Guide · Snorkeling

Snorkeling at Tavolara and in the Molara pools

The water around Tavolara is protected, clear and full of fish, and the shallow pools off Molara are the stop most boats plan for. Here is where to look, what you may see and the rules a snorkeler must follow.

Check availabilityfrom $87 · free cancellation

Editorial team, tavolaraboattour.comUpdated October 20, 20266-minute read23 sources

The tour for this guide Tavolara boat tour with snorkeling 4.9 (1,145 reviews) 4 hoursFrom the MOYS marina, OlbiaSnorkel gear included from$87per person Check availabilityFree to cancel until 24 hrs before your boat

Quick answer

01Best known spot: The Molara pools on the island's south-west side, clear water among granite rocks.¹
02Rules: Snorkeling counts as swimming: forbidden in zone A, allowed in zones B and C.² ³
03What you see: Groupers have an abundant population in the protected area.⁴
04Gear: This site's tour includes masks and snorkels for everyone.
05Time in the pools: Boat listings give from 30 to 50 minutes at Molara on a half day.

Why the snorkeling here is so good

Snorkeling at Tavolara happens in a sea that has been protected for decades. The area was set up as a Marine Protected Area in 1997, and its managers map and monitor the Posidonia seagrass meadows every year.⁵ ⁶ Fishing is tightly limited, spearfishing is banned, and the shoals you swim through are the result.

The regional tourism board calls Tavolara, especially its southern side at Teddja Liscia, and the islets of Molara and Molarotto a paradise for divers and for guided snorkeling, with schools of trusting fish.⁷ The best known spot of all is a set of pools off Molara, a stop named in many of the boat listings.

The landscape helps too. Granite boulders break the coast into small coves where the water stays calm, pale sand reflects the light, and meadows of Posidonia seagrass grow from the surface down past 40 metres, depending on how clear the water is.⁸ Even on a busy day, a few strokes away from the boat you are alone with the fish. Look down as well as along: pale sand patches between the meadows reflect the light and make every passing fish easy to follow.

A snorkel stop

How a stop at the pools usually goes

Before the stop

The briefing

The crew explains where to swim and how to get back on board.
At anchor

Gear on

Fit the mask on the boat and test the snorkel by the ladder.
In the water

Swim with a buddy

Stay together and within sight of your own boat.
Halfway

Look and float

Rest face down and let the fish return to the rocks.
Back on board

Rinse and drink

Fresh water and shade before the next stop.

The Molara pools

In Italian they are the piscine naturali, the natural pools: turquoise water among granite rocks on the south-western side of Molara, described by the regional tourism board as ideal for snorkeling.¹ Granite boulders frame the pools, and the colours shift from pale green over sand to deep blue where the rock drops away.

Because so many boats come, the protected area controls how they stop. Its services map shows an anchoring zone at the pools for boats up to 30 metres, and two mooring buoys at Molara are kept for operators who carry passengers.⁹ ¹⁰ Anchoring is banned anywhere in the area on Posidonia meadows, so skippers drop anchor on sand or tie up to a buoy.¹¹

How long you stay depends on the boat. The listings give 30 minutes at the pools on the 4-hour trip with docking on Tavolara, 45 minutes on the San Teodoro grand tour and 50 minutes with a coffee break on the classic boat from Porto San Paolo. The sunset trip from Porto San Paolo spends 100 minutes there with its aperitif.

Time in the water

Minutes at the Molara pools, by boat

minutes

Minutes at the Molara pools as each GetYourGuide listing states them; skippers may change stops with the weather.

Three ways to snorkel

Pick the boat by its snorkel stops

Sardegna: Tavolara Boat Tour with Snorkeling

Gear included

This site's tour

From the Olbia marina

Hours: 4
Gear: Masks and snorkels
Price: from $87

See this trip

Porto San Paolo: Half Day Boat Tour to Tavolara and Molara

Long stop at Molara

Classic boat

From Porto San Paolo

Molara: 50 minutes
Group: Up to 10
Price: from $93

See this trip

Olbia: Tavolara & Molara with 3 Swim Stops & Aperitif

Bring a snorkel

Docking half day

From the Olbia marina

Molara: 30 minutes
Ashore: 1 hour on Tavolara
Price: from $93

See this trip

Decision helper

Which snorkel day suits you?

Start from what matters most in the water

I have no gear I want a long Molara swim on a half day I want to snorkel and walk ashore I want a calm start on windy days I want sunset in the water

This site's tour

Masks and snorkels are included for everyone.

