Going to Bonaire in November, can anyone advise us on calm snorkeling locations off the beach without current, or is that most places? Are there any places we should specifically avoid? We will have a car. How is snorkeling off Sand Dollar? Is it good on both sides of the island? Any sharks around? I ran smack into a black tip off the beach in Eleuthera and scared the heck out of myself! Thank goodness it was not interested in me.........Thanks!!!

Hi Susan,
I was part of a research team in Bonaire for two weeks last year, as well as the year before that. A team of six people took turns laying in the water from early morning till after sunset recording data, everything they saw....sometimes with two or three hour lunch time-out at mid day (mostly because that is when the squid we were watching sort of took a time-out as well.

The location of our research was in front of Captain Don's Habitat, as well as in front of Sand Dollar. I can therefore tell you that there is lots to see in front of Sand Dollar. It is very calm and wonderful...and there is nothing you would hate to run into...we even saw a turtle every day.

Another great location is if you go up the coast from Captain Don's where there is lots to see in the reefs as well.

As a team we have done snorkel scans looking for squid from the town site to beyond Captain Dons and we saw lotsssss of marine life all the way.
Hope that helps.

Susan, a couple of points:
1. Have a good look at the Snorkel section of Infobonaire.com It is very informative
2. You can only snorkel at the Western side of the Island - and that is PLENTY!
3. Klein Bonaire offers excellent snorkel. Make sure you take one or two trips there
4. Do a guided snorkel trip with Jerry Ligon, the Naturalist of Sand Dollar Dive Shop, and also the Fish ID session in front of SD. It is very good, you will learn a lot
4. There are "Sail and Snorkel" trips which give you opportunity to know different places, and are very good fun. We went last year with the "Seawitch", and that was very pleasant. The "Woodwind" has had such good reports in this Newsgroup that we have decided to try her this year
5. Have fun!

Antonio has some great idea's for snorkeling,Susan.
You'll see that Bonaire is almost like an aquarium. Almost no current in most places. Been diving there over 10ys and only seen 1 reef shark a long tome ago. Don't worry you'll love Bonaire. Have fun!

Lorraine, we are going next week! I won't forget to try the "Woodwind" this time. I will post a report on our return.

Looking forward to that report, Antonio. Que te vaya bien!

I'm a little confused as to the location of Nukove Beach. Is it in the National Park? I have maps/books giving me 3 different locations. Is this a good snorkeling spot? Many thanks.

Susan,
we just returned, stayed at the Plaza. There is great snorkeling there (18 palm) and at the Tipsy Seagul. We saw LOTS of fish, no current or large waves.
We did a guided snorkel at the Sand Dollar and with the Woodwind - both super good! We also did 1000 steps & Webers Joy on our own. The waves were a bit rough getting past for the kids, but it was well worth it. I will post a full report later.

NuKove -- head north out of Town - past 1000 steps and Karpata. Go just about almost into BOPEC but you will see a sign that points right up the hill. Follow the road around the oil tanks, back down along the sea, back up around where they dumped stuff in the ocean a while ago.
there should be a sign or a yellow rock marking Nukove. Before the past November storm, it was a super snorkle spot -- don't know now but you can't beat the small beach for pictures! If you miss it and go to the end of the road, turn around and find it on your way out.

Nukove is not in the park but up north past Bopeck off a dirt road. Robert Deal has a 2 pic posted of it in the Divi Renovation site that I took. Go up the hill right before Bopeck gates and follow the dirt road just when you think you may be lost, you'll see a sign at the research center that sez Nukove (X?) amount of meters ahead.there are no other turn offs so you really cann't get lost,just keep going till you reach the street post that sez NUKOVE plus a yellow rock,Lenny banged it up a bit, but there is still a small beach and still lots of parrot fish in the shallows to the right, You can see their fins out of the water,lots of birds around too,bring refreshmnets, no facilities. I think it's still worth the ride there.

Thanks very much! We will check it out now that I know where it is.