4 Best Aruba Snorkeling Spots: A Snorkeler’s Guide

If you read any of my snorkeling guides, you will find I rate all the sites we check out using my snorkel rating key. Hopefully, this is helpful when you are trying to figure out what sites to prioritize especially if you have limited time.

Please see the 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 explored four different snorkeling sites over 7 days. Here’s my day-to-day Aruba itinerary on how we pieced it all together!

As you can see from the map below, most locations were concentrated up north. One of the most spectacular snorkeling sites though was on the southern end of Aruba.

I have included a summary of each location. If one snorkeling site sounds interesting, I have also included a mini guide that goes over all the details on how to get there, where to snorkel, and what cool fish you might see.

All of my mini guides contain very detailed snorkeling maps.

No stock photos. All photos are mine and taken with my favorite snorkeling camera.

Super Important! 

If you googled top Aruba snorkeling spots and you are on this page, clearly you love snorkeling!

If you want an exceptional underwater experience and not a frustrating one, bring your own fitted snorkeling gear.

After snorkeling all over the world, I have had extensive practice trying out some of the best gear.

Here is my snorkeling gear I bring on all of our snorkations to have the best experience including my favorite snorkel mask.

Arashi Beach is beautiful! It boasts nice white sand, and they’ll set you up with chairs and an umbrella. A little snack shop is on site too.

There are two areas to snorkel: one beginner and one advanced section.

Enter on the left side of the beach (as you face the water) for the beginner section. Entry is sandy.

The right side is more advanced. Only attempt it if the ocean conditions are right.

We saw schools of blue tang, blue-striped grunt, parrotfish, French angelfish, honeycomb cowfish, spotted trunkfish, a barracuda, and even a stingray! 

A map of where to snorkel and fish photos can be found in my mini guide below.

Boca Catalina/Catalina Cove is another highly recommended snorkeling site.

You can enter it right from the parking lot or enter further down at Boca Catalina Beach and snorkel over to Catalina Cove.

It has some pretty pockets of coral. We also saw French angelfish, white spotted filefish, parrotfish, spotted trunkfish, surgeonfish, sergeant majors, blue-striped grunt, blue tang, and an eel!

A map of where to snorkel and fish photos can be found in my mini guide below.

I recently gave Tres Trapi another try, and I’m so glad I did.

The first time my husband and I snorkeled here it was the afternoon. We saw one lonely turtle. One. I almost wrote the site off.

The next visit we went in the morning. Same reef, completely different experience. Turtle after turtle after turtle. Honestly incredible!

I had to bump my snorkel rating to a 4 just based on the sheer number of turtles alone. We also spotted a stingray and a barracuda.

Timing is everything at Tres Trapi. Use my free Snorkeling Advisor to find the best window for your specific date before you get in the water.

I was also glad I brought my travel fins for the extra thrust. We ended up snorkeling back and forth with the turtles multiple times. And dive booties were a must for navigating the slippery steps at the entry point.

A map of where to find the turtles plus photos are in my mini guide below.

Mangel Halto is one of the best snorkeling sites in Aruba!

There are three different sections you can snorkel: beginner, advanced, and more advanced. Do not miss my mini guide below which includes a detailed map of those areas.

The really good part of the reef though does require advanced snorkeling skills. Only attempt this snorkeling site if the ocean is calm. I was thankful I wore my snorkel vest.

We saw lots of lettuce coral, two eels, schools of blue tang, parrotfish, trumpetfish, blue-striped and French grunt, and damselfish.

My husband and I also snorkeled over the sunken tugboat, which was pretty cool and spooky at the same time.

We are experienced snorkelers and love shore snorkeling.

However, if you do not want to figure out the logistics and just want an experienced guide to take you around and find turtles, there are two highly-rated tours:

→   Coral Ocean Aruba

→  Underdog Divers Aruba

I did not have high hopes for Aruba snorkeling. It’s always great when a place surprises you and exceeds your expectations.

Aruba was that place. If you love snorkeling, please check out Tres Trapi and Mangel Halto. Even better, do as we did, and pair your Aruba trip with Bonaire for a fantastic snorkeling vacation!

If you can only pick one though, don’t miss my Aruba vs Bonaire comparison!

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Have you snorkeled in Aruba? What were your favorite sites?

Let me know in the comments below!