Snorkeling Guide - Love Beach - Nassau, Bahamas

 

[This post was originally written in 2008, but has been updated a bit since. The comments are highly recommended as subsequent visitors have added much useful information.]

There's very little good information about snorkeling around Nassau/New Providence, so I thought I'd write a page about it. Actually, the few references to snorkeling one finds about Nassau frequently mention Love Beach, but they don't really give you any details. Well, here are some details.

For starters, although some references to Love Beach mention that the best spots are about a mile offshore, I don't have a boat and I haven't felt like swimming quite that far, so my notes are all for pretty near-shore excursions. Which hopefully is a plus because you can literally walk into the water and be seeing the fishies in about 10 seconds.

Location
Love Beach is, as they say here, "out West," which means west of downtown Nassau. In this case, way West. It's a pretty quiet beach mainly with private homes/condos on it, although at the east end of Love Beach sits the Compass Point hotel. If you have your own transport, getting here is easy, just drive west on Bay Street until you get here. If you don't have transport, good luck. I guess you could take a cab, but I don't know how you'd get back (no cabs out here!). There is a bus (I think weekdays only, not sure), the #10, that runs along Bay Street from Nassau. However, most #10s don't go all the way out here. You'll have to ask every #10 driver if they will come all this way (say "Compass Point/Love Beach"). About a dozen different private companies run the 10, the only one that for sure comes out this far every time is Western Transportation (I think they leave downtown from in front of the Sheraton).

When you get here, your next challenge will be accessing the beach. As far as I can tell, there is no public access to this beach. So I guess I'm writing this for those lucky enough to know someone here, be staying at Compass Point, or have some other means to access the beach. [You might be able to purchase beach access at a beachfront complex called Nirvana, it's the large purple building around the bend after Compass Point. It's worth a try if you can't find another way to get to the beach.] It is true that, say, if you were to go to the bar at Compass Point to have a drink, then happen to exit the hotel compound along the beach trail to the west, you'd find yourself on Love Beach. I did also see, next to some new construction just west of Compass Point along Bay Street, a curious little stairwell that looks like it leads from the street to the beach. There might be a gate on that tomorrow, who knows. Also, there really isn't much of any place to park along Bay Street out here so if you do drive yourself good luck there too.

Snorkeling Sites
Assuming you have somehow managed to access the beach, here is where you'll find some of the better snorkeling I've seen. It's all at the west end of the beach, so if you enter from Compass point, you'll have to walk about 15 minutes to get there. [I should note that this is the part of the beach I've covered personally, I could be missing the best places, who knows?]

The aerial photo above (thanks, Google, for the maps!) marks out where I suggest you go (click it for a larger version). The white fishes mark the spots where I've tended to see more fish. I'm marked the color of the houses that are right on the beach there so that you can orient yourself against the shore. If you enter from my entry point, just swim out about 10 feet and start floating west. There are some good rocks that the fish congregate around as you float on down past the three large buildings.  When you get to the third house and the old steps into the water, you'll be at one of the best close-in locations... just around the point of rocks (debris?) there, you'll find a couple of small depressions in the bottom, where there are reliable a ton of fish swimming around. From there, I recommend that you head direction out to sea, you'll swim over a bunch of nothing, until you get about 200 feet out, where the rocky seabed rises nearly to the surface again, and there are great cracks in the large rocks and lots of fish again. This area extends mainly to the west, again, once you are out there.  The fish here are pretty much the same as closer in, maybe a few larger fish. There are larger corals here, a few nice large fan corals and some of those weird giant ball corals, that you won't see closer in.  If the water is murky closer in (happens occasionally) the areas further out tend to be clearer. Note: watch out for boats and jet skis. They come in this close frequently. So I recommend surfacing every couple of minutes to look for boats approaching.

You can also swim east from the suggested entry point. Generally, I've seen less fish there, but there are some, and you stay closer to shore if that makes you feel better. Generally lone fish, though, not any small schools, like you are apt to see if you go west.

It's not a terribly large area, for the quick snorkeler, you might do it all in 30 minutes. At the longer end, probably 2 hours max. Don't forget the sunscreen! (oh, there's almost no shade on this beach, btw).

Fishes!

Here is what I've seen, to the best of my knowledge, not being very expert in the fish area. Besides fishes, there are some nice corals (if you like shades of brown and green, a bit of purple) but I wouldn't come for the corals. Have also seen sea urchin, conch (one small one!) and large starfish... but very few of all of those.

The blue tangs are the friendliest fishes, there are lots of them and they are not to scared of humans. Most of the fish watch you warily but don't seem to mind if you float right on by. I've found that the longer you hang out, the more you see.

The charts below have black check marks next to the fish I've seen:

Click on Images for larger version.

In addition, I have seen our evil friend the Lion Fish (below). Poisonous spikes can seriously harm humans; it has no predators in the Caribbean. It's not native to the Bahamas, and is starting to pop up everywhere.

The text of this post is copyright 2008 by Ken Thompson. The photo copyrights are held by the individual holders. No part of this post can be reproduced on any commercial web site or reproduced in any way for commercial purposes. So there.

Please continue reading the comments, as people have added useful information there.

Comments

[Tony Palmiotti]

Nirvana near love beech is very cool for snorkeling, the guy that "runs" the beach - Scott charges $5 for all day to hang on his property. we took the #10 like said above, but you have to make sure it runs that far west, otherwise it's a few mile walk, really not bad at all if you are in good shape to walk, just don't get stuck there at dusk. We have gone to this beach a few times, they have a bar on the beach as well, reasonable prices.

