I'm heading to Bonaire this weekend ( cant wait) and wanted to know what areas you loved snorkeling in? We will have a truck a few days and will also be bringing our inflatable kayak so we can explore all over! We will be staying south of the Airport at the Belmar. Would love some suggestions. Also has anyone kayaked over to Klien Bonaire ( was the water rough) ? Getting excited to go,I live to snorkel and have heard this area is wonderful !!
Favorite snorkeling spots in Bonaire
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Some places to try - I dive but these seem like good shallow snorkel options also.
Bari Reef - I have snorkeled here - actually floated around on Scuba. There's a lot of hurricane rubble just off to the left of the dock - maybe 3-5' of water. Saw a lot of fish there - literally dozens of species in that area. Squid also twice.
Start this panorama - http://www.bonairepanoramas.com/panorama/bari-reef.html - the area I'm talking about is in the foreground. The pink/green building is Den Laman condos for reference. Spin around to the left to see Klein - my guess is that's about one of the closer points to access it from. Check with Bonaire Dive/Adventure while you're there - they do kayak trips to the Mangroves.
Windsock Beach by the airport is probably good. In some areas the coral almost breaks the surface. Easy entry.
Salt Pier - the 1st couple of pilings are less than 20' deep. Some have fire coral on them though. Check the panorama here: http://www.bonairepanoramas.com/underwater.html
It's one of the mid-level piers - maybe 25' deep? - and there's one closer. Even the farthest pier is only about 45' deep IIRC.
Karpata to the far north of town - there's elkhorn coral just right of the old pier. Once you commit to going there the road will become one way so you'll have to drive back thru Rincon to town - about 1/2hr. drive. But interesting. Lake Gotomeer is also in that area if you want to see the Flamingos.
BelMar's not bad either - right under both docks but the surge can push you into the ironshore. IDK if they still do but at one time they had lights under the dive pier which attracted lots of small fish at night - and the occasional tarpon feeding on them. There's always lots of little fish in the shadows during the day - once about a dozen squid.
IIRC there was a patch of larger coral heads at about the 10 o'clock position if you're standing on the south dock facing west. Pretty shallow like 15-20'. If you get out more than 200' you've missed them. There's also some big purple tube sponges but they might be a little too deep. Ask the Buddy dive folks on-site.
I've heard they snorkel in Lac Bay also. But it's about a 20min. walk out to deeper water - dodging windsurfers - so IDK. They kayak in the Mangroves nearby also.
If you do get over to Klein, South Bay would be good snorkeling. It's both protected and pretty shallow. We saw turtles there inland from the mooring under the rocks - it's about 20' deep at the mooring ball IIRC. I swam towards shore once and it was almost was too shallow - I was afraid I'd hit the coral. There's occasionally dolphins in the channel between the two islands - I've talked to divers who snorkeled with them. Seems like late morning is when they saw them. We also saw them swing by BelMar late one afternoon but they were pretty far out.
A few other options: Info Bonaire - Other Great Snorkeling sites around Bonaire and Klein Bonaire
hth,
Bari Reef - I have snorkeled here - actually floated around on Scuba. There's a lot of hurricane rubble just off to the left of the dock - maybe 3-5' of water. Saw a lot of fish there - literally dozens of species in that area. Squid also twice.
Start this panorama - http://www.bonairepanoramas.com/panorama/bari-reef.html - the area I'm talking about is in the foreground. The pink/green building is Den Laman condos for reference. Spin around to the left to see Klein - my guess is that's about one of the closer points to access it from. Check with Bonaire Dive/Adventure while you're there - they do kayak trips to the Mangroves.
Windsock Beach by the airport is probably good. In some areas the coral almost breaks the surface. Easy entry.
Salt Pier - the 1st couple of pilings are less than 20' deep. Some have fire coral on them though. Check the panorama here: http://www.bonairepanoramas.com/underwater.html
It's one of the mid-level piers - maybe 25' deep? - and there's one closer. Even the farthest pier is only about 45' deep IIRC.
Karpata to the far north of town - there's elkhorn coral just right of the old pier. Once you commit to going there the road will become one way so you'll have to drive back thru Rincon to town - about 1/2hr. drive. But interesting. Lake Gotomeer is also in that area if you want to see the Flamingos.
BelMar's not bad either - right under both docks but the surge can push you into the ironshore. IDK if they still do but at one time they had lights under the dive pier which attracted lots of small fish at night - and the occasional tarpon feeding on them. There's always lots of little fish in the shadows during the day - once about a dozen squid.
IIRC there was a patch of larger coral heads at about the 10 o'clock position if you're standing on the south dock facing west. Pretty shallow like 15-20'. If you get out more than 200' you've missed them. There's also some big purple tube sponges but they might be a little too deep. Ask the Buddy dive folks on-site.
I've heard they snorkel in Lac Bay also. But it's about a 20min. walk out to deeper water - dodging windsurfers - so IDK. They kayak in the Mangroves nearby also.
