Snorkeling in Menorca
Última actualización: 20/08/2024
To snorkel you only need goggles and a snorkel, easy and cheap.
Besides, it is a sport without any technical difficulty if you do not dive deeper than 2 meters.
Article contents
What are the best beaches or coves in Menorca for Snorkeling?
If you want to snorkel in Menorca, you can go to any beach and most probably you will not be disappointed.
But if what you want is to spend hours underwater, and see a diversity of marine fauna, you have to go to the Marine Reserve of the North of Menorca.
Beaches within the Northern Marine Reserve
The beaches within the reserve are differentiated according to the protection zone in which they are located.
Zone A is the most protected, and Zone C is the least protected.
These are the beaches within the reserve on the north coast. All of them are good options for snorkeling:
- Caló d’en Sintes (Zone C)
- Caló d’Alfurinet (Zone C)
- Macar d’Alfurinert (Zone A)
- Pilar Cove (Zone A)
- Moragues Cove (Zone A)
- Calderer Cove (Zone A)
- Barril Cove (Zone A)
- Pregonda Cove (Zone C)
- Binimel-la Cove (Zone C)
- Mica Cove (Zone C)
- Cavalleria Cove (Zone C)
- Torta Cove (Zone C)
- Viola de Ponent Cove (Zone C)
- Cala Viola de Llevant (Zone C)
- Cala Tirant (Zone C)
What flora and fauna can you see in Menorca?
It is also relatively easy to see octopus and mullet.
Sea urchins and jellyfish are omnipresent on the island, so be prepared to see a few wherever you go.
If you go to the northern reserve beaches and know how to go down 2 or 3 meters deep you will enjoy a lot of diversity.
If you go to the southern beaches, look for the rocky and seaweedy areas, if you want the fish to come to you you can look for floating seaweed and get close, in a few seconds fish will start coming to eat.
Freediving
If you already have experience in freediving (or Freedive) you are in luck: Menorca is a paradise for freediving: There is a variety of underwater landscapes and a lot of accessibility (it is easy to reach the freediving spots) and water quality.
If you have no experience in freediving, I encourage you to try the Freedive Menorca freediving baptisms or courses.
Snorkeling Tips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_cSRhxa7jM&list=PL5URzrySKvOv1vClK8DZ1FIl8sH1I2CY7&index=18 Although snorkeling is very easy and fun, there are some techniques that can help you enjoy the activity more.
Here are some tips to see as many species as possible.
- Dive longer: If you snorkel for 5 minutes it’s hard to see anything.
My snorkeling trips are usually 1 hour, but it depends on how well you can stand the cold. - Don’t make noise: if you swim noisily, the fish will move away, especially the bigger ones.
- Stay away from people: in general, if you snorkel in a crowded shore you won’t see much.
- Look under rocks and caves: many times under rocks and caves there are fish, octopus, groupers or even moray eels(don’t get too close).
- Look carefully on white sandy bottoms: on white sandy bottoms there are usually spider fish, and from a certain depth (6-7 meters) there are rays.
If you look closely you will see how they move. - Look by the anchors of boats: around the anchors of boats anchored in the sand there are usually fish.
- Wear gloves and fins: the gloves allow you to hold on to the rocks without hurting yourself, the fins prevent you from getting tired after 10 minutes of swimming.
Frequently Asked Questions about Snorkeling
Is it possible to Snorkel in any beach?
Yes, in Menorca you can snorkel in all the beaches.
Logically there is not the same flora and fauna everywhere, but you can snorkel and see the bottom of the sea in all the beaches thanks to the clean and clear water.
What is the visibility on the beaches of Menorca?
I snorkel from May to October and the visibility is always very good.
In July and August the visibility near the shore is very poor due to the amount of boats and swimmers, but if you move away from the hustle and bustle the water is almost always very clean and the visibility is very good.
How cold is the water in Menorca?
No.
The water in Menorca is rather warm.
- The temperature almost never drops below 13º in winter.
- From May to October the water temperature is between 16º and 25º (sometimes reaching 27º).
Is it safe to snorkel?
Yes, it is safe if you don’t go too far from the coast.
- Always try to stay within 15 meters from the coast (you can walk along the side of the coves going offshore).
- In summer there are boats that do NOT respect the maximum speeds and safety distances to the coast, so be more careful in July and August.
Is it better to wear traditional glasses or the new “Decathlon” type?
I definitely recommend traditional goggles because they allow you to go down to more than 2m.
If you are not going to go down more than 1 or 2 meters and do not want to get complicated, Decathlon goggles are fine.
- A goggle that covers the entire face costs about 35€ with flippers.
- The traditional glasses I use cost 45€.
Do you recommend going on your own or hiring an activity?
As always, it depends:
- If you just want to browse for a few minutes, it is not worth hiring an activity.
- If you want to do something more complete, I recommend hiring a Kayak route to be able to snorkel a little further away from the most crowded spots.
- If you want a closed plan but only snorkeling, you can book this excursion from Ciutadella to Cala en Brut for 55€.which includes pick up from your hotel, transport and snorkeling equipment.
If you could only go to one beach to snorkel, which one would you go to?
- It is located in the center of the Marine Reserve of Menorca.
- There are rocks on the sides and in the center, where you can see moray eels, groupers, octopuses, etc.
- There are sandbanks in the deeper areas where you can see rays, spider fish and even some raor.
- There are few boats even in summer.
If you want to combine snorkeling and a boat trip, which one would you do?
I would recommend you either to go on your own or to book a boat trip + snorkeling from Cala Galdana (50€ – free cancellation).
If you really like snorkeling or freediving, I recommend you to do a freediving baptism with Freedive Menorca.
Photos of Snorkeling in Menorca
Scuba Diving in Menorca (with air bottles)
If you are looking for scuba diving with bottles it is possible that it will be more expensive, especially because in 2013 they want to start charging fees of 50 Euros to divers in protected areas in Menorca.
And of course, don’t even think of fishing in these areas, because of respect and because you wouldn’t be the first one arrested by the Guardia Civil for fishing in the reserve.
