Hello

I am searching for ideas for our next family trip.

We live in Paris.

We are 3 :

My 8 years old daughter wo loves snorkeling

My wife : she tried diving a couple of times but she prefers snorkeling

Me : Advanced open water with about 50 dives

So we are searching for destinations in order to see big animals : dolphins, whales, manta rays, sea lions, sharks…

We already went in Marsa Alam and enjoyed it but I would not go again in Egypt for the moment regarding the situation in the Middle East.

Last summer, we went to Reunion Island but no luck because it has been a year without humpback whales.

So, do you have any ideas with easy snorkeling and chances to see one of the animals listed above?

+ a couple of nice dives for me.

For the period , it would be end of February or in august.

For the moment I thought about :

1. French Polynesia : too expensive , too far away and my daughter is too young

2. Baja California : it is also far away and the plane is very expensive from France

3. Maldives : in February, it is the peak season so nice hotels are very expensive. Maybe a local island with a good house reef? Or waiting for august in order to have cheaper hotels, manta and whale sharks at hanifaru bay because very risky concerning the weather…?

4. Curacao : it seems that it is not very good for big animals?

5. Bimini : snorkeling with dolphins ans diving with hammerhead in February? But nothing else to do on the island

Other Ideas? Maybe cheaper and / or closer? Azores in august but again maybe my daughter is too young

Thank you for your help.

Don't know what the flight costs are like but you can fly into Singapore from most European cities with a lot of choices of airline and there is a direct flight to Manado with resorts in North sulawesi.

I think you can go direct into Jakarta from Amsterdam on Garuda. Then there is a huge array of resorts in Indonesia you could connect to you could check ones that the winds are favourable at from quite a big list.

There is also options to Bangkok and getting to Phuket area or Malaysia and various dive spots there. I think Air France flies direct to Manila and lots of resorts to choose from there, You can fly to Bali as well with many options, but mostly 1 stop on the way.

2 hours ago, Chris Ross said:

Don't know what the flight costs are like but you can fly into Singapore from most European cities with a lot of choices of airline and there is a direct flight to Manado with resorts in North sulawesi.

I can answer From Zurich to Manado ( more or less the same price as from Paris, but for us Zurich is nearer as Paris that's why we srtat from ZRH) the price if you are lucky can be found for under 900 € in economie (25 kg) but if you are to late, or if you trying in a "bad" period 1100 or more are standard.

From Singapore you have a lot of destination ... but it is a long trip with a 8 year old daughter. The Main point is that you can find some resort with good service and not expensive.

Hi @kalani

I'm sitting here racking my brains of destinations for you. I too like you, thought of Baja California as the sealions at Los Islotes are amazing and you have chances of all the big animals there too and proximity to Cabo Pulmo.

I also thought of Oahu, Hawaii, for sharks and dolphins plus humpback whales but again your air fare would probably be expensive. I always used to book with American Airlines and take advantage of their free stopovers to explore a new place, plus it was much cheaper that way too. But with your young daughter, I appreciate that this may not be an option.

The Galapagos Islands would be another option where you could be land based off one of the main islands and explore other islands through day trips. You definitely have great chances of swimming with sealions, sharks, marine iguanas and penguins there plus seeing whale sharks during the summer months, but this area may be harder to access by day boats.

The West Coast of Australia, Coral Bay is great for mantas and Ningaloo Reef for whale sharks is another option and is an easy drive (along long) from Perth.

Other options I thought of are:

Dominican Republic for Humpback Whales

Dominica for the Sperm Whales

and

Costa Rica on the Pacific Side which is the only place in the world where both Northern and Southern Humpback Whales come to mate and give birth. You can also snorkel to see white tipped reef sharks off Cano Island which is possible by day trip from Drake Bay. There's the chance of seeing up to 25 different whale and dolphin species and you will see huge pods of Spinner Dolphins, Pantropical Spotted Dolphins, Bottlenose Dolphins, Pacific White Sided Dolphinse chance to see Rough-Toothed Dophins, Rissos and even Orcas if you are lucky.

You will also see different turtle species too.

I hope that this helps a bit and will keep having a think of destinations that I've visited to help you.

Have a great New Year and good luck with finding somewhere.

