Snorkel Venture Reviews 279

The snorkeling and reefs are unparalleled in beauty and diversity. The travel to and from and in between the resorts in Indonesia is brutal - weird and limited flight times, long taxi/transport rides to/from airports and harbors. The food is local and healthy. The variety of food is limited. The staff and guides are very good, helpful, and reliable. The third world conditions are sobering for the villages and the populous. The variety of aquatic life is amazing; the health of the reefs is affirming; the clouds of fish and their variety is remarkable. The colors in the underwater corals, sponges, and reefs in general have to be seen to be understood. The pictures/photos are not adequate to document the majesty of the experience. The "muck" snorkels are not my choice of a snorkel experience. The night snorkels are too crowded - need a less dense guide-to-guest ratio to avoid a "bumper car" experience. The local guides are excellent in finding and pointing out reef inhabitants. Some guests we traveled with are absolutely addicted to this type of trip and are multi-time participants of land and sea based trips in Indonesia. I am very glad I had the opportunity to experience the incredible reefs and sea life; however, I would not do another trip because of the myriad travel hops, logisitics hurdles, and uncertain and limited transport/flight schedules. That said, Snorkel Ventures does a heroic job of attempting to buffer the guests from all the complexity of the "moving parts", and, in the large majority of instances, succeeds admirably.

Date of experience: May 10, 2025

Marcus and Amy provided a guiding leadership that included caring and competence and friendliness, continually circling back and checking in that enhanced the sense of community learning and joy in safety while allowing the contribution of talents and interests of each person's uniqueness. The photography and videos enriched the experience of joy!

Date of experience: April 24, 2025

The tour I joined was Siladen and Papua Explorers. The tour was so well organized. All our transitions as a group were seamless. Our guide, Asha, knew exactly how to get us from one place to another and keep us together and moving on to the next part of our adventure. She was also an excellent source of information and very helpful with snorkeling tips. She really helped me to improve my free diving ability with useful information and great advice. The snorkeling itself was outstanding, the best I've ever done. I saw so many new creatures and the coral was so healthy and beautiful. The Siladen resort was top notch, the food excellent and the staff both friendly and helpful. Papua Explorers was also good, definitely more rustic but comfortable considering there was no AC. The food was not quite as good but still fine. The signage for what was complementary and what you had to pay for was not clear and I probably wouldn't have spent money on the candy bars if I had known they weren't included in our board. Perhaps that could be improved. Overall I would say that this was the best snorkeling trip I've ever taken and I am returning in December to see if it's possible to beat this incredible trip! Thank you for everything and I look forward to many future adventures with Snorkel Venture!

Date of experience: April 07, 2025

Everything was just perfect! Communication from the beginning to the end was quick and efficient. The logistics for the whole trip was excellent. Our tour leaders Marcus and Amy were amazing. They were really on top of everything, knowledgeable, and so much fun!! I would definitely recommend Snorkel Venture for an outstanding snorkel vacation!!

Date of experience: April 23, 2025

We did a Snorkel Venture trip on April 20th to May 4th in Indonesia. Ian was our guide and was absolutely wonderful. He worked very hard to ensure everyone had a good time and produced some marvellous photos and videos. He was so attentive to everyone’s travel needs and worked well with the staff at the various resorts. While we preferred Alami Alor Resort over Kalimya Resort because we found the Alami had larger and more comfortable beds, we think both resorts did a good job. We would highly recommend Snorkel Venture to others and since coming home have already bragged about this company

Date of experience: April 20, 2025

We had a great trip with Snorkel Venture on a 12 night trip to Misool resort. The logistics were well planned and executed. The resort was great and we were well taken care of by the staff. The reefs were fantastic and we saw a lot of things- turtles, black tip reef sharks! The two guides Marcus and Amy were always on top of things and provided great service and fun! Highly recommend!