The classic boat

It lists 50 minutes at Molara with a coffee break.

The docking half day

1 hour of free time on Tavolara after the pools.

Cala Suaraccia RIB

Its beach start is described as sheltered from Scirocco.

Sunset aperitif boat

100 minutes at Molara as the sun goes down.

Privileged prey of underwater sport fishing, however, it has become a symbol of many MPAs and a great attraction for underwater tourism. In the MPA of Tavolara Punta Coda Cavallo there is an abundant population.

Area Marina Protetta Tavolara Punta Coda CavalloSource 4

What lives in the water

The animal most visitors hope to meet is the dusky grouper, a heavy, slow fish that lives among rocks and seagrass. The protected area says it has become a symbol of many reserves and an attraction for underwater tourism, and that its population here is abundant.⁴ Look for it in the shade of big boulders, watching you as much as you watch it.

Brown meagre gather in small groups near dark caves and cracks in the rock, from 10 metres down.¹² Deeper still, below 30 metres, the rocky bottoms carry coralligenous reefs, and red gorgonian fans grow from 25 metres down.¹³ ¹⁴ A snorkeler will not reach them, but the clear water sometimes lets you glimpse the colour far below.

Bring your eyes to the surface too. Half of the world's Yelkouan shearwaters breed in the caves of Tavolara and Molara, and Audouin's gulls nest on the small islands where people rarely go.¹⁵ ¹⁶ Never feed fish or birds, and never touch anything on the bottom: in a reserve, everything stays where it is. A slow, quiet swimmer sees far more than a fast one: float, breathe calmly through the snorkel and let the fish come back to the rocks around you.

Checklist

Your snorkel bag

Pack

Your own mask, if you have one that fits
A thin long-sleeved top against the sun
Water shoes for the granite rocks
More drinking water than you think

In the water

Stay close to your boat
Touch nothing on the bottom
Never feed fish or birds

Video

Sardinia's snorkeling on Molara Island

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The rules for snorkelers

In this protected area the law treats snorkeling as swimming: the regulation defines swimming to include the use of a mask and snorkel, fins, boots and gloves.² Swimming is forbidden in zone A and free in zones B and C, subject to the maritime authority's orders.³ Your skipper chooses the stops, so on a tour you will only be put in the water where it is allowed. If you are unsure whether a spot is open, ask the crew before you jump.

Guided snorkeling with a professional is limited too. At each site no more than 2 boats may work at the same time, and one guide may lead no more than 10 people in the water.¹⁷

Spearfishing and jet skis are banned throughout the area.¹⁸ If you rent a boat, remember that in zones B and C motor boats must keep below 5 knots within 300 metres of the coast, which is where snorkelers float.¹⁹ Always swim close to your own boat and, if you are using a buoy or flag, keep it with you.

Gear: what is provided and what to bring

Check each listing, because the answer varies. This site's tour includes snorkeling gear, masks and snorkels for everyone. The 8-hour small-group trip also includes the gear. The 4-hour trip that docks on Tavolara provides masks but not snorkels, for hygiene, so bring your own mouthpiece.

If you own a mask that fits, bring it anyway. A mask that leaks spoils a snorkel faster than anything, and your own is the one you know. Add reef-safe sunscreen, or better a thin long-sleeved top, because you will float face down in strong sun for long stretches. Practise clearing your snorkel in the first minutes at the boat, where you can stand on the ladder, before you set off along the rocks.

Water shoes help on the granite rocks at the pools, and a small dry bag keeps your phone and ID safe on deck. Bring drinking water as well: an extra bottle each costs nothing and spares you a thirsty ride back after a long swim in salt water.

When the sea is best for snorkeling

Sardinia's bathing season runs from the third week of May to the third week of September, inside a longer summer season from April to October.²⁰ ²¹ July and August are the warmest months at Olbia, with average highs of 31.9 °C.²² No official station measures the sea temperature near Tavolara, so judge the water by the season rather than by a promised number.

Wind matters more than temperature. Olbia records about 13 to 18 days a month with wind of 10 m/s or more, all year round, and even in summer some mornings are choppy.²³ Skippers then move to sheltered coves; one San Teodoro operator starts from a beach that it says stays sheltered on days of Scirocco wind.

Plan around the wind rather than the calendar. Keep a spare day for the boat, check the forecast the evening before and use free cancellation if the sea looks rough. This site's tour leaves the Olbia marina at 9:30 AM, so you are in the water while the morning light is still low and soft.

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