🌴 Our Anguilla Journal 🌴

We came expecting one of the Caribbean’s best snorkeling destinations. What we discovered beneath the surface made us fall even more in love with Anguilla.

🏝️ Rendezvous Bay Hotel
🐠 Little Bay
🌊 Prickly Pear

Where Are All the Fish?

If you’ve ever visited Anguilla, you may have found yourself asking the exact same question we did.

Our family has completely fallen in love with Anguilla.

There is something about this island that feels different the moment you arrive. The pace slows down. The beaches are uncrowded. The people are incredibly kind. The sea looks almost unreal, with every shade of turquoise imaginable stretching to the horizon.

Over the years, Rendezvous Bay Hotel has become our home away from home. Some of our favorite memories have happened here: morning walks along the beach before breakfast, our kids laughing in the warm Caribbean water, afternoons spent floating in the calm sea, evenings watching the sun slowly disappear beyond the horizon. It’s one of those rare places that immediately feels peaceful.

Naturally, we couldn’t wait to snorkel. The water is among the clearest we’ve ever seen anywhere in the Caribbean. Visibility often seems endless, and looking down through it almost feels like looking through glass. So we expected an underwater world overflowing with colorful tropical fish.

Instead, we found something unexpected. There were certainly fish, especially around Little Bay and Prickly Pear, but nowhere near the abundance we had imagined. Each time we finished snorkeling, we found ourselves asking the same question.

Where are all the fish?

The answer surprised us. And once we understood it, we appreciated Anguilla even more.

Why Is Anguilla Different From Most Caribbean Islands?

One of the biggest surprises for us wasn’t simply that there were fewer fish in the spots we happened to snorkel. It was learning why that might be, and realizing the real answer is more interesting (and more hopeful) than we expected.

Many Caribbean islands, including St. Lucia, Dominica, Martinique, and St. Vincent, were created by volcanic activity. That volcanic landscape continues beneath the ocean, producing rocky reefs, underwater cliffs, and extensive coral habitats where thousands of fish can live.

Anguilla is completely different. Rather than towering volcanic peaks, it’s a flat limestone island famous for its spectacular white sand beaches. Those same beaches continue beneath the surface, creating broad sandy bottoms that reflect sunlight and produce the breathtaking shades of turquoise that have made Anguilla famous around the world.

“The same white sand that makes Anguilla unbelievably beautiful above the water also shapes what you’ll find beneath it.”

While Anguilla certainly has coral reefs, especially around Little Bay, Prickly Pear, Shoal Bay East, and a few offshore spots, they’re more scattered than the reef systems found in destinations built entirely around diving. That doesn’t mean the fish aren’t there. It just means they tend to gather around specific reef patches rather than being spread evenly across every beach, so where you snorkel matters as much as when.

The Crystal-Clear Water Theory

This was the part we found ourselves genuinely curious about. There’s a popular theory connecting Anguilla’s famous water clarity to the fish we didn’t see, though we’ll be honest: after digging into it, we learned the real science is more nuanced than a tidy explanation.

The theory goes like this: with no rivers on the island, very little sediment ever clouds the water, which is part of why it looks so impossibly clear. Clearer water can sometimes mean fewer nutrients drifting around for plankton to feed on, and less open-water plankton can mean fewer fish passing through to feed on it.

Here’s the nuance, though: marine biologists have long pointed out that some of the clearest, most nutrient-poor tropical waters in the world are also home to incredibly rich reef life. Healthy reefs are remarkably efficient at recycling nutrients within their own coral and sand structure, rather than depending on plankton floating by in open water. So water clarity alone doesn’t tell the whole story. Reef health, coral cover, and how sheltered a particular spot is all matter just as much, if not more.

💡 What We Actually Think

Our honest takeaway: Anguilla’s clear water is real, and the quieter feel of some spots is real too. But “few fish” isn’t true everywhere on the island. Reef-rich spots like Shoal Bay East, Little Bay, and Crocus Bay are known locally for having some of the best fish variety around, and we’d encourage anyone visiting to explore a few different spots rather than judging the island’s marine life by a single beach.

Before visiting Anguilla, we assumed crystal-clear water automatically meant incredible snorkeling filled with schools of tropical fish everywhere we looked. That’s simply not how it works, on this island or anywhere else. What we found instead was a mix: some beaches built for swimming and relaxing, and a handful of reef spots built for genuinely great snorkeling.

Anguilla offers something for both. Pristine water and untouched beaches for the days you want to float and unwind, and a few beautifully specific reef pockets for the days you want to seek out fish, turtles, and rays.

“We stopped assuming clear water meant one thing, and started exploring the island spot by spot instead.”

Where We Love Exploring Underwater

While Anguilla may not have the same marine life density as some Caribbean destinations, it still offers beautiful places to snorkel. The key is knowing what to expect, and where to go.

🏝️ Little Bay

If we had to choose one favorite snorkeling location, this would probably be it. Little Bay’s rocky cliffs and scattered coral patches create some of the island’s best habitat for reef fish.

⭐ Scenic Beauty ★★★★★  |  🐠 Marine Life ★★★★☆  |  👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family Friendly ★★★★☆  |  🤿 Snorkeling ★★★★★

🌊 Prickly Pear

One of our favorite day trips. The reefs here generally support more fish than most beaches on the main island, and the crystal-clear water makes snorkeling incredibly enjoyable.

