For snorkeling in the Grenadines, look no further than the beautiful Tobago Cays, a government-preserved wildlife area whose vibrant colors can top any Caribbean postcard you've seen.
These five uninhabited islands—a very popular day trip from the resorts in the area—offer a spectacular horseshoe reef, although they can get overrun at times with all the boating crowds.
We saw tons of tropical fish here, and thankfully, no scary animal life like sharks or stingrays. Our resort, Palm Island, had its own boat to take guests here for the day, which was wonderful because we ended up going with only one other couple.
On the way to the islands, we dropped off one of the resort staff, who set up a full barbecue on the beach. After an hour of snorkeling, we were famished, and it was such a luxury to be able to go onto dry land for a beach BBQ of chicken, steak, and mahi-mahi. In an admirable effort to keep the islands pristine, the law even required us to take our garbage back on the boat with us, as there were no trashcans on the island.
Note: The Tobago Cays were the only place I visited in the Grenadines where people were hawking shirts and jewelry on the beach—a regular occurrence in other parts of the Caribbean and Mexico. It was no ordinary sales pitch, however. We didn’t even need to have money with us, since the woman told us we could pay them later that week. Talk about trust!