Maria

Ocean Visions Photography

"Just wandering along in the ocean with my compact camera and smartphone :)"

Thank you very much for your answers.

7 hours ago, Chris Ross said:

Don't know what the flight costs are like but you can fly into Singapore from most European cities with a lot of choices of airline and there is a direct flight to Manado with resorts in North sul

Manado is good for big animals? I Thought that it was more for macro.

5 hours ago, Maria Munn said:

The Galapagos Islands would be another option where you could be land based off one of the main islands and explore other islands through day trips. You definitely have great chances of swimming with sealions, sharks, marine iguanas and penguins there plus seeing whale sharks during the summer months, but this area may be harder to access by day boats.

The West Coast of Australia, Coral Bay is great for mantas and Ningaloo Reef for whale sharks is another option and is an easy drive (along long) from Perth.

Other options I thought of are:

Dominican Republic for Humpback Whales

Dominica for the Sperm Whales

and

Costa Rica on the Pacific Side which is the only place in the world where both Northern and Southern Humpback Whales come to mate and give birth. You can also snorkel to see white tipped reef sharks off Cano Island which is possible by day trip from Drake Bay. There's the chance of seeing up to 25 different whale and dolphin species and you will see huge pods of Spinner Dolphins, Pantropical Spotted Dolphins, Bottlenose Dolphins, Pacific White Sided Dolphinse chance to see Rough-Toothed Dophins, Rissos and even Orcas if you are lucky.

You will also see different turtle species too.

Thank you for all these ideas.

Galapagos : I just talked about it with my wife and she is scared by the iguanas lol

Australia and Hawaii : too far away

Dominican Republic for humpback whales : could be a good one. I will have a closer look

Costa Rica: I think it is forbidden to go in the water with dolphins, right?

1 hour ago, kalani said:

Manado is good for big animals?

It never used to be......

20 minutes ago, TimG said:

It never used to be......

What is a big animal ?

Dolphin ? Yes you have some dolphin tour to do (made 2 times)
They are also sometimes some whale tour (We didn't make it, but I guess they was some sperm whale some guest in the resort made the tour and saw the whales)
Dugon ? Yes We saw 1, 2 times (Bunaken + Bangka)

Shark ? Yes it's possible (Bunaken)

After that you can see... a lot of turtles in Bunaken. and small and very small things

6 hours ago, kalani said:

Thank you very much for your answers.

Manado is good for big animals? I Thought that it was more for macro.

Thank you for all these ideas.

Galapagos : I just talked about it with my wife and she is scared by the iguanas lol

Australia and Hawaii : too far away

Dominican Republic for humpback whales : could be a good one. I will have a closer look

Costa Rica: I think it is forbidden to go in the water with dolphins, right?

probably not a known site, but some large things will be there, it was basically one option you could get to from Singapore. The idea was to give you some options to consider with flight schedules. There are lots of direct flight into Singapore but probably not so many destinations you can fly to from there for diving. Getting into Indonesia there are not many direct flights to Jakarta except from Amsterdam, but once you are in Jakarta you can travel anywhere in Indonesia. Some flights AMS-CGK are operated by Garuda, some by KLM, Garuda is reported to be better. Minimizing connections is always a good first approach to travel.

Once you are Indonesia there are multiple options to consider, same with the Phillipines etc. On the big animals question often this involves drops in the open ocean well away from snorkelling sites, quite a number of them you are snorkelling/freediving but I wonder how suitable it might be for your daughter?

It seems the most likely option for big animals with snorkelling options might be a site where there are manta cleaning stations with plenty of coral/snorkelling spots in the general area. Mantas can be seasonal so you would need to check into timing to visit.

18 hours ago, kalani said:

Hello

I am searching for ideas for our next family trip.

We live in Paris.

We are 3 :

My 8 years old daughter wo loves snorkeling

My wife : she tried diving a couple of times but she prefers snorkeling

Me : Advanced open water with about 50 dives

So we are searching for destinations in order to see big animals : dolphins, whales, manta rays, sea lions, sharks…

We already went in Marsa Alam and enjoyed it but I would not go again in Egypt for the moment regarding the situation in the Middle East.

Last summer, we went to Reunion Island but no luck because it has been a year without humpback whales.

