For being in the travel industry for so many years, our number 1 job for a successful vacation was to qualify the traveler. Meaning find out exactly what they were looking for. Was it fine dining, beautiful beaches, historical sites, SNORKELING?? Whatever it was, I was to find the perfect vacation for our clients.

Well after many many years, I finally found a tool that did what I use to do… qualify your likes & dislikes. Fodors & Discover has teamed up to make this free internet tool, 80 DEGREES. Answer a few questions and they will give the top 10 destinations that you should travel to.

I tried it and found that 80 DEGREES is right on but I was disappointed to see that it only covered the Florida, Hawaii and the Caribbean. Hopefully within time, they will cover the rest of the world.

I found a fun website that I thought I would share, National Parks Traveler, that talks about Americas National Parks. With our winter here, we all could use a break and I could not think of a better place to go snorkeling, in warm waters.

The site has a checklist for the U.S. Virgin Islands, that is a must to read. The Virgin Islands are located in the Caribbean and include St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John.

Of the three islands, St. John has the best snorkeling opportunities. I would suggest stopping at the visitor center in Cruz Bay to get a map of the best snorkeling sites. I wont go into details of lodging but they do have a very popular campground, Cinnamon Bay, which has fantastic snorkeling off of the beach and if you are not staying at Cinnamon Bay, you can still snorkel there.

In 2001 President Clinton established the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument to protect the coral reefs. The water surrounding the 12708 acres include coral reefs, seagrass bed, mangroves and sandy bottoms. A must for snorkelers.

Salt Pond Bay is another popular but quiet snorkeling site and sometimes called Concordia Bay which a trail leads you to the beach.

When you are packing your bags to go to St. John, dont forget your snorkeling gear. Have a fantastic vacation!

With the east coast getting hit with many feet of snow and us in Chicago are expected to get a few inches. But those that live in the north and especially in November-April, it is not unusal for us to think “snorkeling warm water” anywhere. Yep for us northerners, we travel a few times a winter to get through it.

I came accross a website that I thought would interest you. I personally have not had the opportunity to snorkel in the Dry Tortugas National Park but it looks like fun.

The Dry Tortugas National Park is located 70 miles West of Key West in Florida and only accessible by boat or plane. What is there to do at the Dry Torgugas? SNORKELING! Yep, pack up your snorkel equipment and jump on the ferry to experience the best snorkeling in the Keys.

They do have day trips that do include your snorkel equipment but because snorkel equipment is personal, you may want to bring your own snorkel mask, snorkel and snorkeling fins.

Snorkeling is such a famous family sport and I wanted to write about famous people who snorkels. Hmmm, who is the most famous snorkeler??? Being from Illinois, I have to choose President Obama and his family. President Obama who grew up in Hawaii, is not unfamiliar with the snorkeling in Hawaii. I found some old clips and news stories when President and family went snorkeling in Hawaii. But they all point to one snorkeling location, Hanauma Bay. Here is a snorkeling article from 2008 when the President visited Hawaii.

Now the major question… Does President Obama rent or own his own snorkel equipment?