Snorkelling and paddle boarding in Palma: which boats carry gear and where they stop

Snorkelling in Palma de Mallorca from a boat is easy: almost every trip in the bay includes at least one swim stop and lends or hires out a mask and snorkel. What varies a lot from boat to boat is how long you spend in the water, whether there's a paddle board and whether the gear is included or costs €20. And one thing hardly anyone explains: the coves where the catamarans stop lie inside a marine reserve, with a seabed worth looking at.

This guide covers the real stops, which boat carries what and the kayak alternatives, so you can book the trip that matches what you want to do in the water.

Snorkelling in Palma de Mallorca: where the boats actually stop

The catamarans and big boats leaving from the Paseo Marítimo cross the bay to the south-east. The swim stops their operators publish are all on the Llucmajor coast, around Cap Enderrocat and Cala Blava. Life & Sea, from S'Arenal and Can Pastilla, adds two routes of its own on a different boat:

Portals Vells isn't on the list. None of the operators leaving from the Paseo Marítimo includes it on their routes: it's on the other side of the bay, in Calvià. If you want to go, it's a trip by car (no bus; free parking in the pine wood, about 200 m away) or by private boat. Above the cove, in the rock, is the Cova de la Mare de Déu, an old quarry turned into a chapel.

Cala Vella has no bus either, so a boat is the practical way to swim there.

Which boats include paddle boards and snorkel gear

If what you want is to paddle, among the Paseo Marítimo catamarans only Oasis and Magic Plus include a board; from Can Pastilla, Sa Calma has a trip with paddle boarding (see below). The rest give you a mask and not much else. We compare them in detail in the Palma catamaran guide and in our review of Magic Catamarans.

For children, Magic's standard trip has life jackets and a big floating mat on board, handy for little ones who can't swim with a snorkel yet.

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See all on GetYourGuide →Prices checked on 6 October 2026

Cheap snorkelling boats from S'Arenal and Can Pastilla

If you're staying in Playa de Palma, there are shorter, cheaper trips that don't go via the Paseo Marítimo:

• Life & Sea, "Superman" boat: 2 h, €33, departures between 09:00 and 19:30 from S'Arenal, snorkel gear included. It's the cheapest snorkelling trip from S'Arenal.
• Life & Sea, Discovery Tour to Cap Blanc: 3 h, €45, leaves at 09:30 from Can Pastilla or 09:45 from S'Arenal.
• Life & Sea, Discovery Tour to Illetes: 3 h, €45 (children 3 to 12, €30), at 13:30 or 17:30 from Can Pastilla, or 13:45 and 17:45 from S'Arenal. Gear included.
• Sa Calma Boats (leaves from Can Pastilla and Palma): a 3-hour trip through the marine reserve with caves, cliffs, paddle boarding and snorkelling for €39, and a 2 h 30 cruise with a swim and snorkelling for the same price. Daily from April to October.

In Can Pastilla, Life & Sea boards at the gate of the Club Nàutic Can Pastilla (Carrer de les Nanses 7), a 5-minute walk from the "Cala Estancia" stop for buses 31, 32, 35 and A2. With children or a pushchair it's easier than S'Arenal, where Life & Sea boards from the sand. Everything leaving from that area is in boat trips from El Arenal.

From the Paseo Marítimo, the budget option is Barca Samba's Bahía de Palma Sail: 3 h, at 11:00 Thursday to Sunday, from €39.90, with a stop in the marine reserve, pizza and water. Gear is hired on board or you bring your own. It's the family sailing of a boat known for parties, so expect music.

The Bay of Palma marine reserve

The coast where the boats stop is the Reserva Marina de la Badia de Palma, created in 1982. It protects 2,379 hectares, from the Club Nàutic S'Arenal to Cap de Regana and down to 30 metres deep, with a special protection zone of 243 hectares around Cap Enderrocat. The rules of use are on the Govern (Balearic government) marine reserves website.

That stretch is also a Natura 2000 site (Cap Enderrocat–Cap Blanc) with its own rules:

• Boats may only anchor on sand, never on Posidonia.
• At Cala Blava there's a regulated mooring-buoy field where anchoring is banned: the boat ties up to a buoy.
• Feeding the fish is prohibited.