So, do you have any ideas with easy snorkeling and chances to see one of the animals listed above?

+ a couple of nice dives for me.

For the period , it would be end of February or in august.

For the moment I thought about :

1. French Polynesia : too expensive , too far away and my daughter is too young

2. Baja California : it is also far away and the plane is very expensive from France

3. Maldives : in February, it is the peak season so nice hotels are very expensive. Maybe a local island with a good house reef? Or waiting for august in order to have cheaper hotels, manta and whale sharks at hanifaru bay because very risky concerning the weather…?

4. Curacao : it seems that it is not very good for big animals?

5. Bimini : snorkeling with dolphins ans diving with hammerhead in February? But nothing else to do on the island

Other Ideas? Maybe cheaper and / or closer? Azores in august but again maybe my daughter is too young

Thank you for your help.

18 hours ago, kalani said:

@kalani - Manado doesn't have big animals, unless you can find one of the very rare dugongs around Gangga.

We have traveled around the world with our kids (both started as young snorkelers, then were certified for diving when they each reached the age of 12).

Cost is always a consideration. Regading distance, your 8 year old is likely amazingly resilient - they will be great traveling long distance if given the chance.

Places we enjoyed having our kids snorkel (before they began diving):
- Palau
- Uepi (Solomon Islands): snorkeled with mantas and sharks, present every day)
- Belize (dolphins present most days)

10 hours ago, CaolIla said:

What is a big animal ?

Dolphin ? Yes you have some dolphin tour to do (made 2 times)
They are also sometimes some whale tour (We didn't make it, but I guess they was some sperm whale some guest in the resort made the tour and saw the whales)
Dugon ? Yes We saw 1, 2 times (Bunaken + Bangka)

Shark ? Yes it's possible (Bunaken)

After that you can see... a lot of turtles in Bunaken. and small and very small things

Thank you. For dolphins, it is "only" dolphins watching and not snorkeling?

@OneYellowTang : thank you very much.

Palau : it looks very beautiful before very remote place. Maybe an idea to keep when my daughter will be a little bit older

Solomon Islands : awesome but too far away

Belize : sounds good. Do you have more information concerning the places where we can swim with dolphins? It seems that it is also possible to dive with them. On land wildlife looks good too ;-)

29 minutes ago, kalani said:

Thank you. For dolphins, it is "only" dolphins watching and not snorkeling?

No snorkeling... the dolphins don't stay they swim but the 2 times we made the tour they was a lot of... probably more than 100

In snorkleing you can see the turtles in Bunaken.
My wife also see a dugong but the chance is probably in the range of 0 to 0.1%
Sulawesi_Dugong | Hugues Brun | Flickr

The second part was at the end of a sunset dive in Bangka For the guide it was the first time he saw a dugon in front of the resort near the jetty

Edited yesterday at 08:06 AM1 day by CaolIla

Maldives sounds a good option. For somewhere a bit closer to France than SE Asia you could check out Zanzibar, Pemba and Mafia Island in Tanzania. Mnemba Island in Zanzibar has swimming with dolphins but sounds badly managed.

Singapore Airlines from Paris to Singapore for a stopover then on to anywhere in that region with easy connections (Australia, Indonesia) is worth considering. There are options for whales and whalesharks in Australia and Lady Elliot is good for mantas in August.

Palau for a family trip of three with mixed interest is a bit challenging. The day-boat diving is super (sharks and mantas) but not well set up for snorkelling and diving ... but possible. If you have suitable affordable flights from Europe to Palau the kayaking in the Rock Islands is worth checking out mixed in with some days diving (see Paddling Palau's website). You can camp out on secluded islands and snorkel from kayaks but suited to two or four people in double kayaks.

Whale shark in Indonesia Sogod Bay... combine with Moalboal and the BIG school of small sardines in snorkeling.

Starting in Cebu you can make some trips in the region

2 hours ago, CaolIla said:

Whale shark in Indonesia Sogod Bay...

It's a drag to get to Sogod Bay! Fly to Manila (from Paris only 2 direct flights per week with AF) + domestic flight to Tacloban + 4hrs land transfer to Padre Burgos/Sogod Bay.

Add on top there is absolutely nothing to do around for non divers, limited food options, snorkeling with whale sharks that happen only a few times a week with limited space and the accoms are quite basic divers resorts.

