I will be the first to say that snorkeling isn’t my thing. While I love swimming in the ocean and consider myself a relatively strong swimmer, I can sometimes be such a scaredy-cat. My mind starts racing about all the possible things that could happen; I blame this on watching the Jaws movie one too many times.
On the flip side, I asked myself, how will you know if snorkeling isn’t your thing if you’ve never tried it? Well, I did a thing and tried it, and snorkeling at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve was the highlight of my trip! In this post, I will explain everything you need to know for your day at sea, snorkeling in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve.
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This is the seventh post in the Belize travel series. Here’s the complete 10-part series:
Belize Travel Series
For The Culture: 9 Ways to Experience Garifuna Culture
Food: 10 Delicious Foods To Try in Belize
Travel Guide: The Complete Ambergris Caye Guide: What To Do, See & Eat
Packing Tips: The Complete Packing List for Ambergris Caye
Travel Tips: 12 Things You Need to Know Before Visiting Ambergris Caye
Inspiration: 21 Photos to Inspire You to Visit Belize
Snorkeling Guide: The Ultimate Guide to Snorkeling the Hol Chan Marine Reserve
Ambergris Caye Bucket List: 17 Best Things To Do in Ambergris Caye
Belize City: How to Spend 48 Hours in Belize, City: 7 Best Things To Do
San Pedro: 9 Ridiculously Cheap or Free Things To Do in San Pedro
Snorkeling the Hol Chan Marine Reserve
What is the Hol Chan Marine Reserve?
Located four miles off the southern tip of San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Hol Chan, Mayan for “little channel,” is the oldest marine reserve in Belize. The marine reserve is 25 yards wide and 30 feet deep.
The underwater national park is home to colorful coral reefs, sea turtles, stingrays, fishes, eels, nurse sharks, and other incredible sea creatures. My mind immediately went to the movie Finding Nemo.
Hol Chan’s clear blue waters and incredible marine life attract many scuba divers and snorkelers. The reserve is divided into four zones: the reefs, the sea-grass beds, the mangroves, and Shark Ray Alley. You’ll need to book a tour from San Pedro, Caye Caulker, or Belize City to get there.
Which tour group should you use for snorkeling in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve?
There are plenty of tours offering snorkeling packages in San Pedro. You can stop into any snorkel or dive shop to book your adventure around the island. Our Airbnb host graciously arranged our excursion with La Gaviota Sailing AdventuresTours.
At 9:00 am sharp, we arrived at the docks and were greeted by our crew, Tony and Lorenzo, and Luis, our skipper. We found out later that morning that Tony and Lorenzo are brothers!
We had the entire 52 ft double cabin sailboat to ourselves, which was a huge perk seeing how there were 6 of us on board, not including the crew. Lorenzo and Tony were extremely knowledgeable and shared the history of Hol Chan and the marine wildlife we were about to see.
Once we set sail, we were served fresh fruit and all the rum punch we could drink! Oh, and the crew was friendly enough to play our music. So if you decide to join Tony and Lorenzo, they will make sure you have an incredible experience from the moment you meet them at the docks!
What’s included in this tour?
Tours will differ depending on the weather, but we lucked out and had gorgeous weather! We were ready for a great day with hot, sunny, and clear skies! Aside from the unlimited rum punches, a light breakfast and lunch are served on board. Lorenzo gave us the lowdown on what to expect for the day, which I’ll get it to later.
Our first stop was Coral Garden. This reserve area is known for spotting manatees, but unfortunately, we didn’t see any, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the lovely sea breeze, insanely beautiful water, and more rum punch!
Next, we stopped in the Conch Graveyard to see loggerhead turtles. We hung around the area a bit while Lorezo shared more details about marine life and Tony prepared our snorkeling gear.
Once our snorkeling gear was ready, we jumped in the water, but unfortunately, we didn’t see any loggerhead turtles. After about 25 mins of swimming, we got back on the boat for lunch.
Luis, our skipper, prepared lunch for us consisting of ceviche, rice, beans, salad, and chicken. It was a very typical Belizean meal, and of course, we washed it down with more rum punch.
On our third stop, we visited Shark Ray Alley. The moment the sailboat slowed, nurse sharks and stingrays swarmed the boats waiting to be fed. There was soo many nurse sharks I could hardly believe it! While Lorenzo fed the nurse sharks, we noticed the feeding was attracting more underwater friends.
Schools of fish seemed to appear out of nowhere in hopes of catching a few scraps. Tony and Lorenzo encouraged us to hop in and swim around with the sharks and stingrays, but we all respectfully declined. I figured if Tony and Lorenzo weren’t getting in the water, why should we? Am I right?!
Our last stop of the day and the main attraction – Hol Chan Marine Reserve.
After my nerves settled from the nurse sharks, I psyched myself up to get into the water. Lorenzo and Tony jumped in, and we all followed. Lorenzo took a few of us, and I stayed with Tony. While underwater, we saw huge formations of corals, species of fish and stingrays, and my personal favorite, a giant sea turtle.
The turtle was just so majestic and massive! I immediately thought about Mr. Crush from the moving Finding Nemo. After a while, I got comfortable and took my life jacket off. Once I did that, it was a bit of a game-changer; I swam deeper and even spotted little critters hiding beneath the bed of the ocean. With Tony’s help, of course.
We returned to the boat excitedly, sharing stories of the sight of marine life, and started our hour-long journey back to San Pedro. We turned the music back up and enjoyed more rum punch.
Although, I didn’t partake in any more rum punch. Between the waves, maybe one too many rum punches earlier in the day, I got seasick, leaving me feeling quite nauseous for the remainder of the trip. So I stuck to water.
Snorkeling safety tips
Snorkeling is an extremely fun and exhilarating activity, but practicing safety is essential, like all underwater adventures. Here are a few safety tips to keep in mind:
- Follow your guide’s instructions.
- There are some parts of the reserve you want to avoid. The passes open in the ocean, and the currents are pretty strong.
- Don’t wander off.
- Same reason as I mentioned above, the guides are more familiar with the reserve, and you can’t outswim the current.
- Keep your life vest on – especially if you aren’t a strong swimmer.
- I shouldn’t have to say this, but don’t touch the wildlife. You may be tempted to reach out and touch a little creature but admire it with your eyes and just keep swimming.
What to bring on board
Here are a few things I brought with me for my day at sea:
- Sunscreen
- Towel
- Change of clothes – if you want
- Sunglasses
- Chapstick
- Speakers
- An open mind!
Conclusion – Lady Chin’s two cents
At the beginning of the day, I had reservations about snorkeling in the middle of the ocean. But let me be the first to tell you that I had a blast! Snorkeling in the Hol Chan Reserve was the highlight of my trip and unbelizeable! Our crew, Luis, Tony, and Lorenzo, were incredible.
Despite getting seasick, I would do it again. Even though I was a chicken at the beginning of the trip, I’m glad I embraced my snorkeling experience and went outside my comfort zone.
The beauty of being up close and personal with marine life was a real treat and a reminder of how precious mother nature is. We all have to do our part to preserve this big beautiful world.
If you’re staying in San Pedro or Caye Caulker, book your excursion with La Gaviota Sailing AdventuresTours. Even though I got seasick, I would go snorkeling with Tony, Lorenzo, and Luis again! They made sure our tour was memorable, fantastic, and fun! I highly recommend it; you won’t be sorry!
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