Date of experience: April 25, 2025

Highest rating!! Our snorkeling trip to Alor and Misool sets the standard for top notch adventure travel. Meticulously planned and flawlessly executed. Can’t honestly think of a single criticism. First-rate accommodations with superb service and attention to guests. We snorkeled on pristine reefs with abundant aquatic life in some very remote places. Our trip guide, Asha Michibata, is, by unanimous agreement, a super star - as talented in the water with a camera as she is herding cats thru airports and into taxis. Can’t say enough good things about her!! Do NOT miss the opportunity to do the Snorkel Venture Indonesia trip!!

Date of experience: May 18, 2025

Our snorkel adventure trip at Misool Resort, organized and guided by Snorkel Venture, was fabulous and met or exceeded our expectations in every way. The resort is beautifully and thoughtfully designed and constructed, with lovely scenery and sightlines in every direction, and thoughtful little design touches everywhere. The resort staff are wonderful and took great care of us. Food was varied, plentiful, and delicious, and housekeeping was meticulous. Our Snorkel Venture Tour guide, Marcus Blake, was the absolute best! We couldn't imagine a better guide than Marcus. His positive energy and great sense of humor was infectious and he put everything into making sure we were having a great experience. While in the water, he was continuously using his fantastic photography and videography skills to capture precious moments of each of our tour participants in action in the water, as well as taking marvelous photos and videos of the fabulous underwater scenery and the fantastic variety of fish and coral. Out of the water, he went straight to work getting that media prepared and sent out to everyone. And all the while, making sure everyone was happy and their needs were being taken care of. Marcus is very well informed about snorkeling throughout SE Asia and was always happy to answer questions and share his experiences. He was also very attentive and supportive in making sure everyone's snorkel gear, and especially their masks, were working as well as possible. Marcus and his assistant, Amy Vankanan, also did a fantastic job of managing all of the logistics of our travel, keeping us well informed every step of the way, handling flight and hotel check-ins smoothly and flawlessly, and doing a great job of keeping track of everyone and making sure everyone was safe and where they needed to be. We had a number of repeat Snorkel Venture travelers in our group and we will absolutely sign up for more Snorkel Venture trips in the future!

Date of experience: April 25, 2025

Lots of other reviews cover how great the experience is on these trips, including the resorts, the tour leaders, the information provided by the booking team, etc. Ours was definitely all that. But I thought it was important to touch on what happens when things don't go as originally planned. Our Indonesia snorkel trip ran into a major last minute issue resulting in one of the resorts needing to cancel our entire group, so the first of our two weeks of plans was gone with only a few days notice! This was no fault of Snorkel Ventures and yet the team managed, within a couple of days, to pivot and secure us multiple very reasonable options for moving forward. When we arrived at the start of the trip on the original date it all went ahead seamlessly start to finish as if the itinerary had been planned that way for months (or so it appeared to us!). That is hallmark of a good operation and was much appreciated.

Date of experience: April 11, 2025

Snorkel Venture from the first contact then to Marcus ensuring the trip was as good as it could be made it a great experience

Date of experience: April 26, 2025

This trip was fantastic! Each resort provided spectacular accommodations with really great menus. They seemed to cater well to everyone's needs.
The snorkeling sites were really beautiful, each with its own subtleties.
The group was great fun to travel with. I truly believe the most important part of the trip was the tour leader,Alex. His ability to manage all of our personalities with kindness, compassion and humor was really admirable. He had in depth knowledge of each snorkel location and was always in the water with the local guides to point stuff out and make sure we ticked all the "we've seen that creature boxes". He was incredibley organized and shared a lot of his photography knowledge with us, not only in an evening education session but also along the way every day.
He went out of his way to make sure every participant had a great experience.
We have already booked another tour.

Date of experience: April 12, 2025

What an incredible adventure. Right from the moment our group met, we knew it would be memorable. We would do it all over again even it meant 4am wake up calls to catch two flights again. Each resort was special. The staff,the food ,the accommodations all 5star,especially the snorkeling....it would not be complete without our wonderful guide ,Alex. Alex is a key to a wonderful trip,and we were able to " tick all the boxes". Thank you Snorkel Venture and hugs and thanks to Alex and all of his charm...

