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Snorkeling Bonaire: Snorkeling in bonaire or aruba
Bonaire Talk: Snorkeling Bonaire: Archives: Archive 2001- 2007: Archives - 2005-06-01 to 2006-03-01: Snorkeling in bonaire or aruba
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By brian singer (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - 5:44 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

My wife and I love to snorkel and went on a few wonderful snorkeling adventures by boat and car in Bonaire last year. We were thinking of checking out Aruba this May and were wondering if the snorkeling there is as great as it is in Bonaire? If we just go to Aruba, would we be sorry?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom & Sheri S. (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - 7:25 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Sorry? If the the snorkeling aspect of your future trip is important, you are comparing apples to oranges. There is no comparison with the snokerling found on Bonaire as to Aruba.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ron LaCourse (BonaireTalker - Post #48) on Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 2:49 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Not even close, if you look at a good map you'll see a major body of water exits Venezuela and Aruba is right in its mouth. I was very disappointed in the snorkeling and diving. Visabilty was poor.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Carter (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #121) on Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 8:48 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

I did some snorkeling in Aruba and there is no comparison with Bonaire. The visibility is not good in Aruba, possibly due to the sandy beaches and shores and very little in the way of reefs. At least from the shore. The guided snorkel trips don't offer anything that you can't do yourself. We looked at the pictures one of the shops had posted for the sites they snorkeled for their trips and figured out we could drive to the locations and do the snorkel ourselves. Sure enough after we were at one of the spots here comes the cattle boat dropping off the group.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By DARLENE ELLIS (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1768) on Tuesday, November 8, 2005 - 12:23 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

My only decent experience snorkeling in Aruba was at DePalm Island and you had to be picked up, take a ferry and stay there for the day.
In Bonaire you can drop in anywhere and see a multitude of fish life!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mickey McCarthy (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #225) on Tuesday, November 8, 2005 - 1:15 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Brian
Aruba is almost exactly the same size as Bonaire and has a population of over 100,000 and over 600,000 tourists each year. Bonaire's population is around 10,000 and tourists about 40,000 I believe. Michael Gaynor can come up with accurate numbers I believe.
Nuf' said Mickey

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By pat murphy (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #329) on Tuesday, November 8, 2005 - 5:15 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

i think the population of bonaire is about 13000 and according to the bonaire reporter last winter i think there were about 55-60,000 visitors in 2004. much nicer than aruba.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By v.cioffletti (BonaireTalker - Post #50) on Monday, November 14, 2005 - 12:24 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Only good snorkeling I/we found several years back on a trip to Aruba (hey, I didn't have to pay for it, so I went there!) was at Baby Beach outside of the rocky "wall" area. A few people out that area got a bit spooked by the water/surf, they were not comfortable swimmers however but that is definitely where the "cool" snorkeling stuff was located.
My trips to Bon have convinced me they have great snorkeling anywhere you drop into the water!
Ginni in WI

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dennis Abraham (BonaireTalker - Post #31) on Saturday, November 26, 2005 - 9:21 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

We have snorkeled at both Bonaire and Aruba. For the most part I agree with the previous comments, but not entirely. Bonaire has very clear water to be sure. That is because there are essentially no beaches, hence no sand to cloud the water. Instead there is broken coral. That make shore diving a bit of a challenge in many spots. You need to use footwear for the coral which means the heavy duty fins. But the variety of fish indeed is great and again the water is very clear.

Aruba has sandy beaches, but sandy beaches mean people stirring up the sand. However there are several really good snorkeling spots that we have gone to where we have seen fish that we have not seen in Bonaire. There is some really great snorkeling at the NW side of the island right off the shore. There is a place that we go to that has a tiny beach for entry and exit that just teems with life. Also the snorkel boats come into that area and tie up just about 100 meters out. Mango Halto is just south of Orangestat and it has easy entry and a lot of fish life. Baby Beach was ok, but pretty crowded. Once someone notices you have gone outside the inlet, others become "brave" and pretty soon, you are getting kicked by fins and clumsy and rude snorkelers. We went to Baby Beach only one time and will probably not be back there. We have also snorkeled in the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, the Florida keys and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. To rank them in order: Great Barrier Reef, Bonaire, Aruba, St. John, Tortola.

Happy bubbling ...

Abe and Gail - Concord, NC

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Deborah Bennett (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #9) on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 1:43 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

I'm surprised that no one here has mentioned Mangel Halto in Aruba. Tons of coral with some heads big as cars. Super clear water, too. For "proof" look in aruba-travelguide.com in Trip Reports Dec 16, 2004 Debbie Bennett (It may be in with the 2005 reports)!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Deborah Bennett (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #10) on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 2:14 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

(abovepix are in 2005: La Cabana Debbie Dec. 16)

 


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