My wife and I are avid nature-lovers and conservationists and are thrilled to be making our first visit to beautiful Bonaire later this month. We will have a small rented SUV and would sincerely appreciate any and all recommendations for snorkeling places to explore! Kind thanks.

Welcome to BT Mark. You are in for a thrill. I can not recommend my normal snorkel spots due to massive changes in the shoreline since hurricane Omar clipped the island earlier this year. A lot has changed and much of the shallow coral has been lost.

Having said that, your best bet is to get professional help (probably true for many on BT), you should try to hire a guide first thing. Renee would be a great choice. She can show you some good spots and has phenomenal spotting skills. Well worth the money.

Also make a point of going out with Dee and Ulf on the Woodwind. Also well worth the money.

Have a great trip and you will love Bonaire.

Get a copy of Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy.
http://www.infobonaire.com/bsdme/

Dan and Cecil,

Thanks so much for the info.

I am saddened to hear that Omar hurt some of the shallower coral gardens. That said, we are still really looking forward to exploring the waters. I really appreciate the tips.

How far is Klein Bonaire via kayak from Harbour Village or Divi?

0.55 miles according to Goggle earth, but we all know how inaccurate those satellite maps are . I would not stress over Omar, it did a lot of damage but there are places that were spared. It's just a matter of finding them. Also as you may have surmised the Klein was untouched by Omar.

About kayaking to Klein: it's with the wind on the way over, and against the wind on the way back. Also, winds build up during the day, often. Could be hard work!

Oh, and since you will have a car, drive to Jibe City at Sorobon and walk out in waist deep water about 15 or 20 minutes (or swim into the wind) across the shallow bay, out toward the reef and breakers. GREAT snorkeling out there! Float back with the wind on the way back!

The reef at Lac Bay is much more work to get to, and I'm not saying that you can't find wonderful snorkel spots on the lee side right at the shore, but you will want some expert advice for the places that survived Omar. The guide book is pre-Omar.

Niki, Cecil,

Thank you both for the inside word. As my wife is pregnant, we may want to choose some of the easier explorations that are not too strenuous.

Right, she doesn't need to hike and paddle herself into exhaustion! There is a water taxi to Klein...

How about the coral at 1000 steps? Was that damaged? That's one of my favorite places to snorkel.

Bonnie, yes, the corals in the shallows--remember the forest of staghorn?--is all gone! At the drop-off, there is still living coral, sponges, etc., but there is also a lot of damage from the storm and bleaching, perhaps from the sewage seeping into the sea from all the shoreline properties. It is kind of sad to see. Prepare for a shock!

What a shame! But thanks, Pauline, for the warning. As a snorkel-on-top-of-the-water kind of girl, I liked being able to get that close to all that great coral at 1000 steps. This will have to be the year we really do get to Klein for snorkeling.

There are still many areas to the south and north where Elkhorn and Staghorn corals exist in the shallows. The area nearest to town was the hardest hit.The redeeming factor is the amount of new growth already showing up on the reefs. More fish life is returning to the shallows as well.

Susan, exactly where would those Elkhorn and staghorn corals be found in the shallows? And where are you seeing the new growth?

If the sewage isn't stopped from seeping onto the reef, any new growth, especially in the hotel zones, will be severely compromised.

I have seen new growth on coral at Margate Bay and Red Beryl down south and Karpata to the north. I have not yet had an opportunity to visit the shallows in the bay area. The biggest immediate concern for the coral is sloughing off the sand and silt so it can feed.

Do/es it help for us to fan the sand off

A night snorkel with Dee is great!

deborah, yes, if you can fan the sand off without hitting the coral that's a good thing.

