{"id":674,"date":"2026-08-17T12:23:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T11:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/snorkelling-and-kayaking\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T12:23:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T11:23:42","slug":"snorkelling-and-kayaking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/snorkelling-and-kayaking\/","title":{"rendered":"Snorkelling and kayaking on Madeira"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>The spots<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Garajau (Cani\u00e7o), from about \u20ac35, three hours.<\/strong> The classic: kayak plus snorkelling in the <strong>marine reserve<\/strong>. Over 950 reviews at 4.9. Large dusky groupers, parrotfish, cuttlefish; the animals have been protected for decades and behave accordingly. If you book one water activity and do not need whales, book this one.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ponta de S\u00e3o Louren\u00e7o (Cani\u00e7al\/Machico), from about \u20ac40.<\/strong> Clear water off the eastern tip, often by boat rather than kayak. Scenically the most spectacular stretch of coast.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Calheta \/ Ponta da Calheta, from about \u20ac41, 1.5 hours.<\/strong> Shorter, calmer, west.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Porto Santo, from about \u20ac49, three hours.<\/strong> Guided snorkelling in protected water \u2014 shallower and sandier than Madeira, and therefore brighter.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Snorkelling only, eco-park or by boat: from \u20ac19, two hours.<\/strong> The entry version without paddling.<\/p>\n<h2>What is included<\/h2>\n<p>Kayak or double kayak, buoyancy aid, mask and snorkel, usually a shorty wetsuit, a dry barrel for phone and keys, guide. Many operators hand over photos afterwards at no charge.<\/p>\n<h2>What to watch for<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>You need to swim<\/strong>; experience you do not.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sun protection<\/strong>: back and the backs of your knees. Snorkelling, you feel nothing until it is too late. Reef-safe cream, or better a lycra top.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Afternoons<\/strong> get windy on the south coast \u2014 morning slots are calmer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Minimum age<\/strong> usually 6\u20138 in a double kayak.<\/li>\n<li>In swell they switch from <strong>kayak to boat<\/strong>, or cancel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Book it or do it yourself?<\/h2>\n<p>Both work here. <strong>Snorkelling you can do alone<\/strong>: mask and snorkel cost \u20ac15\u201320 in Funchal, and the pebble beach at <strong>Garajau<\/strong>, plus the natural pools at <strong>Porto Moniz<\/strong>, <strong>Seixal<\/strong> and <strong>Doca do Cavacas<\/strong>, are all free to enter.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Booking the kayak<\/strong> is worth it because rentals are scarce and the coast is tricky \u2014 offshore wind and swell along cliffs is not beginner terrain.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udc49 <a class=\"wom-aff wom-aff--getyourguide\" href=\"https:\/\/www.getyourguide.com\/en-gb\/madeira-l67\/snorkeling-tc57\/\" rel=\"sponsored nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">See all snorkelling and kayak tours on GetYourGuide<\/a> <small class=\"wom-aff__flag\">(Affiliate link)<\/small><\/p>\n<p>Next: <a href=\"\/en\/diving\/\">Diving<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"\/en\/catamaran-boat-trips\/\">Catamaran and boat trips<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"\/en\/madeira-east\/\">East Madeira<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>56 options from around \u20ac19 \u2014 the cheapest serious water activity on Madeira, and for a lot of people the best one. The standard tour combines both: paddle out, anchor off a headland, get in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":67,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coast-ocean"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}