Best Bora Bora Snorkeling Tour: Honest Review of Reef Discovery 

I rate all of the snorkeling destinations we visit on our travels including Bora Bora. This system helps differentiate the good sites from the exceptional sites.

Of course, my rating system is subjective. What you see all depends on what month you visit, the ocean conditions, and even the time of day.

Please see my rating key below.

OVERALL SNORKEL RATING KEY

🤿 🤿 🤿 🤿 🤿   =   World-class snorkeling and worth traveling just for the snorkeling alone!

🤿 🤿 🤿 🤿   =   Incredible snorkeling and should be on your list of top things to do!

🤿 🤿 🤿   =   Decent snorkeling and worth the effort!

🤿 🤿   =   Worth consideration if you are running out of things to do!

🤿   =   Not worth it!

We visited three snorkeling sites during this tour. Instead of rating each spot individually, I rated the snorkeling tour as a collection of these three sites.

Without question, it gets 5/5 snorkels!

I don’t rate many sites as a 5/5. Only a handful of places have gotten this high of a rating like the Maldives, Belize, and the Great Barrier Reef.

The variety of big and small marine life in Bora Bora is just incredible.

✔️   Small groups, max of 8!

✔️   Certified naturalist guides

✔️   Comfortable boat with shade

✔️   3-4 snorkeling sites (depending on weather)

Alright, so my husband and I have done a lot of snorkeling tours:

→   Coral Garden (Taha’a)

→   Aquarium (Rangiroa)

→   Tiputa Pass (Rangiroa)

→   Sharks & Rays Sandbar (Moorea)

→   Sofitel Coral Garden (Moorea)

→   Shark Ray Alley (Belize)

→   Buck Island (St. Croix)

→   Great Barrier Reef (Australia)

→   Stingray City (Grand Cayman)

→   Nusa Penida (Indonesia)

→   Komodo National Park (Indonesia)

→   Curieuse Island + Snorkeling Tour (Seychelles)

I only share all of this because when I say Reef Discovery offers one of the best snorkeling tours, I mean it!

The Reef Discovery team runs an incredible small-group operation. Small groups are super important when you do a snorkeling tour.

Our first snorkeling excursion ever was in Grand Cayman in 2009. It was fun to be so close to stingrays for the first time, but there were so many people (see the photo below!).

That means fins in the face, and elbows in the side. Not the most pleasant snorkeling experience. Since that adventure, I told my husband I was only doing small group tours in the future.

On the day we went with Reef Discovery, it was my husband and I, my mother and father-in-law, and two other couples.

Perfect size, and everyone was respectful of each other’s space.

We started our tour at 8:30 am and were back around noon.

They picked us up at the dock of our hotel, InterContinental Le Moana. Super convenient.

Our vessel was a RAND Supreme 27 Boat with a Mercury 300HP outboard motor (a very good boat with a very good motor).

We were all very comfortable. Plenty of room to spread out. I appreciated the shade it offered too, but I still wore my favorite sunshirt and swim leggings.

Even though I wear reef-safe sunscreen, I try to minimize the amount of sunscreen in the water by wearing sun protective clothing.

Although they provide snorkeling equipment, I strongly recommend bringing your own gear. Here are all the snorkeling gear items I bring on all of our “snorkations.”

Also, do not forget your favorite underwater camera! You’ll kick yourself if you do not bring one. The snorkeling here is exceptional!

The Reef Discovery crew expertly guided us to 3 unique snorkeling locations. The sites are determined that day depending on the ocean conditions and your preferences.

For example, the waves were a little rough when we went in December. That meant we had to skip the the 4th stop at the barrier reef where the blacktip sharks like to hang out. Safety first.

We saw plenty of blacktip reef sharks though in Moorea and Rangiroa.

The three snorkeling sites Reef Discovery took us were incredible! Let’s chat about each one.

I always get excited when I see a manta ray.

They are so majestic!

I first saw manta rays on the Big Island in Hawaii, where night snorkeling lets you get up close to these incredible filter feeders.

My husband and I also enjoyed swimming with them during a shallow snorkel in Nusa Penida, Indonesia.

Reef Discovery took us to a manta ray cleaning station, where we saw two gorgeous manta rays!

I could spend hours watching them gracefully glide through the water.

Our second snorkel spot was at what I call Eagle Ray Alley.

There were so many eagle rays!

At one point we were snorkeling with 8 eagle rays! I love seeing their little upturned noses, which helps them turn over rocks to munch on crustaceans. 

When I was reading reviews on Reef Discovery, some people said they had seen over 50+ eagle rays on this tour. 

We didn’t see 50 but it was thrilling to see 8 all grouped together!

If you love eagle rays, we also saw quite a few at Angel City in Bonaire, at the house reef at Le Meridien in the Maldives, and with Alex Lagoon Tours in Moorea.

The last stop of the tour was a coral garden.

We snorkeled among the brightly colored corals and clams and saw scissortail sergeants, butterflyfish, yellow goatfish, and checkerboard wrasse!

If you couldn’t tell already, my husband and I love snorkeling!

So trust me when I say book Reef Discovery to show you all the best snorkeling sites in a small group tour!

They also have private tours if you want a completely customized experience.

The crew is fantastic, incredibly knowledgeable, and goes above and beyond to ensure your comfort and enjoyment.

One word to sum it up.

Exceptional.

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Questions about our snorkeling experience with Reef Discovery?

Let me know in the comments below!