Diving in Bonaire: the best dive sites and what else to do on the island

You park your pick-up next to a yellow stone by the roadside, put on your fins and walk into the water. A few fin strokes later, the reef begins. That's how diving works in Bonaire, day in, day out. The island is one of the best-known shore diving destinations in the world. Below, you can read where to dive, why so many divers come back every year and what to do on the days you stay dry.

Why Bonaire is such a great place to dive

Bonaire has more than 85 dive sites. Most of them can be reached from the shore, because along almost the entire west coast the reef lies just below the shoreline. You don't need a boat and you decide for yourself when to go in. Many dive centres offer packages with unlimited tank swaps: you pick up full tanks, go diving and then swap them again afterwards.

The water is between 26 and 29 degrees all year round. Bonaire lies outside the hurricane belt, so you rarely lose a dive day to the weather. Visibility is usually between 20 and 30 metres.

Nature has long been given priority here. Captain Don Stewart started the island's first dive company in 1962 and campaigned for the protection of the coral. Since 1979, the waters around Bonaire and Klein Bonaire have been part of the Bonaire National Marine Park, which is managed by STINAPA. Around 350 species of fish and 57 species of coral live around the island. Everyone who enters the water pays the Nature Fee: 40 USD per calendar year. STINAPA uses it to pay the rangers.

For Dutch visitors, the threshold is low. Bonaire is a special municipality of the Netherlands, you can get there on a direct flight from Amsterdam and with Dutch you can get by everywhere.

Where can you dive in Bonaire?

These are the sites that divers mention most often. You always start with the mandatory Marine Park orientation including a check dive; after that, a local dive centre briefs you for each site.

Bari Reef and the house reefs of Kralendijk

Right in front of the hotels of Kralendijk you will find Bari Reef and Buddy's Reef. Bari Reef is considered one of the most species-rich reefs in the Caribbean. The reef runs from 5 to about 30 metres deep. Here you can calmly get used to your equipment, or do a night dive in the evening.

1000 Steps

In the north, you descend a staircase to a small beach. Despite the name, there are only about seventy steps. Right off the shore you regularly see turtles and parrotfish.

Karpata

On the northwest coast, the reef wall of Karpata already starts at 7.5 metres. It then drops steeply to beyond 40 metres. A photogenic site for divers with some experience.

Salt Pier

Under the pillars of the salt pier in the south, schools of fish and tarpon hang in the water. It is shallow enough to snorkel here as well. You can only dive here when no ship is moored at the pier.

Hilma Hooker

This is Bonaire's best-known wreck: a cargo ship of about 70 metres that sank in 1984. It lies between two reefs at a depth of 18 to 30 metres. For certified divers, it is quite manageable.

Klein Bonaire

You reach this uninhabited little island off the coast of Kralendijk by dive-centre boat. The boats tie up to buoys, so nobody has to anchor on the reef. The coral is pristine. Klein Bonaire is also the island's most important nesting site for sea turtles.

What to do in Bonaire besides diving

Eat where the locals eat

Away from the Kralendijk boulevard you will find small eateries, often called snèks, run by Bonairians themselves. There you eat kuminda krioyo, Bonairean cuisine: stoba (a stew of goat or fish) and fresh fish with funchi or fried banana. In between, you have a pastechi, a filled pastry. If you see the sign Aki ta bende kuminda krioyo, they sell local food there. In Rincon, the oldest village on the island, a few of these places are close together. Lionfish is also often on the menu. By eating it, you help to curb this invasive fish.

The cuisines of other island residents can be found here too. Try Surinamese food at Roos Surinam Food, for example, or Jamaican at Irie Jamaican Cuisine.

Snorkelling

You don't need a tank to see the reef. Along the west coast, the coral often starts just a few metres from the shore. On a free day, take the water taxi to Klein Bonaire and snorkel from No Name Beach.

Sorobon Beach and Lac Bay

On the east coast lies Lac Bay, a lagoon with turquoise water fringed by mangroves. On Sorobon Beach you lie on white sand beside water that stays shallow far from the shore. Windsurfers know the lagoon as one of the best windsurfing spots in the world. A kayak trip through the mangroves, the nursery of many reef fish, is more relaxed.

Washington Slagbaai National Park

The entire north of the island is a protected nature park: 6,000 hectares of cacti and salt lakes, which you can drive through on unpaved roads. Hikers climb the Brandaris, the highest point of Bonaire.

Flamingos, donkeys and history

In the south, thousands of flamingos search for food in the Pekelmeer, next to the white salt mountains. Along the same coastal road stand the slave huts: small stone huts that are a reminder of slavery on the salt pans. A little further on, the Donkey Sanctuary has been taking in sick and orphaned donkeys since 1993. You drive through it by car, among the animals.

Meet Bonaire at the Bonaire Plein

At Duikvaker you will find the Bonaire Plein. There you can get in touch with dive schools and accommodations from Bonaire. You can ask them which sites suit your level, where it is best to stay and how to put together a dive week on the island. On Saturday and Sunday there is a happy hour at the bar on the plein.

Duikvaker 2027 takes place on 5, 6 and 7 February at Expo Houten. With the code DV27 you get 20% off your tickets: order your tickets for Duikvaker 2027.