The snorkeling experience itself was awesome. The reef is so astounding; anyone who is in the area and likes snorkeling should definitely check it out. It costs about $30, plus your gear rental fee, and you go 3-5 miles offshore to one of the many reefs out there. The reef you go to depends on the captain of your boat. They have boats that leave at 9am, noon and 3pm, and you should reserve in advance if you can, otherwise it's first come first served.

I didn't think that an hour and a half would be long enough to enjoy it, but the time flew by and the captain called us back to the boat just when I started to feel a little tired. I could have easily floated some more. Fernando, who's not a strong swimmer, was fine for about an hour before he started getting tired.





There are some things you have to keep in mind: You can't touch the reef! This includes basically everything that you can see when you're floating on top of it. Everything that looks like a rock or a plant is coral, which is fragile and dies when you come in contact with it. I saw lots of people disregarding the captain's instructions on that point. It's actually difficult to stay in a completely horizontal position. When the reef is shallow and you tread water on top of it in a vertical position while wearing swim fins, you are risking damaging the reef. I don't think the captain did a good enough job explaining this to us tourists. He did so after we arrived and anchored, and everyone was milling about, eager to get in the water. He asked for our attention, but he didn’t really have it. I could barely hear him where I was sitting.