And your top five Bonaire shore dive site would be(insert drum roll)......

[morecowbells]

Hubby and I will be visiting Bonaire for the first time at the end of Jan. Half the fun of my vacation is planning! I have been looking at the shorediving.com website to get some ideas of where to start. I know that Bonaire is mainly a small crittter island, but would love to see some grouper, eels, stingrays, turtles, tarpon, and some of the other larger stuff. We are staying just north of town. Driving distance to dive sites not an issue. If any of you scubaboarders can suggest/recommend your top 5 dive sites I would be incredibly grateful. Grateful enough to assault you with a trip report when I return

I'm still trying to figure out the nuances of the north versus the south end of the island. Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[redacted]

My favorite site is Karpata. Do both morning tanks there - one going north and one going south. We usually drop down to 40 or 50 feet for the outgoing leg and then return at 20 to 30 feet. We have seen mantas, black tips, and an orange moray, all on the shallow legs. You can drop down to 100 feet for the best corals and sponges. We usually do that twice in a weeks stay.

Then any of the southern sites between white slave and red slave. They are best in the 25 to 40 ft range. We have seen southern rays and eagle rays in the shallower areas. All those sites are quite similar.

I have never been very impressed with the sites between white slave and corporal Meiss except salt pier is worth a shot if there are no ship in.

Windsock and corporal Meiss are great afternoon dives with Meiss being the better choice. Use the sandy entry at the north of the site and head south.

In the center section, we really like front porch/bari reef for a twilight dive - enter just south of the Den Leman resort. Depending on where you are staying, anything between Bari and the cliff (all are resort dive sites) makes a great afternoon or night dive. The tarpon will come find you at night.

Enjoy

 

[herbdb]

Margate Bay - my favorite saw spotted ray and manta ray there on last trip, great soft corals.
Salt Pier - look for small stuff in rubble.
Hilma Hooker - Nice Wreck, Tarpon often hang out there.
Oil Slick - Fun site especially the entry, 10 ft drop to the water.
Karpata - lots to see in 40 ft region.

 

[lmorin]

Tarpon and turtles are common on Bari reef, as are 4-5 species of eels. Tiger groupers are there regularly, but are not too common. Southern stingrays are also occasional down on the sandy bottom at about 120 ft. Invisibles, Angel City and Karpata also make my list. And, we've had a great time at Windsock and Bachelor's Beach. The underwater topography at Invisibles, Angel City, Karpata and Bachelor's Beach adds another interesting dimension to those dives.

 

[diversteve]

Jeff Davis for turtles
Cliff - good vertical wall with eels (as much as that exists on Bonaire)
Bari Reef for tarpon, turtles, squid. Most counted species of fish in the Caribbean there also.
Salt Pier - sometimes you see larger pelagics just off the pier
Invisibles for garden eels shallow.
Vista Blue - we both thought it was one of the best. Can be a lot of current in the afternoon.

I know it's 6...

If you really want to see bigger stuff, hire Bas Tol to take you shore diving on the east side. BAS Diving

In simple terms, the north side is more vertical on the surface. It's why both "Leap" sites are there. Dive sites are a little farther apart and parking is often a short walk to the water. Some like 1000Steps (there's 64) are also down a small cliff. Practically all the southern sites are flat with a few bushes and closer to the road - you can often see divers 2-3 sites in either direction. At some you can also park almost at the waters edge. IMO the terrain is slightly more vertical u/w at the north sites since at some the cliffs continue into the water. Many of the southern sites look very similar - a couple times we thought we'd repeated a dive since we saw basically the same things.

You can get a good idea of the differences by reviewing the aerial/entry pictures here: http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/ABC/index.htm

 

[DiveMaven]

Margate Bay, Atlantis, Vista Blue, Tori's Reef, Bari Reef (our house reef)....can you tell I'm partial to the southern sites? We really love the sand flats between shore and the first reef in the south....lots to see and good opportunity for encounters with rays.

 

[tajkd]

hilma hooker but... my favorote reef dive was biso morte in the park. life was much better than other sites.

 

[RJP]

hilma hooker but... my favorote reef dive was biso morte in the park. life was much better than other sites.

Is that the one we had to rappel down? Or the one where your camera got trashed in the surf?

 

[fdog]

1) Sweet Dreams
2) Sweet Dreams
3) Sweet Dreams
4) Sweet Dreams
5) White Slave

Ooops...not bringing a scooter...?

1) White Slave (not as far of a kick over the sandy desert-like plains, but almost the same untouched healthy coral)
2) Oil Slick
3) The rest - take your pick


All the best, James

 

[morecowbells]

Thanks everybody for the responses! It is encouraging to see that one does not need to go terribly deep to see the marine life. We do not own scooters(they look like fun, but I have never tried one) but do not mind a reasonable swim out to the reef. We are staying next to Yellow Submarine dive shop. Does anybody have any input on the diving in front of the dive shop? We plan on diving both the north and south end of the island. I am only 5'3" so some of these rough entries may be more challenging.

Without sounding too needy/clingy, one more question. Is it really worth it(with the exception of the east side) to book a boat dive? I enjoy the solitude of shore diving, but do not want to miss out on a 'not to be missed' dive opportunity. Again, thanks for putting the time to respond. I am writing down all your suggestions. Two months left