Palau or Australia or Solomons : flight price from France will be crazy expensive, for Palau needs to get to Manila or Taipei + additional flight to Palau with "long haul" pricing, for Oz Paris-SIngapore + international flight., for Solomons add another flight from Oz.

Manado : except for some very specific and deep dives with hammerheads (Batu Kapal on Nain) and pure luck to spot a dugong on Bangka or Manado mainland sites, no real big fish action.

In Indonesia, one of the easiest and more reliable island for manta spotting/snorkeling will be Bali/Nusa Penida.

In malaysian Borneo, my daughter loved snorkeling Sipadan where we went 3 times in the same year when she was 9yo : lots of reef sharks, turtles, schools of cudas, jackfish. Takes a flight to S'pore then regional cheap flights to Tawau.

Closer to France, Maldives will certainly be your best bet.

Otherwise Mexico on the caribbean coast can also provide whaleshark snorkeling in season (Holbox).

Everybody's still looking for the easy to go, affordable flights and accoms, great sightseeing and fantastic diving place.

I guess that if it might have existed once, it's not anymore.

11 minutes ago, Luko said:

It's a drag to get to Sogod Bay! Fly to Manila (from Paris only 2 direct flights per week with AF) + domestic flight to Tacloban + 4hrs land transfer to Padre Burgos/Sogod Bay.

Add on top there is absolutely nothing to do around for non divers, limited food options, snorkeling with whale sharks that happen only a few times a week with limited space and the accoms are quite basic divers resorts.

No no they are news options.
Since one year you can take a boat to make Cebu Maasin. Maasin Padre Burgos 30 minutes with car.

You can go stay 3 or 4 nights and comme back to Cebu.
Tacloban --> Padre Burgos during a storm 3 1/2 hours last november ;)

here something to read Compte-rendu de voyage aux Philippines du 8 au 25 novembre 2025 - Compte-rendus de voyages - Plongeur.com - Le site de la plongée sous marine It's in french but today the translations are easy. @kalani is french he will read that without any problem ;)

30 minutes ago, CaolIla said:

No no they are news options.
Since one year you can take a boat to make Cebu Maasin. Maasin Padre Burgos 30 minutes with car.

Meaning you have to depart from Cebu City (no direct flights from France) + 3 hrs ferry ride. Almost equivalent if not worse routing if you need to take a flight back from Manila.

(How come typhoons or rainstorms in november don't suprize me :) , I never dive the Phils outside Feb-May, had too much problems with weather in my stays end of the year.)

Personally Sogod Bay was one of the place that didn't lmpress me at all in the Phils (been in 2022) : the top of Napantao was wiped out by Odette as most of the shallows everywhere else, their signature night dive at the pier is now closed and the so called "little Lembeh" is more "little" than anything else.

How about New Zealand. Whilst the flights are longer, you can do it with only one change with the same airline somewhere in the gulf states, and you get bags checked and good aircraft all the way. The total travel time is usually less than many locations that are actually closer to Europe.

Then rent a car in Auckland with diving to pick from including the Poor Knights. Plenty of other outdoor stuff. Easy to make it up as you go. Easy to rent (or buy) dive and outdoor kit in sizes to fit the whole family, so you don't need to take everything with you.

54 minutes ago, Luko said:

Meaning you have to depart from Cebu City (no direct flights from France) + 3 hrs ferry ride. Almost equivalent if not worse routing if you need to take a flight back from Manila.

(How come typhoons or rainstorms in november don't suprize me :) , I never dive the Phils outside Feb-May, had too much problems with weather in my stays end of the year.)

Personally Sogod Bay was one of the place that didn't lmpress me at all in the Phils (been in 2022) : the top of Napantao was wiped out by Odette as most of the shallows everywhere else, their signature night dive at the pier is now closed and the so called "little Lembeh" is more "little" than anything else.

In the middle of a stay there is no problem.

Almost all whale shark tour from the Sogod Bay Scuba Resort was "succesful" they saw the shark like we did
Sogod_01 | Whale shark Sogod bay | Hugues Brun | Flickr

Yes we had bad weather last november (as you can read in my report) but last time december was not bad. You can't allways be lucky. ;)

Nautilus Liveaboards - Striped Marlin & Bait Balls Mexico Sardine Run

You should reconsider Baja!

