Bonaire offers diving along the entire coast where available. Directly from your diving resort or when you arrive with your rental car somewhere along the coast. Most of the dive sites are easily accessible and you stop with your car just a few meters from the starting point. Land-based diving on Bonaire is incredibly easy. However, some places can only be reached by boat. This means that if you want to get to some places or to Klein Bonaire, you have to book in on a boat trip. Otherwise, the best thing is to pre-book boat dives in your diving package. Klein Bonaire is the small island off the coast on the west side.
Diving on Bonaire
The northern and eastern sides of Bonaire are difficult to access. On the west and south side you have great diving and quite different types of environments. The northern part offers more hard coral and steep walls down to great depths. The southern part has more gently undulating coral forests or slopes down to more moderate depths. Everywhere there are quantities of fungi and fish, but also crustaceans, octopuses and anemones are everywhere. Bonaire has something for all divers whether you are a beginner or a seasoned diver. Sometimes you are lucky and can see eagle coats, manta rays and even whale shark passing out of the blue. Bonaire's most famous dive site is probably the Hilma Hooker wreck, which is popular but rarely crowded at the dive site. The wreck lies on its side and even beginners can get there as it is not deep and the waters here almost always offer extremely good visibility. Here you sometimes see slightly larger fish such as reef sharks, tarpons, nurse sharks or stingrays. Some of the most beautiful dive sites are on the southern part with chalky white sand bottoms and undulating soft corals where the light is pure magic on a clear day. If you are lucky you can swim here with turtles or eagle rays and slowly float through the clear water, a fantastic experience. If you want to combine land-based diving on Bonaire with a more regular holiday and lazy days, we suggest you combine with one of the neighboring islands Curaçao or Aruba where you fly easily. Only land-based diving applies on Bonaire and the other islands here and unfortunately there are none liveaboard available.