We just spent 2 weeks in Bonaire. Agreed, Omar did quite a bit of damage to the the coral in lots of areas, but there is still great snorkelling to be had. We saw turtles nearly every time we went into the water and plenty of octopus. The fish are still there, busily looking for new habitat. We snorkelled at the Plaza, Green Submarine (BIG octopus), Invisibles, Tori's Reef, Ol' Blue (BEWARE: the next to last step on the ladder is missing and there is a piece of metal sticking out that you could snag a foot/ankle on), Andrea I and II, and Sorobon. Most interesting snorkel was around the Salt Pier, where we saw sting rays and lots of little fish around the pilings. Took a sunset snorkel from Sunset Beach down to Eden Beach and saw lots of spotted drum (my favorite fish) swimming/feeding out in the open. And even though the beach and little pier at Divi are no more, the snorkelling is still really good; saw two sharpnosed eels right next to the dive pier, and on the other side, closer to town, there is a colony/herd of large squid, just hanging out. We saw them several times, in the same location. We did snorkel at Sorobon, taking that incredibly long hike across the shallow water to get to the edge of the reef, but the water was really, really rough that day. Coral and fish were gorgeous, though. Not a trip for a timid swimmer, which I usually am. Thank goodness for Renee!!
Can't wait until we go back next year.

i agree with donna. we just had a week in bonaire and saw many fish(85 species) critters.and hard and soft corals.we did one swim with renee and she shows you how to look more than where to look. that is valuable. we saw 5 turtles , 3 sea horses, 4 large green moray, 3 snake eels , sleeping soap fish ,blooming cup coral, bio luminescent dino flaggellates(like underwater sparklers), and 4 octopods. one which was 3 ft across and my son took a picture of it being bitten by a moray. the divers in our house were also not disappointed. sites we visited were red beryl to margate,the andreas, the wayacas, sorobon, small wall, playa lechi,and some west side drifts we dont know the names of. any visitors looking at this site before your trip as i did., i have been to hawaii ,st croix , bahamas,and puerto rico ; bonaire was better. mark

When I dove at Karpata, I noticed it had some decent coral that wasn't way deep. This is stuff that survived Omar. I wasn't there to snorkel, so I didn't spend a lot of time in the shallows...but there was certainly better coral in the 10-15 ft depth range than sites to the south such as Witches Hut or 1000 steps.

I walked to the reef at Lac Bay going in South of the Sorobon resort. Water was only knee deep. If waves are coming over the reef, then it will be tough to get close to the reef because of the surge. If it's at all calm...I would recommend it.

What's the scoop snorkeling Salt Pier....i know diving you must get permission & a dive master.

Ronald, I have wondered this also. I posted a new message hoping that someone who knows will see it and post the answer.

The reason for permits is the gonernment wants to know who is hanging around the piers at all times! Plus the pires are working places, and they don't want people there during work times. Yes, you need permissin, and guides! THANKS TO THE TERROREST'S IN THE WORLD!!!

Ok, so are you saying that even with permission you cannot go without a guide?

You will not get permission without a guide.

Hi, We just went visited Bonaire at the end of Feb. It was our first time there, so we didn't have a pre-Omar comparison, but my husband has snorkeled a lot in the Caribbean and was regularly impressed by how dense and healthy the reef was looking. We did solely snorkeling, although did breath dive down a bit to see things. Our favorite spots were Karpata and 1000 Steps - mostly because we had the "beach" to ourselves and it was a picturesque spot. Surprisingly for a simple spot, we saw a lot at Airport. We also checked out and enjoyed Andrea I and Tori's Reef. A really simple place to go if your wife is too tired to paddle far is Bari's Reef. There is a sunken pier that has tons of activity that you can just hang out and watch.

We were in Bonaire for the first time during the last week of January and absolutely loved it. As warned, we discovered that many shallow corals were ravaged by hurricane. That said, we still found plenty of underwater beauty to savor.

We snorkeled quite a bit. Really enjoyed the area right out in front of Harbour Village, where we stayed. Also snorkeled Angel City, but little visible marine life and too deep for good snorkeling. Better for diving. Beautiful part of the island though. Make sure you have good reef walker shoes to navigate entry and exit of pretty much everywhere we went. Kayaked over to Klein Bonaire and the snorkeling was really fun over there. Also the corals survived the hurricane. Beautiful and lots of marine life. Also rented a boat for a half day, quite reasonable and toured all over and tied up very easily to umpteen different snorkel sites. Wish we'd spent more time exploring the waters off of Washington-Slaagbai Park. Liked Playa Funchi, Karpata too. Weber's Joy, Andrea I. Tried to swim to Bari reef to explore from Harbour Village but could not find it, must've missed it, swam quite a ways. All in all, a wonderful trip and we can't wait to go back!