Aruba Catamaran Snorkel Sail: Appetizers, Slide, Swing & Open Bar

The Antilla is a 400-foot German freighter that has rested off Aruba's northwest coast since 1940, when her own crew scuttled her rather than hand her over. Eight decades later, she is one of the largest shipwrecks in the Caribbean and the anchor point for almost every Aruba snorkel tour. You do not need to dive to see her. The hull lies on its side in clear, shallow water, and from the surface you can make out the deck structure, the cargo holds, and the coral that has grown over the steel. On a bright morning, the light reaches most of the wreck. The Antilla Shipwreck is also a known feeding spot for green sea turtles, which graze nearby seagrass and surface for air alongside the boat. Sightings are never guaranteed, but this is where guests see them most often. Snorkeling gear and life jackets are provided before you enter the water, and how long we stay depends on the day's sea conditions.

Malmok is the stretch of coast where the Antilla went down, and you sail along it between snorkel stops. There is no sand here. The shoreline is a low limestone shelf that drops straight into the water, which is part of why the sea stays so clear along this part of the island. From the boat, you get the view most visitors never see: the shelf running north, the pale shallows over the seagrass beds where green turtles feed, and the villas set back behind the rock. Malmok Beach is one of Aruba's best-known snorkeling spots, and it is why the snorkel boats operate this end of the coast rather than the busy hotel strip. We pass Malmok rather than stop here. The Antilla Shipwreck lies about 700 meters off this shoreline.

Boca Catalina is a small, sheltered cove just north of Malmok, and it is why so many Aruba snorkel tours end up in the same stretch of water. The reef sits close to the surface, the seabed is pale sand, and the cove is protected from the swell that runs along the open coast. This is the easiest water of the trip. It is shallow enough to stand in places, calm enough for a first-time snorkeler, and clear enough to watch the reef from the surface without putting your face in the water. Guests who were nervous at the Antilla Shipwreck usually relax here. Boca Catalina is consistently listed among the best snorkeling spots in Aruba. Unlike the shore entry, it is reached by boat, so you swim straight off the back deck into open water rather than picking your way over rocks. Snorkeling gear and life jackets are provided. Time in the water varies with conditions.

Arashi is the last beach before Aruba turns the corner at its northwest tip, and it is the sandy one. While Malmok is rock and a limestone shelf, Arashi is a wide crescent of soft sand, with water that stays shallow far out and rarely gets rough. It is a local beach rather than a resort beach. No high-rise hotels behind it, just one beach shack, palapas along the sand, and low dunes and scrub running back from the shore. Seen from the water, you get the whole curve at once, with the reef edge running out from the northern end. Arashi Beach is among the most searched beaches in Aruba, and it marks the turning point of our route before we head back down the coast.

Tres Trapi means "three steps" in Papiamento, named for the three concrete steps cut into the rock that lead down to the water. It sits in Malmok on Aruba's northwest coast and has become the island's best-known turtle beach. The draw is the seagrass just offshore. Green turtles feed there, and because the water is shallow, calm, and unusually clear, they are visible from the surface rather than somewhere below you. That is why Tres Trapi appears on more Aruba snorkeling lists every year. Tres Trapi is closest to Palm Beach of the three sites, so we add it on the way back when time and sea conditions allow. Treat it as a bonus rather than a promise: some sailings fit all three comfortably, while others spend longer at the first two because the water is worth it. If we do stop, you snorkel from the boat rather than from the steps, which keeps you clear of the crowds on the shore.