If you do get over to Klein, South Bay would be good snorkeling. It's both protected and pretty shallow. We saw turtles there inland from the mooring under the rocks - it's about 20' deep at the mooring ball IIRC. I swam towards shore once and it was almost was too shallow - I was afraid I'd hit the coral. There's occasionally dolphins in the channel between the two islands - I've talked to divers who snorkeled with them. Seems like late morning is when they saw them. We also saw them swing by BelMar late one afternoon but they were pretty far out.
A few other options: Info Bonaire - Other Great Snorkeling sites around Bonaire and Klein Bonaire
hth,
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Kharon
Contributor
My favorite spot (because of the sandy protected entry) was Tori's Reef.
R
redacted
Guest
Karpata would be my #1 choice. You can head north or south and find lots of stuff in 20 ft or less. The entry is not simple but much easier without scuba. There is a large cement slab just above the water line. You can sit on that, gear up, and slide in. You will want to use open heal fins with good booties (true for most Bonaire sites). The exit with scuba is to walk along the north edge of that slab but there are some large and tricky rocks you will have to deal with. The area right around the slab is a bit barren but get 100+ feet away and into 15 to 20 ft of water and it will pick up. The marker buoy is in about 25 ft of water but it will shallow up a bit as you head north into lots of soft coral. Hard corals in shallow water are south of the entry. On scuba, I have seen both Blacktip Reef sharks and a Manta.
Just south of Windsock is Corporal Miesa (?) which seems to be a bit healthier. There is a marker buoy and a fairly simple sandy entry/exit, then head south.
Finally, since there are not a lot of opportunities to snorkel a ship wreck, you might give the Hilma Hooker a look.
Just south of Windsock is Corporal Miesa (?) which seems to be a bit healthier. There is a marker buoy and a fairly simple sandy entry/exit, then head south.
Finally, since there are not a lot of opportunities to snorkel a ship wreck, you might give the Hilma Hooker a look.
Thanks for all the great suggestions. I need to find a map and mark all the snorkeling spots you have mention. We packed our inflatable kayak and hope we can find some of these spots from the water. Do the bouys or moorings have numbers on them so you can tell which spot you are at?
Cant wait to hit the shores Sat !!
Cant wait to hit the shores Sat !!
As a former die hard snorkeler and newbie diver I thought about this while diving last October. Although we did not go to any "snorkeling" spots, I took mental note that "Just a Nice Dive" off Klein would make an excellent snorkel spot ( I was diving by boat though, so not sure about logistics). There were also some areas off of 1000 steps that we dove that I thought at the time would have been great for snorkeling. A bunch of coral heads in very shallow water ( once again I did this by boat, but I am sure you can do it by shore). Thought those were pretty shallow with good life. Also, possibly Something Special or Front Porch? Dove these both and thought they might be worth snorkeling. Did not make it up to Karpata, but will have to try this next time! We did not kayak over to Klein, but I have heard it can be done if the weather is good and you get a nice early start. I have also heard great things about Snorkel with Rene and Dee on the Woodwind. Also BSDME has info about what sites are good for snorkeling - but once I again I did not try snorkeling them. I did not dive Hilma - I thought it was below 60ft? I guess if you have awesome viz you can see it from the surface? Also, thought I heard someone say snorkeling the mangroves can be really fun, too. What a great thread! Thanks guys!
Have a GREAT TIME! SOOOO JEALOUS! Please post a trip report when you get back!
---------- Post added February 13th, 2013 at 12:23 PM ----------
Not sure if you saw this:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/abc-islands/415775-trip-report-abc-islands-snorkeling.html
Have a GREAT TIME! SOOOO JEALOUS! Please post a trip report when you get back!
---------- Post added February 13th, 2013 at 12:23 PM ----------
Not sure if you saw this:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/abc-islands/415775-trip-report-abc-islands-snorkeling.html
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Gloves are illegal anywhere in the Marine Park. Since it's the whole island you can't wear them. Also even as a snorkeler you have to purchase a BMP tag before doing any snorkeling - it's $10, not $25 like it is for divers. You can get it at Buddy Dive on the south end of the [-]Bonaire[/-] BelMar property.
I believe the other end of Corporal Meiss is in front of BelMar - someone once called it an extension of the site.
All of the known dive sites have small yellow rocks marking them alongside the road. Along the south side, the sites are within about 50' of the road. Some of the northern sites will have parking areas and are obvious. Like this:
or
Salt Pier should be obvious...lol.
All of the individual site listings shown here have a picture of the entry to the sites also - most also show the parking.
http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/ABC/index.htm
With the Kayak, I'd pay careful attention to the entry points - a lot of them are over sharp ironshore either on-shore or in the surf line. Some of them will have the best entry point marked by small piles of coral rubble left by others. At some there's also a sand channel leading out to deeper water between breaks in the ironshore.
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Two years ago we stayed at a condo to the left (facing ocean) of Belmar. Very nice house reef. In the rubble between shore (no beach in this area of the island) and reef there are a large number of fish and marine life. There was an octopus that stayed just left of the furtherest buoy from Belmar's dock that would come out at dusk.
View from our dock
In the rubble between shore and reef
View from our dock
In the rubble between shore and reef
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You guys have me so excited !! This info is great,the photos,links and suggestions are very appreciated !!! Have the hubby printing all this info,maps and some of the websites you posted. This is going to be a great week...love being face down in the water watching the marine world !!!
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