Snorkling/Diving in the Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico

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I have snorkled in Fiji, Bali, Hawaii, Mexico, the Barrier Reef and in Jamaica and I was very impressed with Jamaica this past spring.

Where we stayed, the reef was accessible right off the beach with as good a variety of fish and corals as I've seen anywhere. For someone who is not a confident snorkeler, this is a huge advantage because you are in shallow, protected waters. A boat trip out to an outer reef can be expensive, through rough waters, hours in length, inflexible as far as departure times and very intimidating to snorkelers who have to jump in off of a boat.

A direct flight to Jamaica is only about an hour longer than that to Mexico and we found the food, people and variety of activities to be superior than Mexico.