Your Tampa Bay Snorkeling Guide

Last Updated on August 26, 2024 by Boatsetter Team

If you plan to visit Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, or any part of the Tampa Bay area, you should consider a snorkeling adventure as part of your trip. This area allows one to snorkel from the shore, in the bay, or by boat out in the ocean. Tampa Beach has powdery white sand that is soft and consistently warm all year round. Waters here are turquoise, clear, and warm year-round. Tampa is often called the “Sunshine City” because it averages 361 days of sunshine a year. 

• Best snorkeling spots in the Tampa Bay area
• Coral reefs
• Snorkeling in Clearwater Beach

Explore boats & on-water experiences in the Tampa Bay area 

Best snorkeling spots in the Tampa Bay area

Clearwater Beach

Clearwater Beach is a premier destination for beachgoers and snorkelers alike. Known for its sugar-white sands, clear turquoise waters, and vibrant atmosphere, this beach offers an ideal setting for both relaxation and underwater exploration.

Why Clearwater Beach is Perfect for Snorkeling:

• Calm Waters: The waters at Clearwater Beach are consistently calm and shallow, making them perfect for beginners and families. The gentle waves and lack of strong currents provide a safe environment for snorkelers of all ages.
• Excellent Visibility: The crystal-clear water offers great visibility, allowing snorkelers to easily spot marine life such as sea urchins, crabs, sea stars, and a variety of small fish. This clarity enhances the snorkeling experience, making it easy to explore the underwater world.
• Family-Friendly Environment: Clearwater Beach is renowned for its family-friendly atmosphere. Lifeguards are on duty during daylight hours, and the beach is meticulously maintained, with daily sand raking and grooming. The nearby Pier 60 also offers family-oriented activities, including a playground and nightly sunset celebrations.

Snorkeling Highlights:

• Marine Life: While snorkeling at Clearwater Beach, expect to encounter a variety of marine creatures. Common sightings include colorful fish, sea anemones, and the occasional stingray gliding along the sandy bottom. If you’re lucky, you might even spot a dolphin swimming near the shore.
• Artificial Reefs: Just off the coast, Clearwater Beach is home to several artificial reefs made from concrete reef balls, shipwrecks, and other submerged structures. These reefs attract a diverse array of marine life, offering a more dynamic snorkeling experience for those willing to venture a bit further out.

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Caladesi Island & Honeymoon Island

Caladesi Island and Honeymoon Island used to be one until a devastating 1921 hurricane hit the area, splitting the island into two parts. The islands can be reached by boat, ferry, or on foot if you are willing to walk in from Highway 60, which runs from Clearwater to Caladesi Island. 

Waters here are calm, shallow, clear, and monitored by a lifeguard, usually from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Since Caladesi Beach is a little out of the way,  but if you’re looking for some place less crowded than this is the place to go. Here, you’ll likely see coral, colorful varieties of fish, and even a dolphin or two!

Honeymoon Island is even quieter than Caladesi Island. It is intentionally non-industrialized, making the area feel more cozy and quaint.  

Go to Honeymoon Island Beach to see a large reef teeming with stingrays, sharks, manatees, gopher tortoises, sea turtles, dolphins, fish, coral clusters, and deep crevices on the ocean floor. You’ll also find many species of birds, large and small, on the island and in the air above you.

Caladesi Island State Park can be found at 1 Causeway Blvd, Dunedin, FL 34698. You can find Honeymoon Island just north, at 1 Honeymoon Island, Dunedin, FL 34698. 

Treasure Island Beach

Treasure Island has about four miles of beachfront perfect for families, and kite flyers! Each year, Treasure Island hosts a kite festival. 

Treasure Island Beach offers a large beachfront and gentle waters with mild waves. If this wasn’t family and child friendly enough, there is a clean, well-maintained playground area right on the beach too. When you finish snorkeling for the day, make sure you find the Osprey Trailhead to hike the island’s interior. Bring your bug spray to ward away mosquitos and be camera ready for wildlife sighting—bald eagles, hawks, ospreys, great horned owls, tortoises, and more can be found here. 

Pro tip: Tampa, also known as the “Sunshine City,” averages 361 days of sunshine a year, making it the perfect destination for boating and on the water experiences even in the fall and winter months!  

Shell Key & Egmont Key

Shell Key and Egmont Key are great for snorkeling, swimming, and sea shell searching. Wildlife and marine life are abundant here, as is the rich history. Be sure to ask your guide (should you choose to hire one) to tell you all about it. Both keys are on the National Register of Historic Places and serve as a state park and National Wildlife Refuge. You are highly likely to see at least a few of the following creatures:

• Manatees
• Nurse sharks
• Dolphins
• Gopher tortoises
• Sea turtles
• Crabs
• Tropical fish
• Sea birds
• And more!

Underwater, you’ll find sunken ruins of gun batteries that slowly eroded and collapsed into the ocean in the 1980s. Take advantage and snorkel Shell Key and Egmont Key,  rising water levels are eroding these keys at an alarming rate. Most of the shore is 3 feet deep, but further out (like the ruins) is in 9 feet deep water. 

Are there coral reefs in Tampa?

There are coral reefs in Tampa, but they are artificial. Most of these are concrete reef balls, broken debris, shipwrecks, bridge rubble, and retired military equipment. Here are twenty-two reefs for snorkelers to spot near Tampa, Florida:

1. Dunedin Reef
2. Clearwater Reef
3. Madeira Reef
4. Treasure Island Reef
5. St. Pete Beach Reef
6. St. Petersburg Bay Reef
7. Picnic Island Reef
8. Picnic Island Pier Reef
9. Port Tampa Reef
10. Howard Frankland Reef
11. Courtney Campbell Reef
12. Ballast Point Pier Reef
13. Bahia Beach Reef
14. Port Manatee Reef
15. Egmont Key Reef
16. Bulkhead Reef
17. Southeast Tampa
18. Manatee River’s Emerson Point
19. Meisner Barge
20. Seven Mile Reef North
21. Three Mile Reef North
22. One Mile Reef North

There are even more reefs that are further offshore and scattered across the entirety of Florida, which you can find here. 

More Tampa guides

• The Best Restaurants on the Water in Tampa
• All of the Islands in the Tampa Bay Region
• The Best Rivers and Lakes in Tampa Bay for Boating
• The Complete Tampa Bay Boating Guide
• A Guide to Fishing in St. Petersburg, Florida

Are you ready for your snorkeling trip in Tampa, Florida? All you need now is a captained boat, you can find one here!

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