For you as a swimmer it boils down to something simple: don't feed the fish, don't take anything from the seabed and don't stand on the seagrass.

Posidonia: the green on the seabed and why boats don't anchor on it

The dark green patches you see from the surface are meadows of Posidonia seagrass, which covers roughly half the reserve. In the Balearics it has been illegal to anchor on it since Decree 25/2018; you may only moor to authorised buoys or drop anchor on sand.

This affects you if you hire a boat or go on a private one. Fines follow the scale of Law 42/2007: €100 to €3,000 for minor offences, €3,001 to €200,000 for serious ones and €200,001 to €2,000,000 for very serious ones, depending on the square metres of meadow damaged.

Near Palma there are two buoy fields you can book on the day at reservas.portsib.es: Cap Blanc–Cala Blava (24 buoys) and Sant Elm (23), from €3.93 for half a day for an 8 m boat. The official seagrass map viewer is at ideib.caib.es/posidonia. The rules for skippering yourself are in boat hire and private boat.

What you'll see underwater in the bay

Don't expect an aquarium. What makes snorkelling in these coves interesting is the landscape:

• Posidonia meadows, with patches of pale sand in between.
• Rock walls and caves, especially at Cova Verda and on the Cap Blanc cliffs.
• Artificial reefs off Cap Enderrocat, placed there since 1990.
• Among the reserve's species is the noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis). If you see one, look but don't touch.

Which fish you see depends on the day, the cove and how many people are in the water. In high summer you'll share the cove with other boats: swim a little away from the ladder and the noise and you'll see more.

Kayaking and paddle boarding in Palma de Mallorca without a catamaran

If the water interests you more than the boat, a kayak trip gives you more time swimming and less time cruising. There are several well-rated options:

• Marine reserve kayak tour from Santa Ponsa: 3 h, from €60 (book).
• Kayak and paddle board through caves: 2 h, from €50, rated 4.8 (book).
• Kayak with a sea cave, cliff jumping and snorkelling: 3 h, from €67.72 (book).

There's also kayaking at Cala Varques and its sea caves; in the north, kayak and boat trips from Alcúdia (covered in Alcúdia and Pollença). And if you're heading to Colònia de Sant Jordi, the Cabrera national park allows snorkelling, kayaking and paddle boarding.

To do it independently without a car, Illetes and Cala Comtesa are the easiest from Palma: EMT bus 4 runs from Palma to Ses Illetes via Cala Major, and from Magaluf or Palmanova the TIB 123 stops at "Playas de Illetes". Off Cala Comtesa the seabed is sand and Posidonia at 2–3 metres. A warning: Cala Major sometimes closes to swimmers after heavy rain. More beaches in Palma beaches.

Safety: wind, seasickness and who can go in the water

• Go in the morning. In summer the south-westerly embat (afternoon sea breeze) blows in after midday, peaks around 14:00 and chops up the water. In a choppy sea snorkelling is uncomfortable and the board is almost impossible for beginners.
• The water isn't warm all year. It's around 21 °C in June, 26 °C in August and 22 °C in October. In May, 17 °C: bring a thin wetsuit if you feel the cold.
• Seasickness: on the boat, sit in the middle on the lower deck, look at the horizon and avoid heavy food and alcohol.
• Life jacket: Life & Sea includes one and Magic has life jackets on board. If you're not a strong swimmer, ask before getting in.
• The skipper decides. The stop can change if there's wind, and Life & Sea warns it may refuse boarding for safety reasons (age, pregnancy, physical condition).
• Dolphins: if they appear, nobody may swim or dive within 60 metres of them; the wildlife-watching law forbids it. We explain it in dolphins in Mallorca.
• Jet skis: they can't enter buoyed swimming areas, but in open water stay close to the boat and visible.

Which snorkelling trip to choose

Our picks

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Staying in S'Arenal

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Our advice: if above all you want to swim and paddle, Magic Plus or any Oasis trip; with young children, Magic's standard trip with its floating mat; if you're staying in Playa de Palma, Life & Sea's short boat. Operators' websites: lifeandsea.com and barcasamba.com.