Glover's Reef
About the Atoll
Glover’s Reef is the southernmost of three atolls off Belize’s coast. The nearest part of Glover’s is approximately 30 nautical miles from Placencia, a journey that takes a little more than an hour and a half. The ride is worth every minute as you’ll find some excellent snorkeling. Glover’s Atoll is an oval-shaped reef system, 15 miles long by 4 miles wide. Five islands lie on the eastern side, where we do most of the snorkeling. These islands remain mostly private, with small diving and fishing resorts.
Glover’s is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a marine reserve with designated no-take and conservation zones. The pristine waters, unique coral formations, and abundant marine life make Glover’s Reef remote atoll a premium snorkel destination.
Splash works with a low ratio of max 4 snorkelers per snorkel guide so you expect personal attention while exploring the waters around Glove’s Reef.
Trip Details & Booking
Snorkelers need to arrive at our dive center by 05:30 for a 06:00 am departure. Due to the early start, a complimentary continental breakfast is served at our dive center. An authentic Belizean style picnic lunch is served between the two snorkel excursions. The boat ride takes about 1 and 45 minutes. The trip gets back at around 4:00 pm. This trip usually includes divers as well as snorkelers, and occassionally a beach comber.
Our snorkel guides, licensed by the Belize Tourism Board, will be on hand to offer snorkeling tips and find and show you how to find the amazing aquatic life at Glover’s Reef. South West Bed is known for beautiful healthy patches of corals and wildlife, which includes lobster, barracudas, lizardfish, Nassau grouper, angel fish, spotted eagle rays, tarpon, permit, Spanish rays, nurse shark and many, many colorful juvenile reef fish.
Enjoy an authentic Belize-style picnic lunch and relax on the beach after your first exploration of this pristine reef.
After lunch, at South End at Glover’s Atoll, we explore a grassy patch where you may see manatees, tarpon, kingfish, parrot fish, angel fish, butterfly fish, nurse sharks, southern rays, spotted eagle rays and lots of other sea life.
We are back on the dive boat by 14:30.
We only take snorkelers to Glover’s when the weather is such that we are certain that the dive boat will be able to comfortably make the crossing from the Belize Barrier Reef to Glover’s Atoll. In case of questionable weather, we will target Glover’s as the destination, with the fall back of going to South Water Caye depending on the boat captain’s evaluation of the sea state when the boat arrives at the cut to cross the barrier reef near South Water Caye.
If the boat captain concludes that the sea state is too rough to do the crossing, then the group dives at South Water Caye. Unfortunately, there is not good snorkeling from shore at South Water Caye, so we are unwilling to take snorkelers when weather conditions are not ideal.
We can take a tentative booking for snorkeling at Glover’s subject to confirmation that the weather is suitable
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