Bonaire Dive Sites

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In 2009 when I was in Bonaire it was less than a year after the hurricane and we found that the northern dive sites were much more impacted than the southern ones. Can anyone who has been there recently report on the condition of sites like oil slick and 1000 steps versus some of the sites to the south like Angel City etc. . . Kind of trying to plan out some sites and wondering if it is worth the time to head north again. Thanks much -Brian

 

[SEVADiver]

We were in Bonaire in March. It was our first trip, so I have no basis to compare. We did both north and south sites. I didn't see any difference in the condition of the reef. I liked the northern sites better because the reef is much closer to the shore. In the north we did Oil Slick Leap, Ole Blue, 1000 steps (from a boat!), and Karpata.

 

[Divers Incorporated]

I was there in May and it looked like the most impacted in my opinion were the Kline Reefs. There was a lot of obvious Damage. Oil slick, Rappel and thousand steps were amazing. Some signs that they were damaged in the past but still amazing. It was in my opion a lot less damage than say Cozumel after its hurricaine.

 

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In 2007 when i was first there the coral grew basically right up to the ladder at oil slick, in 2009 an area probably 50 yards wide had been swept clean and eveything scrubbed clean. Huge coral heads had toppeled and rolled down the reef, it was heart breaking. Thanks for the info. I will definitely try some of the north sites because in 2007 they were our favorite sites. In 09 though I really liked Margate Bay and one called Hidden Beach in the bonaire shore diving made easy book.

 

[DiveMaven]

We found in the 2 years after the hurricane that the farther south you went, the better condition the reefs were in. We not only saw more reef life, but we saw a turtle or two almost daily in addition to Eagle Rays (4-6 at a time) almost every other day hunting in the sand flats. We love swimming over the sand flats both to and from the reef hunting for juveniles and all sorts of creatures in the rocky outcroppings.