Could this be the best snorkelling experience ever?

IF you're over snorkelling and seeing only fish, head to the Virgin Islands, where you can snorkel to find rum ... finders keepers.

Aerial view of Bolongo Bay Beach Resort. Picture: Supplied

SNORKELLING usually results in sightings of fish and other sealife among coral ... if you're lucky.

At Bolongo Bay Beach Resort on the idyllic island of St Thomas, a resort that's part of the US Virgin Islands, snorkellers compete once a week to find rum.

The family-owned resort carries out a weekly rum scavenger hunt, officially (and appropriately) called the "Snorkel Booze Hunt". The resort hides bottles of Cruzan Rum in the ocean, which is the local rum of the US Virgin Islands that's distilled on the nearby island of St Croix. Guests have a one in two chance of snagging the local rum, with about half the amount of bottles as guests strategically placed on the ocean floor.

Those who aren't lucky enough to find a bottle underwater can still indulge in the local rum above ground at the resort bar. And those who find more than one bottle are asked to leave the second one hidden away for other guests.

Now, that's the kind of holiday surprise we like.