Martinique Snorkeling – You’ll like what you see beneath the surface of the Caribbean Sea
One of the most anticipated and thrilling things for me to do when vacationing in the Caribbean is to get into the ocean and explore the island’s underwater world. Snorkeling is not something that I can really do at home, so it’s a real treat, especially when I come across a fish or some type of marine life that I have never seen before – Truly exciting!
There are a number of good snorkeling spots in Martinique, mostly along the Western and Southern Coastlines, and I was fortunate to have the opportunity to sample a few of them. We first started with Pointe Borgnèse, a spot not too far from where we were staying in Sainte-Anne. It was a great spot to get my feet wet (pun intended), before heading further out to the more well-known area of Les Anses-d’Arlet to experience the popular Anse Dufour and its neighbour Anse Noire.
Snorkel Pointe Borgnese
If you’re not paying attention or if you’re driving too fast, which you can actually do on Martinique’s amazing road system, you could easily miss the parking lot for the beach at Pointe Borgnese. I actually drove right by it on the N5 highway, wondering ‘was that it?’, before turning around to discover ‘yes, this is the place’. There is a small clearing of sorts just off the side of the highway which might be able to accommodate 10 or so cars. It was quiet the day we visited, so we easily found a place to park. After gathering our beach/snorkel stuff together we journeyed about 5-10 minutes down the remains of a steep old rock-and-concrete road through the forest. Eventually, we popped out onto one of the beaches in the area. There is only about 10-15 feet of sand between the sea and the treeline making it an interesting and quaint beach. Further to the east, there are a couple more stretches of sandy beach, each separated from one other by piles of rocks and boulders that spill out from the forest. That said, there is a path through the forest about 25 feet from the shoreline that provides access to each of the near-private sandy patches. Openings in the forest also provide great places to escape the midday sun or occasional showers if need be. The area is pretty cool, although more reminiscent of beaches found around a lake in North America or Europe – Not what I was expecting to find in the Caribbean.
I first ventured into the inviting Caribbean Sea near the main beach. The water was not overly warm, but I wasn’t there for a bath so I stuck my face and snorkel mask into the water to take a look at what was below the surface. Other than the odd juvenile fish, there was very little marine life among the mix of seagrass, rocks, and otherwise sandy ocean floor. I had heard that the best place to snorkel is along the point itself, so once we found the trail through the forest, we gathered up our stuff and headed eastward about as far as we could go. Finding a new place to put our stuff on a small beach, I ventured back into the water.
Again, there wasn’t much of interest until I swam really close to the coastline that makes up the west side of Borgnese Point. Ahhhh, finally, more signs of underwater life. I first encountered several small schools of fish, and after settling in, I carefully studied the ocean floor. I immediately saw a couple of sea cucumbers – One critter was about a foot in length and had a skinny white body covered in what looked like short thorns. The other sea cucumber was dark in colour and really big, over 2 feet long and close to a foot in diameter. Wow – That was pretty cool. I also saw a wide variety of fish, including a couple of my favorites, little bluehead wrasse and multi-hued red parrotfish. I saw a bizarre-looking reddish-orange squirrelfish as well as some amazing purplish-blue and yellow fish, which I suspect were damselfish. I also saw some sergeant majors, along with several light brown colored fish with horizontal stripes along with several silver fish with yellow stripes running from tail to head – some sort of grunts or chums I assume.
I found plenty of marine life close to shore about halfway between the beach and the tip of the point. Lifting my head out of the water to get my bearings, I noticed a plastic bottle hanging in a tree right at the water’s edge – Hhmnnn, I wondered if it is a marker of some sort. Sure enough, about 20 feet from the rugged shore right in front of that tree there is a large rock covered in vegetation and swarming with fish. So many different types of fish I lost count. The area was also home to lots of yellow tubes and brain corals, all in less than 10 feet of water – A great place to just float around and admire the beauty of the natural underwater world!
What a great start to our Martinique snorkeling adventures… A few days later we would head out to the southeast coast of the island to hit the real hot spots for Martinique snorkeling.
Snorkel Anse Dufour
After a fairly long drive from Sainte-Anne to Les Anses-d’Arlet, we eventually pulled off the D7 road towards Anse Dufour where we were surprised to see a large number of cars lining the side of the road. Undaunted, we drove to the end of the road and totally lucked out as somebody pulled out of the tiny parking lot at the end of the road just as we arrived. We’ll take that thank you very much. From there, it is just a short walk down a steep access road to the beach. As advertised, Anse Dufour is a wonderful light brown sandy beach with clean and convenient facilities (toilets) available. Although we arrived at a decent time in the morning, the small beach was already quite busy. That said, it was easy to find a spot to put down our towels and bags.
Looking out at the water, the rocky shoreline to the right was crowded with snorkelers, and I was about to find out, for good reason. I waded out into the sea and immediately discovered a large turtle on the edge of the seagrass close to shore, almost oblivious to the crowd above him/her. With all the people splashing about along with a slight current the water was a bit murky, but it was still an amazingly easy opportunity to watch the pre-historic-looking creature munching on grass. After a couple of minutes, I turned and swam towards the black cliffs and trees that lined the north coastline of the bay.
I found an amazing diversity of fish and marine life close to the coastline. I saw different species of coral, with fire coral dominating the scene, along with white sea urchins, yellow tubes, as well as all sorts of algae and vegetation clinging to the rocks – great fish food I assume. The closer to the rugged coast I ventured, the more marine life I saw. There were plenty of large silver and yellow fish, some striped, others not. I assume they were grunts or jacks of some sort, although there could also have been some goatfish and/or yellowtail Snapper as well. I swam through several large schools of long shiny juvenile fish, herring perhaps. The star attractions for me though were the unique long and skinny trumpetfish, the hard-to-spot parrotfish, and the colourful yellowtail damselfish.
