Snorkeling at Northwest Point Resort

 

Footsteps from world class snorkeling and tropical sea life

The reef surrounding Northwest Point Resort attracts an abundant and vibrant variety of fish which make it ideal snorkeling territory. Our guests tell us they often see as much with just a mask and snorkel as they do scuba diving outside the reef. And, it’s a great place to learn to snorkel since the waters are clean, clear, and gentle. The legendary ‘barrier reef,’ which mirrors Provo’s east coast and jogs slightly shoreward right in front of Northwest Point Resort, is not only home to millions of marine plants and animals, it also acts as a blockade to strong currents, eliminating ‘under tows’ and ‘rip tides’ completely. Having this natural barricade has the added benefit of tending to keep larger ‘deep sea’ predators on the outside of the reef, which means, the smaller, colorful varieties of sea life remain in abundance, inside the reef.

We have gone the extra mile from a safety perspective and added large "Marker Buoys" which show you exactly where the best locations are, but also, they provide swimmers with two very important things. One is confidence; even on their very first adventure, even first time snorkelers know exactly where to go and where to go back to. And secondly, safety, Green Buoys mark shallow places where the white-sand bottom allows tired swimmers a place where they can comfortably stand up and get a bit of a rest along their way.

We can set you up with everything you need for a fun and exciting day of snorkeling. Right off our beach, the sandy bottom, soft turtle grass, and colorful coral formations are home to literally hundreds of species of fish, as well as conch, lobster, turtles, sting rays and even the occasional shark (don’t worry, the majority of our big toothed friends are of the harmless reef or nurse shark variety).

In addition to wildly colored and interestingly shaped brain and fan coral, common sea life you’ll see in our waters include, purple gorgonians, yellow snapper, anemones, sea cucumbers, sergeant majors, green parrotfish, long-nosed trumpet fish, the ominous-looking green moray, grouper and barracuda.

Ask our knowledgeable resident managers for directions to a beautiful nearby secret beach located north of Malcolm Beach with a mile of white sand, where the reef lies just off shore. Interesting rock formations make for excellent snorkeling and be sure to keep your eyes open for spiny lobster and even sea horses.