Eastern Atoll Lagoon Snorkel
LOCATION The Lagoon, Cocos (Keeling) Islands Australia
DEPTH 1-10 Meters
WATER TEMP 25-30 Degrees
DIFFICULTY Medium
This tour is likely to stop at The Rip which is deep, fast moving drift snorkel.
FEATURE
Google Map data © 2024 Imagery © Airbus, CNES / Airbus, Maxar Technologies
Eastern Atoll Lagoon Snorkel
LOCATION The Lagoon, Cocos (Keeling) Islands Australia
DEPTH 1-10 Meters
WATER TEMP 25-30 Degrees
DIFFICULTY Medium
This tour is likely to stop at The Rip which is deep, fast moving drift snorkel.
FEATURE
Google Map data © 2024 Imagery © Airbus, CNES / Airbus, Maxar Technologies
Eastern Atoll Lagoon Snorkel
If you have made it to the Cocos Islands and love to snorkel, make sure you go on a tour of the lagoon. Cocos Day runs boat tours that take you to different sites around the atoll that you can’t get to on your own. See manta rays, reef sharks, turtles and get VIP treatment at the incredible Rip snorkel. Local guides will give you an amazing experience.
What Can I See?
Your expert local guide takes you to a variety of locations so you could see all sorts of things.
- Turtles
- Manta Rays
- Sharks
- Fish
- Enormous Giant Clam
Getting There
Pick up in town or meet at the boat Rumah Baru Boat ramp.
Where & How do you get in?
On our tour we did a combination of shore entries and boat entries. So you will have to be mobile enough to get in and out of the boat – there is a ladder to make it easier.
Best Season
The best weather is from April to November when the trade winds take the edge off the humidity and you avoid monsoon showers and potentially cyclones.
How Busy / Crowds
- It’s a small boat, so only 5 people including the guide
Parking
- Parking is available at the boat ramp
Costs / Permits
The Eastern Atoll Explorer is a 4 hour small group tour run by Cocosday. It is a half day tour that runs in the morning and afternoon with a minimum of 2 people.
The information for each snorkel spot is provided by people who have snorkelled there. However, snorkelling conditions change daily. Please be aware that wind, swell, tides and cloud cover can all affect visibility and your experience in the water.
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Tours
Our snorkelling tour was with Cocosday.
Best Conditions
The beauty of a local guide is that they will take you to the best spots for that day.
Windy Map Instructions – Click on the wind icon in the top right to see other conditions such as swell, temperature, rain. To clear the four day forecast click and close the wind icon.
Facilities on Board
Be prepared to spend 4 hours on a small boat. There is shade and drink and nibbles but no bathrooms.
Shade
Food & Drinks
About the Snorkel
If you want to make the most of your snorkelling time on the Cocos Islands, getting a local guide is a great way to find some amazing snorkelling spot in the Cocos Lagoon.
What you see on the tour will depend on the conditions, and we couldn’t have been happier with our tour of the atoll.
We started at Prison Island which is the little nub of sand on the other side of the Rip at one end of Direction Island. If you are snorkelling The Rip, Prison Island can be hard to get to, so it was great seeing the other side of The Rip and snorkelling amongst lots of colourful fish, giant trevally and reef sharks.
Since we were so close, we did a couple of laps of The Rip snorkel. But because you have a boat with you, you don’t have to get yourself back to shore after drifting through The Rip, you can get a ride back in – it was much easier than how we had done it a few days earlier!
Next stop was a giant clam. On our way there we spotted some turtles which was nice bonus. It was a bit of a dive down to the clam but with our small group all comfortable in the water it was a good stop.
It was off to try our luck at a manta ray cleaning station next. Unfortunately, no mantas came past, but our splashing attracted 8-12 big reef sharks. They were very curious, and it was a thrilling experience having so many of them swim around us. It might not be everyone’s idea of fun, but we loved it!
Check out the Atoll Explorer if you get to Cocos for some great snorkelling in the lagoon.
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