Florida native raised in Puerto Rico; over ten years in the Key West charter boat industry
Nick was born in Florida and grew up in Puerto Rico. He spent over ten years in Key West working in the boat charter industry, put four to five years into snorkeling and spearfishing the Florida Keys reef, and lives in Jacksonville Beach now, where he surfs year-round.
Writes on
Nick is a Florida native who grew up in Puerto Rico, after his family moved there when he was a kid. He is back on the Florida coast now, in Jacksonville Beach.
In between he spent over ten years in Key West, working in the boat charter industry and putting people out over the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States. The reef was not only work: he put four to five years into snorkeling and spearfishing it on his own time, which is how you learn what the water is actually doing on a given morning rather than what the brochure says it does.
He sails — Optimists and 420s, then J boats, and crew work as mate on larger sailboats through several regattas — and he surfs year-round, with surf travel as far as El Salvador.
He co-runs OutsiderView and writes on Caribbean and Florida water, snorkeling, boats and gear.
29 guides
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Warm water does not make a snorkeling season — wind does. December to February brings peak trade winds, the best water temperatures and the most lost days.
Series: Where to snorkel in winter
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St Kitts snorkels best where ships went down — a tug at White House Bay, a 2010 grounding at Shitten Bay. Which catamaran to book from Port Zante, what the train costs, and the three ways across to Nevis.
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Between 2023 and 2025, bleaching-level heat reached 84% of the world's reefs — and the honest list of the world's best snorkeling changed with it. Where the water is still great, what every famous spot now costs, and the animal encounters that never depended on coral.
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Most Florida snorkeling writing is really about the Keys. This is the rest: the Blue Heron Bridge tidal window, Devil's Den, the springs and the manatees.
Series: Snorkeling the Florida Keys
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The reef sits four to six miles offshore, which is why the beaches disappoint. Which island to base on, what the 2023 bleaching left, and how to pick a boat.
Series: Snorkeling the Florida Keys
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The good snorkeling in Key West is on the reef, about seven miles offshore, so you need a boat. Where the boats go, the one beach worth a swim, the Dry Tortugas day trip, 2026 prices, the calm months, and how the reef is doing.
Series: Snorkeling the Florida Keys
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Cuba pairs some of the Caribbean's best-preserved reef with the strangest booking mechanics in the region — and in 2026, with a tourism industry in suspension. Where the water is genuinely special, what each site costs, and how an American does this legally.
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Colombia is the only South American country with a Caribbean and a Pacific coast, and its snorkeling splits three ways. Which is worth your days, and when.
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The best snorkeling in the Dominican Republic is a boat ride out, at Catalina Island and Saona. Sosúa Bay is the best reef you can reach from the sand, and Punta Cana's reef is half a mile offshore. Where to go, what trips cost in 2026, when to go, and the rules.
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Guadeloupe is the Caribbean's most underrated snorkel trip for Americans because it is built for the French. How the Réserve Cousteau's boat economy works, what Petite Terre costs, what closed in the Grand Cul-de-Sac Marin, and the month to come.
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Panama's Caribbean and Pacific peak in opposite seasons. How San Blas actually works and what it costs, Bocas' two calm windows, Coiba's permit system, and which coast fits your dates.
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The best snorkeling in Costa Rica is Isla del Caño on the Pacific side and Cahuita on the Caribbean side, and the two coasts are clear in different months. Every good spot by coast, which ones you can reach from the beach, what trips cost and the park rules.
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Martinique snorkels from shore better than any French island: the Anses d'Arlet coves, the turtle-approach law at Anse Dufour, Manman Dlo off Saint-Pierre, and the swell that decides the wild north.
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The reef everyone else takes a boat to is a short swim off the beach here. Where to get in, how the drift works, what the 2025 bleaching did and didn't touch, and what the manta, whale shark and humpback boats charge — checked August 2026.
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Belize has almost no beach snorkeling — it has a boat schedule. What Hol Chan charges, why the Blue Hole is not a snorkeling site, and what bleaching left.
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Anguilla snorkels on fish and clear water, not coral gardens — and the boats are cheap. Calvin's $15 run to Little Bay, Sandy Island's shuttle season, the Shoal Bay drift, and the ferry arithmetic from St Martin.
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Nearly all of St. Lucia's snorkeling sits in twelve miles of coast around Soufrière. What is in the water now, what it charges, and whether to drive or sail.
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Snorkeling in Mexico is four different trips — the Riviera Maya reef, the cenotes, a Cozumel boat day and Baja's Cabo Pulmo. How to pick yours, what each costs now, and the access rules that changed.
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Five islands answer five different trips: Nassau for a cruise day, Staniel Cay for Thunderball Grotto, Bimini from Florida, Andros for the wall. Which boat, what it costs, and when the tide lets you in — checked August 2026.
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The Caribbean's easiest shore snorkeling is attached to its most industrialised boat excursion, and the two need opposite advice. The Sandbar as an operation, the shore entries worth your morning, and what the reef honestly holds now.
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The Tobago Cays are open again — EC$15 a day, turtles thick at Baradal — but Hurricane Beryl rewrote the southern Grenadines. What survived, what stayed closed, and how to do the Cays from Bequia.
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The best reef in Turks and Caicos is a short boat ride out, but two good reefs on Provo start right at the sand. Where each spot is, how to get there, when the sea is calm, what trips cost and the rules to know.
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Jamaica is a resort coast with snorkeling on it, not a reef destination — and that decides every booking. Where the water earns a morning after Melissa, what the fees actually are, and how to judge the excursion desk's snorkel trip before you pay for it.
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St Croix's two best snorkels cost nothing but the walk in — Frederiksted Pier and Cane Bay — and its one boat trip worth paying for is Buck Island. The fees, the cruise-day rule, the reef as it stands, and the month to come.
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Antigua markets 365 beaches, and nearly all of them are sand bottoms. The snorkeling worth your morning is a boat story — Cades Reef in the southwest lee, a 1905 wreck you can swim to from shore, and what a six-hour cruise call really allows.
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The best snorkeling on St Maarten is on the French side, in a protected marine reserve. Where to swim from the beach, how to reach Pinel Island for $12, which boats go to Creole Rock and Tintamarre, what trips cost in 2026, and how to fit it all into a cruise day.
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Warm water all year is not the variable. Puerto Rico sits broadside to the trades, so there is always a sheltered side — the trick is knowing which one, when.
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Two countries, two sets of fees, two kinds of water. Which islands you can walk into the sea on, which need a boat, what the reefs are like now, and the month to come.
SnorkelingTutorial
You can snorkel with a beard. The leak comes from the mustache, right where the mask seals. Four fixes, easiest first: the right grease, a trim line under your nose, a mask with a soft skirt, and a hood. Plus why a full-face mask is the wrong answer.
