5 Best Beaches In St. Maarten For Snorkeling

The Caribbean island of Saint Martin or Sint Maarten is the most visited place amongst tourists. St. Maarten beaches are home to a variety of sea life, including coral, turtles, rays, marine plants, seaweed, and many colorful fish species.

St. Maarten is one of the places that offers some great snorkeling and swimming opportunities for all levels of experience. If you want to enjoy colorful marine life and warm crystal-clear waters, St Maarten is ideal for a snorkeling adventure.

Whether you’re staying on the Dutch side or French Northside, you can enjoy the snorkeling experience. On this island, many great snorkeling spots are easily accessible for beginners and some of the best snorkeling sites available that are more suitable for professional swimmers and snorkelers.

In this article, we’ll discuss the top best beach in St Maarten for snorkeling. On the Happy beach is no commercial activities or any facilities available, so if you make a plan to visit the Happy bay beach, make sure you have towels, umbrellas, sun chairs, sun protection, swimwear, food, and drinks.

Top 5 Best Beach In St Maarten For Snorkeling

Happy Bay Beach

Happy Bay is a small beautiful beach that is located in the Northwest of the island between the Bay of Grand Case and Friars Bay. The Happy bay beach is also known as the best snorkel spot in St Maarten. The beach is popular amongst the locals, and visitors looking to swim, snorkeling, and sunbathe, even sometimes in the nude.

Most of the travelers visit Happy bay beach to enjoy one day or half-day group or private tours.
These tours often incorporate extended snorkeling excursions, time to relax, and self-drive boats on this gorgeous beach. The beach is open for the whole year, and you can go there anytime whenever you want.

Moreover, most people visit Happy bay beach in winter than summer. To access the Happy bay beach is easy, It’s near the trailhead in Friar’s Bay, painted arrows point the way along the trail to the beach. Just 10 to 15 minutes’ walk will take you to the Happy bay beach.

Mullet Bay Beach

Mullet Bay is another best beach for snorkeling and swimming. The Mullet Bay is a large white sand and most attractive beach on the island because of its slow-rolling curls of waves coming in the moon-shaped Bay that looks very interesting and attractive.

The beach is located between Maho and Cupecoy beach near the edge of the island. Mullet Bay beach is easy to access by car, and the beach offers free parking area facility. Just turn into the golf course road.

Mullet Bay is one of the most beautiful beaches on Sint Maarten. It is a wide and flat white sand beach, and its prettiest palm trees provide shades for relaxing, Throughout the week, the Mullet bay is usually pretty quiet, but on weekends locals come to the beach with their families for fun, barbecues, snorkeling, swimming, or surfing. The beach offers many activities such as volleyball, sunbathing, paddle boarding, snorkeling, and more. They also have chairs for rent, and a beach restaurant/bar.

Little Bay Beach

Little Bay beach is located around the bend of Great Bay, to the south. The beach has soft, powdery white sand, and the water of the Little Bay beach is quite calm while the water clarity is a little bit poor. There are several large underwater wrecks and rock formations to explore along the eastern edge of the Bay which gives an opportunity for snorkeling and swimming, and is a great way to explore the underwater marine life.

This beach also offers many other sports facilities such as jet skiing, parasailing, and paddle-boats, these sports are the most popular activities on Little Bay beach. The beach is an ideal place to spend a great time with family and kids. Moreover, it provides restaurants and bars facilities, so you don’t need to worry about bringing food and drinks to this beach.

Dawn Beach

Dawn Beach is one of the wonderful and prettiest beaches on St Maarten. The beach gives a magnificent full view of the remarkable hilly skyline of St. Barth’s and provides an opportunity to capture iconic views of sunset and sunrise.

Snorkeling on the Dawn Beach is incredible; however, you’ll have to swim out to get the best snorkeling spots because the coral reef is a bit off the shore. This beach is not very suitable for surf due to the weather conditions. Sometimes it may become a little challenging for younger children.

There is only one road to get to the Dawn beach, but this way is a bit bumpy and windy. This white powdery sand beach located on the East coast of Sint Maarten and stretches over a mile from the Oyster Bay Beach Resort to the Westin Resort. Dawn Beach, is the favorite place for both locals and tourists to enjoy a holiday with family and friends. This is the most popular beach for snorkeling.

Cupecoy Beach

Cupecoy Beach is a clothing-optional small beach that is located in the southwest of St. Maarten. This Beach is a great place for snorkeling because it’s lined with beautiful rock formation and caves. In recent years, several big condo developments changed the structure above the cliffs.

Accessibility to the beach could be difficult to the path down to Cupecoy Beach from the road, and easier by snorkeling along with the coastline from Mullet Bay. Moreover, the Cupecoy Beach reef is a house of multicolored fish and other species. Snorkeling the Cupecoy beach in the afternoon gives you an amazing experience and it makes for a pleasant day.

Conclusion

The Caribbean island of St. Martin/Maarten offers you snorkeling opportunities. If you are interested in swimming and snorkeling and are looking for the perfect destination to explore marine life, then St. Martin/Maarten is an ideal place for you.

If you’ve been planning to enjoy a snorkeling vacation in St. Maarten, then make sure you check out the above destinations and choose one of them, because all these beaches are suitable for snorkeling.