I did a snorkeling-based trip to Magdalena Bay a couple of months ago that is the ultimate family trip and checks most of your requirements.

Snorkeling, Whales, Sea Lions (1000's), Dolphins. Add Marlin and Sail Fish, Turtles, and more. All from a great liveaboard taking off from Cabo San Lucas. Which is a fun town with lots to offer travelers with great hotels, resorts, food, shopping.

(Whales, Dolphins, Sea Lions, Marlin in photos. :) )

Edited 21 hours ago21 hr by Dave_Hicks

Thank you again to all for all your replies ;-)

@CaolIla : the encounter with whale sharks should have been awesome

@John Liddiard : New Zealand , like Hawaii , Australia, French Polynesia : really too far away

@John E : Maldives is really an option but the number of isalnds is overwhelming ... from what I understood :

• During the good season (which would be end of February to match with school holidays) : big resorts are way too expensive for us. So, maybe the solution is to go on a local island but I can't find one which check all the boxes :

  • Digurah : nice beaches but not a lot of underwater life in the house reef

  • Ukulhas : it seems to have a lots to see underwater but a lot of construction in progress on the island and a lot of garbage

  • Dharavandhoo (kia beach hotel) ? any feedbacks?

  • Other islands?

• During the wet season (in august for the school holidays) : hotel are cheaper and hanifauru bay would have whale sharks and manta rays . So, it would be possible to have a nicer hotel but with high chance of rain...

@Dave_Hicks : I think that Baja is one of the best destination for the variety of big animals but corruption is a thing that I can't stand. I just read the post about the scam with camera housing at the airport : that's crazy!

@kalani An idea... Hanifaru Bay in Maldives.... Hanifaru Bay_1 | PMT à Hanifaru Bay, Maldives | Hugues Brun | Flickr

Hanifaru Bay 2021/09 | Flickr

We do this and one or 2 years after it was a "Must do again"... That's in snorkeling

1 hour ago, kalani said:

@Dave_Hicks : I think that Baja is one of the best destination for the variety of big animals but corruption is a thing that I can't stand. I just read the post about the scam with camera housing at the airport : that's crazy!

The Cabo "tax" scam is a menace, but it's a play the odds scenario really. Most of the time the screening is random, and you might increase your odds by putting camera gear in a boring looking suitcase. For Mag Bay you also don't need a lot of gear. Just a housing, 1 port, 1 lens. No strobes or light as you will be snorkeling the entire time. You might have a pay 100-200 usd, but that's a small expense you can plan for in a much more expensive trip.

I've been there about 4 times since they started taxing photographers, but I have not been hit yet. So it's not a sure thing.

Edited 18 hours ago18 hr by Dave_Hicks

23 hours ago, kalani said:

Thank you. For dolphins, it is "only" dolphins watching and not snorkeling?

@OneYellowTang : thank you very much.

Palau : it looks very beautiful before very remote place. Maybe an idea to keep when my daughter will be a little bit older

Solomon Islands : awesome but too far away

Belize : sounds good. Do you have more information concerning the places where we can swim with dolphins? It seems that it is also possible to dive with them. On land wildlife looks good too ;-)

For Belize, we went to Turneffe Island Resort. The dolphins were around several of the dive sites, so we saw them (and swam with them) on both surface intervals, and twice, on safety stops.

They do offer snorkel tours (twice a day), however those are mostly for viewing fish and coral, not dolphins. They do have several snorkeling siteds where turtles are found.

12 hours ago, CaolIla said:

@kalani An idea... Hanifaru Bay in Maldives.... Hanifaru Bay_1 | PMT à Hanifaru Bay, Maldives | Hugues Brun | Flickr

Hanifaru Bay 2021/09 | Flickr

We do this and one or 2 years after it was a "Must do again"... That's in snorkeling

Wahou. The visibility was not great but what amount of mantas!

As I said earlier, at which period di you go? During the wet season? If so, what was the weather?

Did you stay on a local island like digurah or on a resort island?

It would be perfect to combine a nice island with a very good house reef (black tips, curls, eagle rays...) with boat trips to hanifaru