Snorkeling with Turtles in Coral Gardens

Gili Meno’s coral reefs are among the richest in the region, and its turtle population is legendary. Just steps from shore, the sea opens into gardens alive with color: staghorn corals branching upward, brain corals curving like sculpture, soft corals waving gently. Schools of damselfish shimmer, angelfish glide, and reef sharks patrol in distance. Then, the turtles arrive. Large green and hawksbill turtles swim gracefully through the shallows, their flippers moving in slow arcs that seem more like dance than motion. You watch as they graze on seagrass, drift with currents, or rise for air, unbothered by human presence. Encounters are frequent yet never ordinary. Each meeting feels like privilege, a glimpse into another rhythm of existence — unhurried, peaceful, enduring. Conservation efforts on Meno protect their nesting grounds, ensuring the cycle continues. To snorkel here is to enter another world — vivid, serene, fragile, abundant. The turtles are not attraction but ambassadors of the ocean’s grace.