After a while, I thought I would explore the southern coastline of the bay. The water on the south side of the beach seemed a bit rougher, but it had some amazing marine life to observe as well. As soon as I entered the water I was greeted by a large school of long shiny juvenile fish – perhaps herring, jacks or goatfish. There were tons of algae and vegetation on the black rocks, as well as some yellow tubes and several species of coral. Along with plenty of sergeant majors, I encountered some beautiful bluehead wrasse, well-camouflaged green parrotfish, and some amazing juvenile French angelfish. Then there was the spectacular four-eye butterflyfish (bottom right in photo below). Always cool to spot them!
I was enjoying exploring the underwater world, however, when three tour boats full of snorkelers arrived in the little bay, I knew it was going to become too crowded for my liking. So, we packed up our stuff went back up to the road, and walked over to the neighbouring Anse Noire, just 5 minutes to the north.
Snorkel Anse Noire
To access Anse Noire we walked down a concrete walkway with steps to reach the black sand beach at the small bay. It is so close to Anse Dufour, but seems like a different world and I’m not just talking about the colour of the sand. It was relatively quiet, with very few people or buildings. Anse Noire does however have a solid long wooden pier that splits the small bay into two. We walked to the end of the pier and I climbed down a ladder to enter the water off to the north and swam towards the rugged wooded coastline. I was immediately greeted by a shoal of silver fish I assume were herring, nervously darting from side to side, although gracefully moving as one. Other than that, there wasn’t much of interest below the water surface until the sandy ocean floor started to rise up along the coastline. After a few small jellyfish floated underneath me, I realized that the sea bottom consisted of some small underwater ridges and troughs, providing all sorts of places for sea life to hide from predators and waves.
The water was probably about 10 feet deep here and was filled with a wide variety of diverse plants and fish. The undulating ocean floor is covered in clumps of vegetation, swaying back and forth with the ocean current, along with fire coral, yellow tubes as well as an abundance of white sea urchins. I must have also seen over a dozen species of fish – I recognized grey-yellow striped smallmouth grunts, my favourite bluehead wrasse as well as some well-camouflaged green-hued parrotfish (centre of the photo above).
I was thrilled to see some trumpetfish swimming horizontally, not just floating in their usual vertical position. I loved watching some black and yellow juvenile French angel fish, although the highlight of this snorkel had to be when I startled 2 large reef squid, forcing them to swim right underneath me – Now that was something special!
While the north coastline of Anse Dufour probably had just as many, if not more types of fish, snorkelling Anse Noire was more my thing. I was more relaxed in the near-solitude as I floated around without a care in the world. I had been slowly swimming along the northern coastline of the bay toward the beach, however, it was getting really rocky as I reached shallow water so I turned around and headed back to the pier where again I was met by a shoal of silver fish – Clearly, this is where they like to hang out.
We then left the pier, walking to the right (facing the beach) so I could check out the south side of the bay. Wading into the water from the beach, there were some small waves as well as a bit of a current, but I wasn’t the only one to notice. I watched a skinny-legged starfish tumbling over and over on the sea floor before finally finding a resting place. I was once again greeted by a school of small fish, probably herring or juvenile goatfish. The combination of the current, the waves, and the mixed sun and cloud made for a fascinating dimple-patterned appearance on the sea floor.
Eventually, it was smooth snorkeling with plenty of good stuff to see along the rocky coastline. The deeper I got, the more interesting the underwater world became. The black cliff walls gave way to a rocky sea floor which in deeper water became littered with much larger rocks and boulders – where life was abundant. The boulders were covered in algae, vegetation as well as corals, and were clearly home to a wide variety of fish. I saw several different types of grunts, perhaps some yellowtail snapper along with plenty of sergeant majors.
Another plentiful fish I noticed was a grey/brown/reddish coloured fish with a split tail that had a black dot low on its side near its head – I believe they are brown chromis, which I am not sure I have ever seen (or noticed) before. Pretty cool. Of course, I never get tired of watching trumpetfish and green parrotfish, but I enjoyed a new experience when I encountered about a dozen baby squid all swimming together (away from me).
Looking for turtles, I swam the short distance from the southern coastline of the bay back to the pier. I scoured the sandy bottom, looking closely around all the patches of seagrass, but to no avail. Regardless, my fingertips were sufficiently shriveled, so I climbed back up onto the pier to dry, and we called it a day.
What a great day of snorkeling it was!
Grande Anses d’Arlet
Although I had had enough snorkeling for one day, we also visited the beautiful Grande Anses d’Arlet for lunch, before heading back to Sainte-Anne. One of the most popular and best places to snorkel in Martinique this beautiful white sand beach offers a couple of great snorkel spots. A rocky reef can be found close to the beach just north of the pier – A great spot for beginners to safely snorkel. Apparently, there are plenty of colourful fish and lobsters in this area, along with the occasional turtle and ray a little further out in deeper water. The other good spot is at the north end of the beach along the rocky coastline where corals, sponges, fish, and eels can be spotted.
For more information on snorkeling in Martinique, click on our Martinique Snorkeling page
For an overview of the beautiful Island of Flowers, take a look at our Martinique Vacations page.
For more information on snorkeling the Caribbean Islands, check out our Caribbean Snorkeling page.
ACT Staff
