You start in a pool. By half past nine you're on a reef 30 minutes offshore, face down, watching parrotfish work the coral. Back at your hotel by noon.
That's the whole trip. Half a day, and you don't need to know how to swim. It's scuba diving and snorkeling in Goa, India, in one morning, run by an SSI-certified team out of Novotel Candolim in North Goa.
Grande Island sits 30 minutes by speedboat from Sinquerim jetty, 4 km from our base. The reef there holds sergeant major fish, parrotfish, bannerfish, pufferfish, groupers and the odd moray eel. Visibility runs 2 to 15 metres (about 5 to 50 feet) in season. In February and March it often beats 15.
You get about an hour in the water, then a go on a paddleboard while the boat waits. Dolphins turn up on the ride out often enough that we tell people to keep a camera handy. Snorkeling at Goa's beaches is easier to reach, but this is where the fish are.
There are only a handful of snorkeling places in Goa worth the trip. Snorkelling in Goa runs from October to May, once the monsoon swell drops. Here are the main snorkeling spots in Goa, and where our own boats go.
Bogmalo is the usual answer for snorkelling in South Goa. It's a calm bay near Vasco and you walk in off the sand. There's little reef and the water's murkier, but it's cheap and quick. If you're snorkeling South Goa without a boat, this is the default, and the best beach for snorkeling in Goa on ease alone.
Bat Island, off Baina, is used for beginner dives and short snorkel stops. The crossing is calmer than ours. There's also less to see. Monkey Beach shows up in North Goa cruise bundles. It's a nice stop, but the water is shallow and churned up by boats.
Snorkelling Goa's outer reefs means a boat, and Grande Island is the one worth the ride. Most Grande Island Goa snorkeling trips leave from Candolim or Vasco. Ours leave from Candolim. Grand Island Goa snorkeling is best from November to March.
One thing catches people out. The island sits in South Goa waters off the Vasco coast, but the fastest boats to it leave from the north. On fish and clear water, rather than price, it's the best place for snorkeling in Goa.
Snorkeling in Goa cost runs from about ₹800 to ₹2,000 a head. That gap isn't marketing. It's who runs the boat and what's on it.
Our snorkeling charges in Goa are ₹1,980 plus GST. Here's what that buys over a budget beach trip:
Compare Goa snorkelling packages side by side and the cheap ones tend to mean a shared boat, shared kit, a short window in the water, and photos sold to you afterwards. Add those back and the gap closes. If all you want is a quick float near the shore in a life jacket, book the cheaper trip. It exists, and for that it's fine.
Times are approximate. The full trip runs about 5 to 6 hours door to door.
Find your instructor in the hotel lobby. Short briefing, quick paperwork, then straight to the pool.
Breathe underwater for the first time, in a pool, with an SSI instructor beside you. You don't need to swim for this.
Eat at Novotel, then a 4 km hop to Sinquerim jetty for the boat.
Thirty minutes to Grande Island. Dolphins show up often on this route, so keep a camera out.
About an hour on the reef. Masks, fins and snorkels are handed to you. Life jackets if you want one, and most people do.
Have a go on a paddleboard in flat water. An instructor gets you upright. Falling in is part of it.
Boat back to Candolim. Your photos and video land the same day. At Novotel by noon.
Snorkeling in Goa price: ₹1,980 + GST per person. Everything above is in that price. Nothing else to pay at the end of the day.
A few honest reasons to pick us for your Goa snorkeling trip.
An SSI dive centre, and a Goa Tourism (GTDC) partner since 2016. Every instructor holds an SSI or PADI ticket.
Coral, tropical fish and clear water, 30 minutes by boat from North Goa.
Every guest is covered for the boat ride. It's in the snorkeling in Goa price, not bolted on after.
You get HD photos and video of your own trip the same day. No upsell at the jetty.
Pool and snacks at Novotel Resort & Spa. Easy to reach from Calangute, Baga, Anjuna and Panjim.
Rated 4.8 on Google and TripAdvisor by more than 600 guests.
Don't just take our word for it. Here's what our guests say on Google and TripAdvisor.
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