[Ozz]

All...my family and some friends (total of nine) plan on renting a couple of cars and going to Love Beach. After reading several posts, it appears there are no obstacles to getting onto the beach....I do have some questions:

1. is this the best beach to go for snorkling? We plan on being there in December/January.
2. is this basically a good beach to swim and safe for kids...is it rough waters?
3. is it scenic?
4. Do they have restaurants around there should we decide to eat?
5. Has anyone driven there and did you have parking problems?

Any info provided will be most appreciated by me (and the kids :) )

[Chris]

Well, leaving for Nassau next week, we always like to do our own excursions when we travel, have been to Nassau twice now, both times we (husband and I ) like to catch the bus to cable beach and just relax on the beach, this time we will have two teens with and we want to snorkel, so this looks like it might be possible, anyone been there lately to give me any more tips as to weather it will be possible for us?

[Steve Hoffman]

Excellent information Ken! Thanks for your experience and sharing the fishes photos. We're heading there in about a week and will take your advise when snorkeling. :)

[Ken]

reply to H Johnson: I never rented a car on Nassau, so I'm not sure what the complexities of that are. Seems like it'd work, time-wise, if the cruise ship can arrange it all for you. Once you have the car, the drive from town is 20-30 minutes, all on Bay Street. You might follow the advice of one of the prior commenters and try to access the beach through this place called Nirvana. They may or may not charge for beach access, I could never really figure it out.

You could always take a cab to Nirvana, I think that would be pretty easy. The somewhat more challenging part might be getting a cab to come take you back. [again, sorry, I have no clue on what Nassau cab rates are]

I was just at Love Beach in April of this year - still as gorgeous as ever, and very quiet. [and as a reminder - beach itself has not shade, one other benefit to Nirvana is that they do have shade on their property]

[H Johnson]

going to be cruising and have from 7 am to 3 pm in Nassau -
want to snorkel - there are nine of us - my husband and I have snorkeled and a few of my kids - my parents will be with us -
we want to rent a car and go to love beach.... is this do-able from the cruise ship? ANY and ALL input greatly appreciated -
we don't want to do an excursion - we want to do it on our own.....
Just need tips and pointers...

THANKS!

[Ken]

answer to lei: beach is pretty deserted, however, the snorkeling is right off shore, sometimes as close as about 10'...no need to really go more than 30' of shore.
word to the wise - snorkeling around Nassau in December can be dicey, if the weather is dark and windy, snorkeling around love beach, at least, will be low visibility.

I don't think Cabbage Beach is good for snorkeling...at least I never saw anyone there. It's all sand.

[Ken]

answer to Christie: Hmmm...never took one of the few buses that go all the way out. they don't run on schedules, so dependent on how many stops they make. Also on time of day because traffic in 'downtown' gets pretty bad sometimes. 45 min might be my estimate, give or take 15.

[Christie]

Any idea how long it would take to get to love beach from downtown Nassau on the bus?

[Ramón]

Ken, I went there two weeks ago all the way from Guadalajara, Mexico and it was pretty cool, thanks! All people interested in these spots should know that there are plenty of ways you can access to Love Beach, don't worry at all!. I went to Compass Point to have a drink an I was planning to access Love Beach from there but it didn't seem the best idea for me so I just kept walking by the road after Compass Point and I accesed the beach between a purple hotel and a construction site, you will love it and you will be able to see huge planes flying over, I was able to see some types of fishes that I didn't even see with the Stuart Cove's excursion; an activity that I also recommend, good luck to everyone!

[lei]

hi, going to nassau bahamas soon. need some clarification about safety at love beach for snorkeling. my son is 9. we love snorkeling. we can swim but not like a champaion. basicly we can do 2-3 rounds of 100 feet. are there a lot of people going snorkeling or being on a beach around there in case if we need help? how far from the beach to the snorkeling area like 300 feet, 500 feet from shore? thinking about either cable, cabbage, or love beach for snorkeling.

[Heath]

I am going there in a few days on my honeymoon. What is the best way to access the beach? Thanks so much.

[jimmy]

We got to Love Beach by parking at the Nirvana place . . . off season and only a few people were around but we just parked and walked onto the beach. The best snorkeling we found was right in front of Nirvana when low tide exposed the rocks. Tons of brain coral, fish, huge spiny sea urchins. Best we've found so far here in the Bahamas although in comparison to Belize and other places only a 3/10.

[Helen]

Very helpful! Thanks!

[BF]

Ken, thanks for the excellent and much-needed guide to this great spot. The #10 operated by Western Transportation will take you right to Love Beach, but there are others that go as far as the Gambier Village turnoff, which is just shy of the Compass Point Resort (they will list Gambier Village among the destinations on the side of the bus). I caught a Western #10 immediately upon arriving at the bus stop across from the Straw Market in Nassau, and asked the driver where to get off for Love Beach. He took me past Compass Point, and dropped me at a large construction site (looked like a hotel or apartment complex) just down the road (probably about a 15-minute walk from Gambier/Compass Point). I walked down a driveway between the construction site and a pink building to the beach, and then left (West) to the spot you mentioned. The beach is lovely and secluded, and good snorkeling. It's quiet except for airplanes flying over every few minutes, because it's on the approach to the airport. To get back to Nassau, the bus only comes by the beach every hour or so, but if you walk back to the Gambier turnoff, you can catch one of the buses that turn around there. Someone has dragged an old couch out to the bus stop under a tree, and there is a fruit stand near by. Be careful walking back, there are stretches where there is little room to walk by the side of the road. Be prepared to flag down a #10 if one happens to come along while you're walking back to Gambier.