Level: Free shore access This spot have a free shore access: you can go snorkeling there freely and without having to book a tour or pay an entrance fee.
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Last updated on December 4, 2022
Diani Beach, on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya, is fringed by a gigantic coral reef. One of its best snorkeling locations is Nomad Beach, located more or less in the center of Diani Beach. As the reef is very wide, you will only snorkel the inner reef, which features sand and seagrass beds with scattered corals. However, this shallow environment hosts a great diversity of fish and invertebrates, including clownfish in their anemone and very beautiful sea stars.
Nomad Beach, in the central part of Diani, takes its name from the beach restaurant installed there. It is located about 3 kilometers south of Ukunda airstrip. To reach the spot, you can ask a taxi to drop you off at Nomad Beach Bar & Restaurant, or you can walk on the beach from the nearby hotels.
We advise you to enter the water more or less in front of the small reefs (see map above). It is recommended to explore this spot at low tide, ideally 1 or 2 hours before slack water. This period offers the best snorkeling conditions: you can get into the water closer to the reef, and the water is shallower, which makes the observation of the underwater life from the surface easier.
It is also at low tide that the underwater visibility is at its maximum, and the sea is the calmest. Avoid snorkeling after 12, as there is a dense boat and jet ski traffic in the area, sometimes at high speed and close to shore.
The coral reef facing Nomad Beach is almost a kilometer wide. We advise you not to go further than 300 meters from the beach and to take a diving flag with you to make you visible to the jet skis which sometimes cross the lagoon.
The seabed of Nomad Beach has almost no living corals. It mainly features sand, seagrass and rubble, as well as a few small coral patches. The two coral reefs facing the beach (see map above), featuring dead coral rocks, are not more spectacular.
Despite this unattractive environment, this spot is very interesting because of the many fish and invertebrates found on the shallows. Red-knobbed sea stars, cushion sea stars, collector urchins and burrowing sea urchins are particularly common. Giant clams and other unidentified bivalves are attached to the coral rocks, which they share with sponges.
Many small fish can be seen at this location. Valentinni’s sharpnose puffers and blackspotted pufferfish are abundant in the shallows, as are honeycomb groupers, easy to spot throughout the area. Twobar anemonefish share sea anemones with threespot dascyllus and porcelain crabs. Butterflyfish, moray eels and snake eels are also occasionally seen at Nomad Beach.
Nomad Beach Bar & Restaurant, which faces the reef, is the best food option nearby. To the north and south of the Nomad Beach Bar & Restaurant are dozens of beach hotels. Among the most important are The Sands at Nomad Hotel (150 m beach walk), the Safari Beach Hotel (500 m) and the Diani Sea Lodge (1000 m).
These snorkeling spots are accessible to beginners and kids. You will enter the water gradually from a beach, or in a less than 3ft. deep area. The sea is generally calm, shallow, with almost no waves or currents. These spots are usually located in marked and/or monitored swimming areas. It is not necessary to swim long distances to discover the sea life. This level only apply when the spot experiences optimal sea and/or weather conditions. It is not applicable if the sea and/or weather conditions deteriorate, in particular in the presence of rough sea, rain, strong wind, unusual current, large tides, waves and/or swell. You can find more details about the definition of our snorkeling levels on our snorkeling safety page.
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Snorkeling spots are part of a wild environment and their aspect can be significantly altered by weather, seasons, sea conditions, human impact and climate events (storms, hurricanes, seawater-warming episodes…). The consequences can be an alteration of the seabed (coral bleaching, coral destruction, and invasive seagrass), a poor underwater visibility, or a decrease of the sea life present in the area. Snorkeling Report makes every effort to ensure that all the information displayed on this website is accurate and up-to-date, but no guarantee is given that the underwater visibility and seabed aspect will be exactly as described on this page the day you will snorkel the spot. If you recently snorkeled this area and noticed some changes compared to the information contained on this page, please contact us.
The data contained in this website is for general information purposes only, and is not legal advice. It is intended to provide snorkelers with the information that will enable them to engage in safe and enjoyable snorkeling, and it is not meant as a substitute for swim level, physical condition, experience, or local knowledge. Remember that all marine activities, including snorkeling, are potentially dangerous, and that you enter the water at your own risk. You must take an individual weather, sea conditions and hazards assessment before entering the water. If snorkeling conditions are degraded, postpone your snorkeling or select an alternate site. Know and obey local laws and regulations, including regulated areas, protected species, wildlife interaction and dive flag laws.