⭐ Scenic Beauty ★★★★★  |  🐠 Marine Life ★★★★☆  |  👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family Friendly ★★★★★  |  🤿 Snorkeling ★★★★★

🩵 Shoal Bay East

One of the world’s most beautiful beaches, and honestly one of the better spots on the island for fish-spotting too. Head toward the reef along the eastern edge and you’ll find sergeant majors, wrasses, snappers, and parrotfish among the coral.

⭐ Scenic Beauty ★★★★★  |  🐠 Marine Life ★★★★☆  |  👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family Friendly ★★★★★  |  🤿 Snorkeling ★★★★☆

🐢 Rendezvous Bay OUR FAVORITE

Our favorite beach on the island. Would we recommend it for snorkeling? Not really. Would we recommend it for swimming, relaxing, and simply enjoying one of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean? Absolutely. The water is calm, crystal clear, and simply magical.

⭐ Scenic Beauty ★★★★★  |  🏊 Swimming ★★★★★  |  👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family Friendly ★★★★★  |  🐠 Snorkeling ★★☆☆☆

💡 Our Biggest Tip

If you’re visiting Anguilla expecting every beach to look like an aquarium, you may leave disappointed. But if you come expecting some of the clearest water, softest sand, and most relaxing beaches in the Caribbean, you’ll probably fall in love with the island just like we did.

Sometimes the Best Discoveries Aren’t the Ones You Expect

Somewhere between our first snorkel at Little Bay and another beautiful afternoon at Prickly Pear, our expectations quietly changed. We stopped searching for huge schools of tropical fish. Instead, we started noticing everything else.

🐢 Sea Turtles
There is something magical about watching a sea turtle glide effortlessly through water so clear it almost disappears beneath it. It never became ordinary. Every sighting felt like a gift.

🌊 The Light
One of the things we remember most isn’t actually an animal. It’s the sunlight. Watching the Caribbean sun dance across the white sand beneath us made the entire ocean seem to glow from within.

🐠 The Little Things
Instead of searching for hundreds of fish, we started appreciating each individual encounter: a colorful parrotfish, a trumpetfish blending into the reef, a stingray quietly crossing the sand. Every discovery became more meaningful because we had to slow down enough to notice it.

🐢 Even on Land
One of our favorite surprises wasn’t underwater at all. Walking around Rendezvous Bay Hotel, we discovered several beautiful red-footed tortoises quietly wandering the property. The boys absolutely loved finding them, and those unexpected moments became just as memorable as anything we saw while snorkeling.

Our Perspective Changed

Before this trip, we thought snorkeling was about seeing as much as possible. Anguilla taught us something completely different: sometimes nature doesn’t need to overwhelm you. Sometimes it simply invites you to slow down. Once we stopped comparing Anguilla to other islands, we started appreciating it for exactly what it is. Peaceful. Authentic. Unhurried. Beautiful in its own quiet way.

“We didn’t find fewer reasons to love Anguilla. We found different ones.”

Some Places Impress You. Others Stay With You.

Every island in the Caribbean has something special. Some are famous for dramatic mountains, some for waterfalls, others for spectacular coral reefs filled with thousands of tropical fish. Anguilla isn’t trying to compete with any of them, and that’s exactly what makes it so extraordinary.

We came expecting one thing. We left appreciating something completely different. Instead of measuring our days by how many fish we saw while snorkeling, we started measuring them by the moments that mattered: morning coffee looking across Rendezvous Bay, our kids laughing in water so clear it barely seemed real, red-footed tortoises wandering the grounds of Rendezvous Bay Hotel, floating together in the calm Caribbean Sea, another unforgettable sunset painting the sky gold, pink, and orange.

Some of our favorite snorkeling adventures were at Little Bay and Prickly Pear. Did we see thousands of fish? No. But every colorful parrotfish, every sea turtle, every stingray gliding across the white sand somehow felt even more special because we had to slow down and look for them. Anguilla taught us that nature doesn’t always have to be loud to be beautiful.

Sometimes the greatest luxury isn’t seeing more. It’s slowing down enough to truly appreciate what’s already there.

Once we understood why Anguilla’s underwater world is different from many other Caribbean islands, everything made sense. The same limestone that creates its endless white sand beaches also creates the crystal-clear turquoise water that has become the island’s signature. The same clean, nutrient-poor water that limits large schools of fish is also what makes swimming here feel like floating through glass. It’s a beautiful trade-off, and one we wouldn’t change.

Our family has visited many beautiful places. Yet somehow, when we think about where we want to return, our minds always come back to Anguilla, not because it’s the busiest, not because it’s the most famous, but because of how it makes us feel. Peaceful. Present. Connected. For us, Anguilla isn’t simply another vacation destination. It has become part of our family’s story.

Every visit makes us fall a little more in love with Anguilla. ❤️

Thinking About Visiting Anguilla?

If it’s your first visit, here are a few things we wish we had known before our first trip.

From Our Family to Yours

This article reflects our family’s experiences exploring Anguilla over several visits. Nature changes every day, and every snorkel is different. Whether you see one sea turtle or one hundred fish, we hope you leave appreciating this remarkable island as much as we have. Happy travels.

Have You Been to Anguilla?

Did your snorkeling experience surprise you too? We’d love to hear about your favorite beach, snorkeling spot, or unforgettable memory. Share your experience in the comments below.