Date of experience: April 14, 2025

From the start, this trip was great. On the first evening, we met each other and our leader, Asha. Asha was a wonderful and caring leader. She was always available to speak to. Asha was an integral part of each snorkel as she had so much knowledge to share with us. Her ability to speak and understand both English and Indonesian was very helpful to us on the trip. Asha is a fabulous leader and what an asset she is to Snorkel Venture!

Our stay at Siladen was perfect! The people working there could not have been more helpful and caring. Each day they did everything possible to make sure that our stay was enjoyable. I had never experienced such service in my life. The food at Siladen was unsurpassed. Each meal had a variety of fresh foods and homebaked desserts. Eastern and Western foods were always available.

The resort at Raja Ampat is beautifully situated. The rooms are on stilts overlooking the water. The jungle comes down to the resort and it is great to hear the sounds of the animals. The people who worked there always tried to be helpful. The food, however, lacked the variety needed to cater to groups of people from all over the world. Sometimes food was overcooked. I am sure that with some assistance, those things could be improved upon.

Altogether, the trip was great and it lived up to my expectations.

Date of experience: April 08, 2025

Highly recommend! Fantastic trip, everything taken care of for you, expensive but great value for what was paid.

Date of experience: March 20, 2025

The trip was truly exceptional and made so by Marcus. His personality, his knowledge on sea life, his enthusiasm and his easy going fun being just made each day a treat for us. I can’t imagine a 32 day tour being as special without him leading it. Everything ran smoothly and efficiently and the service and accommodation at all the lodges was just perfection. A trip I will remember forever. Thank you.

Date of experience: March 21, 2025

I just returned from the Epic Indonesia trip with Snorkel Venture, and I can confidently say it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Everything—from the planning to the execution—was seamless and thoughtfully curated.

The trip took us through some of the most stunning underwater landscapes I've ever seen. Crystal-clear waters, vibrant coral reefs, and an abundance of marine life made every snorkel session feel like swimming through a living aquarium. We saw manta rays, turtles, reef sharks, and countless colorful fish—it was like a dream.

What really set this trip apart was the Snorkel Venture team. Our guide was knowledgeable, friendly, and clearly passionate about marine life and conservation. He made everyone feel safe, comfortable, and part of the adventure, regardless of experience level.

Accommodations were comfortable and well-located, and the food was delicious.

Date of experience: March 20, 2025

Our trip to Palau with Snorkel Venture was wonderful. Our tour leader, Alex, was continually working to ensure everything went well and we spent the absolute most time possible in the water. Graham, our primary Snorkel Venture contact prior to the trip promptly answered my questions and addressed any concern I had. Our extra hotel bookings were done properly. Events happened on time, the boats arrived when they were supposed to, we were all picked up from the airport and returned to it even though we arrived and departed at different times and days.
The hotel booked for the land-based portion, the Palau Royal Resort, is comfortable, clean, has exceptional staff and serves a great breakfast buffet. The pastries served were so good, I ate far more than was good for me every morning.
Snorkel Venture booked the Palau Aggressor II for the water-based portion of the trip. It is a great choice as it is comfortable, the staff is friendly, efficient and hardworking.
Although this review is about Snorkel Venture, I must say that Palau is definitely one of the best snorkeling sites in the world for diversity and sheer quantity of fish.
All in all, this was a good trip. I would gladly repeat it except that Snorkel Venture has more trips available.

