Bonaire Reef health and marine life compared to Cozumel

[loady]

For people that have dove or snorkeled in both Bonaire AND Cozumel in 2024 or 2025: does either in those years clearly have healthier reefs, more or more varied marine life , or better visibility? I’m deciding between the two after having made several Cozumel trips. Coz is great but I did feel herded and nannied on those boat dives. I like the idea of unlimited unguided diving and possibly less development and people and a new culture . But the flights will be twice as long with layovers / plane changes from Southern California .
Also, if you stayed at the same level hotel or resort in each , for a trip of the same number of dives and days what’s the price differential per person between Coz and Bonaire? I understand it’s self drive beach shore dives in one and guided boat dives in the other.
Thanks!

 

[arew+4]

For people that have dove or snorkeled in both Bonaire AND Cozumel in 2024 or 2025: does either in those years clearly have healthier reefs, more or more varied marine life , or better visibility? I’m deciding between the two after having made several Cozumel trips. Coz is great but I did feel herded and nannied on those boat dives. I like the idea of unlimited unguided diving and possibly less development and people and a new culture . But the flights will be twice as long with layovers / plane changes from Southern California .
Also, if you stayed at the same level hotel or resort in each , for a trip of the same number of dives and days what’s the price differential per person between Coz and Bonaire? I understand it’s self drive beach shore dives in one and guided boat dives in the other.
Thanks!

Food and lodging, prices are similar, we tend to go the VRBO route. You will pay a bit of a premium for a place to stay that has a house reef. With unlimited shore diving at $40 or so a day and only three dives per day you are under $15 a dive if you have all your own gear. As for the truck a older model can be had for $50-60 day amortized over the week between two divers and pulling cab fair for the week, it adds $10 a dive at 3 per day. So all in $20-25 per dive less if you do 4. Four a day is a little work, but well worth it. an average 3.5 per day is easily achieved.

Last in Cozumel in 2021, Bonaire March 2025, and 2022 before that. Coral everywhere has been damaged Bleaching, SCTLD etc. in 21 22 coz had the edge on reef health and life, I think the reefs in Bonaire where doing better in 2025, they were also very fishy, however, we saw very few green morays, and lobster vs previous trips but based comments it seems to be an anomally.

 

[Cornbread O'Malley]

For people that have dove or snorkeled in both Bonaire AND Cozumel in 2024 or 2025: does either in those years clearly have healthier reefs, more or more varied marine life , or better visibility? I’m deciding between the two after having made several Cozumel trips. Coz is great but I did feel herded and nannied on those boat dives. I like the idea of unlimited unguided diving and possibly less development and people and a new culture . But the flights will be twice as long with layovers / plane changes from Southern California .

Fortunately for Cozumel, the reefs seemed to have rebounded from the bleaching of summer 2023. They looked much healthier in February 2025 than compared to December 2023. In Bonaire, I found the reefs along the waterfront of Kralendijk suffer from severe degradation when compared to the reefs north and south of town. It was my first time on Bonaire in January 2025, and I only dove two sites north of town, Weber's Joy and Karpata. I spent most of my time diving sites south of town. In terms of reefs between Coz and Bonaire, I give the advantage to Bonaire because of the abundance of common sea fans and Caribbean sea whips. Lots of hard corals too at sites south of town. I think Bonaire has the edge in marine life too. I saw several large schools of fish numbering in the hundreds. I haven't seen that in Coz. In terms of visibility, Coz wins only because I'm comparing boat dives in Coz to shore dives in Bonaire. All my dives in Bonaire were shore dives much closer to shore and with a larger amount of particulate matter in the water. But Bonaire's visibility is still excellent.

I really enjoyed the day dives at Salt Pier in Bonaire. The fish congregate in great numbers in the shadows of the pier. It's like swimming through an aquarium. Night dives at the same site not so good as all the fish go elsewhere.

I enjoyed Bonaire despite overnight layovers in Miami to and from. The sticker shock for food in Bonaire took a bit to adjust to. Should be no surprise as everything is imported. I found grocery shopping at the stores along Kaya Industria in Bonaire will cost about three times the amount spent at Chedraui or Soriana in Cozumel. Still, you ought to give Bonaire a try!

 

[brsnow]

My dive buddy has recently dove both and he loves Bonaire to the point they might retire there, but in our trip to Cozumel a few weeks ago he was impressed in the conditions of the reefs. They look really good currently.

 

[Mascottrepair]

I’ve done both recently - Bonaire’s reefs felt healthier overall, with more freedom to explore at your own pace via shore diving. Marine life is varied in both, but Cozumel may have more big stuff. Visibility’s great in both spots. Bonaire is quieter and less developed, but travel and logistics are trickier. Price-wise, Bonaire can be a bit cheaper if you do mostly shore dives, especially without daily boat fees.

 

[wgw04024]

Price wise...I just priced out Bonaire for March from Portland for 2 people. $1800, and that's with somewhat pricier airfare out of Maine, and I could of skimped more on the airbnb if I needed to. Airfare, truck, tanks, airbnb. Just add food.