We get asked about snorkeling a lot, so here is the straight version.
For a while we sold private snorkeling charters out of St. Pete. We did not run those trips ourselves. Adventure Outfitters ran them for us, and they took people out into the Gulf, where the water is clear enough to make snorkeling worth the trip.
We are not booking those charters anymore. Adventure Outfitters still is. So if snorkeling is what you came for, skip the middleman and go straight to them.
Where the good water is: Egmont Key
If you only do one snorkeling trip out here, make it Egmont Key. It sits right at the mouth of Tampa Bay, you can only get there by boat, and the water around it is clear in a way the bay never is.
The draw is what is under the surface. The island holds the ruins of Fort Dade, built in 1898, and parts of the old fort have been swallowed by the Gulf over the years. Brick foundations and chunks of the old structures sit in shallow water along the shoreline with fish living in and out of them. Snorkeling over a hundred-year-old fort is a strange and very good way to spend an afternoon. There is a lighthouse and a walkable ruin trail above the water line too, so nobody in the group is stuck if they do not want to swim.
Who to call
Adventure Outfitters is a PADI 5-Star dive center in South Tampa, at 4556 S Manhattan Ave. Family and veteran run. They rent and sell snorkeling gear, they teach proper classes for anyone who wants to get comfortable in the water first, and they run guided trips out into the Gulf and up to the Florida springs, which stay clear and a steady 72 degrees year round.
They are the same crew who were running our trips, so this is not a recommendation we are making from a distance. Call them at (813) 832-6669 or find them at adventuretampa.com.
What about snorkeling right here in Tampa Bay?
Different question, and the answer is no, not really. The bay is an estuary. Rivers feed it, the bottom is sand and silt, and the same water that makes it a great home for dolphins, manatees, and game fish keeps visibility down to a few feet on a good day. That is why the snorkeling trips ran out in the Gulf and not here. If someone offers you bay snorkeling, you will mostly be looking at green.
What a boat day on the bay IS good for
The bay does not have coral. It has everything else: a skyline you can only see from the water, dolphins that ride your wake, sandbars where you can swim in waist-deep water with a drink in hand, and sunsets that make the whole boat go quiet. That is what our captained charters are built around.
If your group wants to get in the water, our trips anchor up at spots like Beer Can Island where swimming is the whole point. No mask required.