Date of experience: March 06, 2025

I've just returned from THE most *amazing* experience-of-a-lifetime...! well, as I thought, having never been on a group tour before... except now I'm already planning my next Snorkel Venture adventure.
Several of the (really interesting) folks in our small group were already seasoned SnorkelVenture devotees, and in the words of one lovely person: "every Snorkel Venture trip I've ever been on has been life-changing." Exactly my take. The snorkeling location (Turneffe atoll, off Belize) was breathtaking (the snorkel "guides' at Turneffe Island Resort should really be thought of as 'snorkelmasters' - one had even been a marine park ranger/researcher for 7 yrs! - but all were completely at home in the atolls' endlessly fascinating (protected) reef and its denizens (and where to find them!); the resort itself was paradise-on-earth; the planning and organization by Snorkel Venture, seamless; all administrative communications, highly professional, responsive (and friendly!); the tour leaders (two of my new favorite people on the planet), highly experienced, organized, incredibly hard-working and charming cat-herders (!) who managed to also foster the most wonderful group dynamic among our dozen very independent personalities ... If I could give 100 stars, I would!
PS - I really, really hope that SV will continue to offer the "Shallow Freediving Workshop" by Emma Farrell (champion freediver, freediving instructor-trainer, and pranayama yogi) as part of this trip. It was the compelling reason that I took the plunge and signed up in the first place - what I've always wanted (but have never seen offered before) is exactly this type of training in "skin-diving" technique (longer breath-holds, skills in smoothly slipping down a few (3-10) meters - and staying! - to look at reef critters more carefully...) Emma is a brilliant, kind, *highly experienced freediving educator and curriculum-builder; and Asha a skilled skindiver, and amazing videographer (as well as a yoga teacher in her own right) whose video documentation really helped us as we learned, and gave us awesome "before-and-afters" so we could fully admire our own improvement by week's end! The amazing snorkel guide (-master) Luis, who assisted w/each training session, is *also a skilled freediver (!) and he and the dive-boat captain Marcel knew exactly where in the area to anchor for each days' trainings, depending on the weather and waters.
The schedule was perfectly orchestrated to ensure that everyone in our group had equal opportunity for at least 2 fun-snorkels and one dive training/day (optional) plus one pool training every other day (also optional). It was a complex schedule for the resort snorkel guides and captains, and for Emma/Asha to keep track of, but it was seamless for us! We all had SO MUCH FUN!!! and it all built such a wonderful camaraderie, everyone so supportive of each other, and excited for each others' successes. I would definitely encourage anyone to take this workshop who wishes they could pop down just a little more gracefully, and stay down just a little longer (to line up a camera angle, or just wait for the blenny to peek back out!)
(and from what I understand, Snorkel Venture would be very receptive to expressions of interest in adding at least one shallow freediving workshop to the annual Turneffe schedule ;)

Date of experience: February 19, 2025

Terrific trip! Spectacular snorkeling -- at least for someone who's only done the Caribbean and Hawaii. Great boat crews, friendly, fun group of snorkelers.
Very nice accommodations, excellent food. Alex was terrific -- organizing, managing, explaining -- all with patience and good humor. Night snorkel was a bit disappointing. Better in Bonaire.

Date of experience: March 25, 2025

This was an amazing trip and more than met our expectations, which were very high based on our experience with the company in Belize last year. Every aspect of the trip, from start to finish was perfectly choreographed and executed. During our planning for this trip, the staff was helpful, professional and went out of their way to assist whenever necessary.
Marcus and Ian were exceptional hosts and anticipated all our needs. They were kind, thoughtful, knowledgeable and entertaining.
As an example, when I was sick, Marcus paid special attention and provided support and gave us good and helpful information regarding medical assistance in Bali when we were there between snorkel resorts. Ian offered special, unplanned snorkel opportunities (Bimbles!) outside of scheduled snorkels and spontaneous trips outside the resort locations.
Snorkel Venture is fortunate to have such dedicated and experienced guides.
MIsool and Wakatobi were magical snorkelling locations and the resorts themselves were some of the best we've ever been to. Thank you so much for making our holiday so special and we look forward to further adventures with Snorkel Venture!

Date of experience: February 23, 2025