized items like the prescription masks which we just spoke about. Hey, I'm Brazil, the traveling island girl saying au revoir to you.

Speaker 1: 1:02:33

Next episode is all about books and Caribbean authors. Now, if you're a bookworm like me, you are not going to want to miss this. My friend, Follow Paradise Perspectives to get a notification when that episode and all the others after it become available. And thank you so much for listening. Until the next time, let me leave you with some beach sounds. Just get you into that Caribbean vacation mood. Bye.