Tropical snorkelling holiday in February- recs please!

[cheeseandbranston]

Hi. I have a lot of airmiles I want to book somewhere all inclusive for myself and two teens, with snorkelling/ tropical fish and a really nice resort. Maybe the honeymoon style places that have bungalows out on stilts in the sea.

My priorities are:
Guaranteed beach whether in February
Affordable-ish
All inclusive
Tropical fish and beautiful beaches

Minimising jet lag where possible.

Any ideas?

Thailand is AMAZING in February! Koh Samui and all of the little islands around it is amazing for snorkeling.

Also the Maldives. I'm going there end of January to middle of February. Never been before but I'm staying on a water bungalow at The Standard so I'm hoping it's nice!

The best time to go to the Maldives is Feb. I snorkelled with the whole cast of Finding Nemo including clown fish, hoards of colourful fish, turtles, sharks, manta rays etc. Highlights were a pod of dolphins playing around us and some massive whale sharks.

Maldives yes but if it’s Feb half term it will cost an arm and a leg

Mauritius doesn’t have such good snorkelling but does have some (choose your area carefully), and is better on price and jetlag compared with Maldives

Caribbean - some islands have great snorkelling (Caymans, Bonaire, Curacao, Turks & Caicos) but jetlag 😬

Thailand or Maldives. We stayed at Mercure Kooddoo and you could walk right into the sea and snorkel.

How long are you going for? Thailand would be perfect but you'd need to to for a few weeks for it to be worth it.

It's monsoon on season on the east coast of Thailand in Feb (Koh Samui)

@Roja7 that's incorrect. I've lived in different parts of Thailand for years. The best time to visit Koh Samui is between January and August.

Maldives is really good for snorkelling and good weather in February. We also did Mauritius which was good for snorkelling but not as good as Maldives (though preferred Mauritius overall) but Feb is not a great month for Mauritius holidays. Whether you can get something affordable in Maldives I don't know.

Thank you for the replies.

I've been to Thailand so would be keen to try somewhere else. I'm going to have a look at the Maldives. Is the snorkelling as good as Thailand? I'm looking for the full 'finding nemo' and def want proper beach weather.

Can anyone recommend and all inclusive that would be nice?

I'm looking for the full 'finding nemo

Yep, you can see Nemo, Dory and most of the cast in the Maldives. All-inc is much more common now, Trailfinders/Best At Travel had good deals when we went

Yep. Maldives and Thailand are the two best snorkelling locations I have visited and will both be hot in feb.

I know someone who went to lily beach with teens and raved about it

Maldives is the most amazing place I've ever snorkeled. Have a look at grand centara, we stayed there on our honeymoon and it was truly amazing! It was back in 2016 so I'm not sure how much the resort has changed, but it was all inclusive which even included a free spa treatment every day plus 3 day trips all included (swimming with whale sharks, dolphin watching, sunset cruise etc)
Would love to go back. I actually cried when we landed because I couldn't believe how beautiful the island was 😄

If you want a proper nemo experience I'd go to Palau (Western Pacific). Its a marine reserve and its one of the most amazing places I've ever been diving/snorkeling. Definitely worth adding to your options. Febuary is a perfect time to go.

Not been myself but have heard really good things about Oman. Relatively unspoilt by zillions of tourists, very nice hotels, decent weather in Feb and only a 4 hour time difference plus not too long flights.
More desert than tropical though!

The Maldives has much better snorkelling than Thailand. Just make sure the island has a house reef (some don't) and you can see amazing things just a short swim from the beach. But the boat trips are worth doing too.

Somewhat cheaper and closer to home the snorkelling just offshore at sharm el sheik is just fantastic

you have to be careful with the hotels though. Some nice, most tacky as hell. It’s pretty cheap at the moment for obvious reasons, my boss just went for a bargain price and the flight was half empty

My best ever "nemo" experience was on Pulau Redang in Malaysia. The snorkelling (and diving) was out of this world.

Turks and Caicos

Maldives has some fantastic snorkelling. I don't work for them (I say that only because it's the second time I've said this today), have a look at simply maldives website (on a laptop rather than a phone ideally as functionality works better), you can put in your dates and check the box to include only resorts with house reefs etc. It will give you a list of resorts and prices and then you can compare prices with booking direct etc. Definitely do your research if you decide to go to Maldives, because all the resorts are beautiful and luxurious, but they are not all are equal in terms of access to snorkeling off the beach, transfer time and type (sea plane versus boat), choice of restaurants. It's also a case of how much you are willing to pay as well, usually in the Maldives there has to be a trade off on something unless you have unlimited funds.

This is amazing! What a brilliant thread I'm so grateful.

I def don't have unlimited funds- I'm using ALL my points on the flights (travel a lot for work) and saving for the trip.

I snorkels in Thailand in my 20s and it blew my mind. I really want to give my kids that kind of experience

I want all inclusive as it's less pressure on me once we get there.

I will use all your comments to start my research in earnest

Thank you!

Just to manage expectations OP: there has been some really awful coral bleaching in the past couple of decades, especially 2016 in the Indian Ocean (Maldives hit badly) and Great Barrier Reef. Still plenty of fish and it will still be wonderful to snorkel but the coral may not look like you remember 😕

Maldives is incredibly expensive, and teens count as adult price.

I think the Red Sea has been much less hit, coral there seems to be more heat tolerant. Also bargains now as PP said.

@minipie - this is such helpful info. How sad.

Does the Red Sea have proper brightly coloured fish? I just remember jumping off a boat in Thailand and it was like one of the wonders of the world. Thousands of Clown fish angel fish seahorses in high colour - like a nature programme. I want that for my kids
Thank you again

Minipie and Cheese, the leading cause of coral bleaching (and the subsequent decline in entire marine ecosystems) is increasing sea temperatures caused by climate change; flying ‐the mode of transport most Europeans use to travel to places with good, tropical snorkeling‐ is a big contributor to global greenhouse emissions. Sad and ironic. Not sure how you get around it. Someone I know has just travelled overland from Britain to southeast Asia, but it's taken quite a while.
Does it have to be February? Snorkeling off the southwest coast of Wales, Devon and Cornwall can be spectacular during the UK summer.