Turquoise Bay

Turquoise Bay is the argument for fringing reefs: step off a national-park beach, put your face in, and drift over coral gardens busy with parrotfish, anemonefish, rays, and cruising turtles while the lagoon current does the finning. The snorkel is shallow, bright, and genuinely wild, with reef sharks and octopus turning up often enough to keep it honest. The current that powers the conveyor exits seaward through a gap in the reef, so the exit point matters more here than at any beach this beautiful has a right to demand. Divers use it as a surface-interval treat; snorkelers rightly treat it as a headline.

The moment you come for: World-class drift snorkel from the sand, turtles and rays in a meter-deep gallery, national-park setting

Topography: Shallow lagoon coral gardens over white sand inside the fringing reef

Current: The drift that makes the snorkel famous also flows toward a passage through the reef; exiting early is the whole safety briefing.

Entry: Walk in off the beach in Cape Range National Park; enter at the southern end of the drift section and exit at the sandbar before the lagoon passage.

Hazards: Seaward current through the reef passage; strong swimmers only when the flow is up, and exit at the sandbar.

Conservation: Stand only on sand, never coral; the gardens are shallow enough to kill with a careless fin.