Grotto Bay, Bermuda

“Sail and Swim” Excursion out of St. George’s

Ship: Zenith (Celebrity Cruises)

Sailing Date: June 29, 2002

Date of Snorkel: July 4, 2002

Equipment Availability: we have our own which we take with us, but the sail boat owner and operator/guide, Jerry Correia (OceanBreeze Sail Charters, P.O. Box 227, St. George’s, Bermuda Tel: 441-234-9846 or 441-297-1145 or 441-238-0825), has a limited supply of snorkels, masks, fins and vests to provide for the unprepared.

Water Access: Off the back of the Sail Boat

Grotto Bay is a very popular snorkeling site in Bermuda, touted in all of the literature for it’s famous “Grotto Bay Barges”.  These are small barges that were intentionally sunk in the bay area off a small beach in front of the Grotto Bay Hotel to assist with reef development and attract fish.  Derek and I first visited this site off the Horizon in 1994 and were not impressed.  The barges are easily visible, but they are now thickly covered with algae rather than coral development and attract a rather limited variety of fish. The algae is easily stirred up if one accidentally touches the barges with a fin, and visibility deteriorates rapidly. 

However, on this current trip, Captain Jerry pointed us towards a very shallow area to the west of where the barges are.  It is a small cove, about 50 yards in diameter, very shallow (mostly 3-5 feet deep at the maximum), with a small footbridge at its southern end and a number of fallen trees that line its banks. It was a PERFECT spot for snorkeling and especially for underwater photography.  One pulls oneself along slowly by one’s finger tips over the lightly-algae covered rocks (gloves are highly recommended but not essential) and there are fish to be seen everywhere one looks!  The best thing about this cove is that it is inhabited by well over 30 species of smaller reef fish (we did not see a single Parrot fish) that are rarely seen in other snorkeling spots and are easy to photograph given the shallowness of the water! Bermuda Bream (with their oddly placed big black spot at the base of their tails), Four-Eyed Butterfly fish pairs, Squirrel Fish, Glass Eyed Red Snapper, a wide variety of Grunts and a host of other colorful fish were present in abundance—some had to be identified from the pictures after we returned, especially the juveniles that are differently colored than their adult counterparts!   

One word of caution about this Grotto Bay site.  As marvelous as it is for snorkeling, the shallowness of the water has one draw back—when the sea water from the Atlantic floods in to the area from the Northern side of the island (only 200 yards away on the other side of the bay’s inlet) the water temperature fluctuates dramatically from sunny warm to chilly cold.  It warms up quickly enough in the sunshine, but there were times we wished we had worn our wet suits!!

Snorkeling Grade: A+