Discovery Reef

Discovery Reef runs along roughly 4.4 kilometers of Medellin’s east coast, one piece of a wider marine-protection effort that also covers sanctuary zones off Gibitngil Island and Barangay Kawit. The reef carries a mix of hard coral — brain, leaf, plate, and sheet coral, along with sea plumes and fans — spread across a shelf shallow enough for snorkelers to work without a dive certification.

• Visibility tends to peak in the dry season, roughly November through May, when highland runoff drops and the water clears.
• Local bangka operators based in Medellin run the crossing; going through them means a crew that knows the reef’s shallow patches from the deeper drop-offs.
• Snorkelers and divers share the same stretch of reef — check with the boat crew before entering if a dive group is already down.

Explore More in Medellin

• Aisle of Medellin
• Mercedes Beach