Guys, I am not an expert, I just know what I like and I happen to be very opinionated. So take all this with several buckets of sand!!
We have been going to Abacos since our children were 7 and 3 years old,(now 22 & 19) both of them learned to snorkel there and all of us are certified PADI scuba divers. I am a nut about scuba diving, but only if the water is clear and I am going to see something interesting (i.e. new fish, unusual fish, undersea life behavior--ie cleaning stations, mating or beautiful coral formations) I do not like wreck dives, unless they involve fish. the first place I ever snorkeled was on what I call South Beach on Elbow Cay--just out from the Hopetown Harbour Lodge. It was a wonderful January day, the water was brilliantly clear and at low tide. I was captivated, so much to see!! so many colors etc. Needless to say it has been a rare day when the ocean was ever again that cooperative! BUT I have seen many, many things in the Abacos, a lot of it is in knowing what you are looking at. My scuba experience has helped me a lot.

The most basic fact is this: Snorkeling in the Abacos depends more on wind direction than any other
factors. For that reason Elbow Cay is my favorite for snorkeling, because usually one or other of the beaches is available--either north or south of the 'elbow'.
Guana has some great reefs right off the beach,but it often is quite rough there. I think it is very open and exposed and only in a westerly wind is it calm. to prove my point read NJ Carol's recent trip report on how they did not snorkel because of the prevailing easterly winds, this was also the case when we were there in the first week of this NOvember.

Sandy Cay, down below Tilloo ( a long boat ride from Guana, another reason I prefer Elbow,) is spectacular if the wind is right and the sea is calm. Have not been able to go there and snorkel on last four trips, well, we went by there but it was most unsatisfactory conditions. I prefer to snorkel at low tides because so much more is available with much less effort. Less you think I am a sissy, I am always the last one out of the water, I try to stay until it is unreasonable to stay--that goes for scuba as well, always the last one on the boat!!

I am a fanatical scuba diver and last year we took our gear to ABACo, but found it was just not worth it. It is not deep enough in most places and you end up fighting the surge all the time. There are some off shore sites,
but really with so much available from the snorkeling perspective, I would rather not waste the time.
The one dive/snorkel operation I would recommend is Froggie's--once again on Elbow.

I LOVE Guana Cay, and Nipper's and Milo's and would not feel like I had been to Abaco if I did not go there, hence my shirt that says on the front "It is Better in the Bahamas" and on the back "But it is Gooder in Guana"
If the weather is going to uncooperative however, the place I want to be is in Hopetown, cause there is plenty to do even if boating is not good for a day or two.

I have also snorkeled on Green Turtle and Man O war and just out in the middle. it is all great, in the right wind and tide!!

Follow Ups:

Re: Off-shore snorkeling-Carol's short version Jarrie 19:16:40 11/16/99 (0)