By Ben Samson
I wanted to share my Bonaire snorkeling trip report from a March 2025 visit. After snorkeling in many places throughout the Caribbean and Hawaii (St John and St Croix USVI, Glover’s Reef Atoll and Ambergris Caye in Belize, Roatan in Honduras, Big Island and Oahu in Hawaii) we finally ventured down to Bonaire. We ended up choosing it over Curacao.
I was hesitant at first due to the recent report on this website and some mixed reviews online. However, the snorkeling proved to be very good (especially far from town) and the island itself was great. Excellent fish quantities, multiple great sites, and fantastic visibility.
Bonaire Spots We Snorkeled
Scores in comparison to the best snorkeling we did at Glover’s Reef Atoll in Belize – 10/10.
Karpata– Like it says on this website this is definitely the best north of town site. Great hard coral and soft coral in 12-25 foot depths. Tons of fish. Amazing for diving down and swimming along the bottom. (8.5/10)
1000 Steps– good site… but not as good as Karpata. (6.5/10)
Tolo– very good site. Similar to Karpata but slightly deeper. (7/10)
Andrea II– close to town and good fish numbers. (6.5/10)
Salt Pier– Unique and great sponges. (8/10)
Red Beryl North and Margate Bay– Best soft coral I’ve ever seen. Huge stretch of it. (9/10)
Sites in the park- very beautiful from land but damaged corals. (4/10)
Cliff– stayed in the resort next to it. Lots of fish and eels. It was a very enjoyable evening snorkel. (6.5/10)
Chocogo– some good soft coral but I was not too impressed. Visibility was lower. (6/10)
Klein Bonaire– Great snorkeling if you get far away from the main area. The sharp drop-off is very cool. (8.5/10)
Overall best sites were:
- Red Beryl North and Margate Bay
- Karpata
- Klein Bonaire
- Salt Pier
Access wasn’t very tricky but we did get extremely lucky with the wind in March. Overall I would put the snorkeling on par with Roatan (topside Bonaire was a much nicer island) and only behind Glover’s Reef for what we’ve experienced.
I am always interested if anyone has other recommendations for the Caribbean. We want to get out to Garden of the Queens in Cuba at some point. I’m also interested if anyone has experience snorkeling Little Cayman.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Ben. We are glad you enjoyed your trip!
We really enjoyed snorkeling the Gardens of the Queens at the end of February 2024. The coral is in pretty sad shape, but the fish are abundant and varied, as were the sites we snorkeled. We went with the Oceanic Society. It was a very well run trip, my first liveaboard. I would highly recommend.
How was the bus ride to the boat across Cuba?
I’ll be honest; I’m mixed on Bonaire snorkeling, but equally hesitant to try other islands because it seems like it might be one of the best Caribbean. (I’ve been to Maui and Curacao for extended stays). I like the island culture better than Curacao, but I find that many times when I visit Bonaire, the wind speed is quite high and the wide open shoreline means it’s a lot harder for me to do macro photography. On the other hand Curacao has more crowds and less investment in caring for their reefs.
I went in February 2025 and with 20 mph winds, ended up having a great time snorkeling in town by Fisherman’s Pier. Shallow water kept the wave action down and was able to capture some fish I haven’t seen before. Had a quick drive by with a tuna, but mostly worked on my blennies and little fishes.
I don’t love 1000 Steps because of crowds and the depth make it less fun. Oil Slick was tricky–had nice diversity but the wavy/depth problem was real for me (shallow is next to limestone cliff which makes freediving more tricky when winds are high). But I have a coral tree there that I sponsored and wanted to find it!
I went to Salt Pier and got rolled by a wave coming out. Basically, some of the best corals at those sites are at significant depth. I did see a couple of turtles and barracuda. I agree with your assessment–the pilings there have an awesome diversity of sponges.
In town off the boat ramps, you can actually find a fair number of healthy small brain and maze corals. When I talked with someone with Reef Bonaire, I expressed the hope for resistant corals. They said they are noticing that SCLD seems to hit larger colonies more. I found the area in front of Chogogo Resort and Bari Reef was awful for coral, but the fish were fun–a very friendly school of palometas was visiting their artificial reef.
Which Cliff resort did you stay at and would you recommend?
Good to know about Glover’s Reef Atoll. I’ve wanted to get to Belize.
I do like Curacao, particularly–don’t laugh–Kokomo, which a couple of locals pointed me towards. Away from the beach to the left and right are some fine and abundant fish (relatively speaking) along with nice fans. I have some great pictures of scorpionfish from there. I think a couple of the hidden spots in Nicole and Galen’s Curacao book (one requires a hike, the other a 4×4) are definitely worth going to. The tourism is exploding there though, so I imagine it will invite comparisons to Aruba for those who have been there.
We have been to Bonaire many times, with the last one being November of 2024. We did see some bleaching (and/or coral tissue disease) particularly at Lac Bay, which is now a shadow of is former self (as is Klein Bonaire). But there are still enough good spots to make it worthwhile for snorkelers. I would agree with Ben for the most part – far north and far south from town are the best. And I agree with Carol that the culture on Bonaire is better than most islands (no mega hotels, but they do now allow cruise ships). Unfortunately, the decline I’m describing is Carribean-wide – including Glover’s Reef in Belize.