Hi....Can I have a few recommendations for favorite shallow snorkeling spots?

Tommy, my suggestion would be to go on the Woodwind for a trip to Klein and then with Renee for sites off shore. Both are excellent and will offer you exciting guided snorkeling.

I would fully support the trip on the Woodwind. With Dee you will see the invisible.

Besides Woodwind, Andrea 1 & 2 offer good shallow opportunities. Easy access. Another one of my favorites is Lac Cai at de fishermens pier. Be careful though not to harm the environment.

What surprised me during my last visit, were the small pools of water at the entrance/start of the pier at Karpata. The pools are only 10 to 20" deep. I even saw a juvenile moree eel over there.



(Message edited by klimgeit on February 18, 2010)

Tommy: We were just in Bonaire the first half of February. One really excellent snorkeling spot is Torri's Reef. The entrance is VERY easy, using a man-made channel (as you will see when you get there). Torri's is located towards the southern end of the island near the salt works. Once you get out of the channel, you can go either left or right - or both! The reef is parallel to the beach, so you can see a lot without having to go very far from shore. Last Friday, we spent about 15 minutes shadowing a pair of squid, we saw a big flounder who tried to hide himself with the usual camouflage. There are a lot of fish and very pretty coral formations.

I have a related question.
We leave in just under 2 weeks and everything I've read about Woodwind sounds great - we're definitely going to do that.
Renee's off shore trips sound very good too. Are her off shore sites something you can get to from shore or are they completely different. We're going to have a car and plan on snorkeling the usual "from shore" spots.
Anyway, we are toying with doing both trips.
Thanks

You can get to Renee's spots on your own but you probably won't see half the stuff you see with her. She is amazing at finding many many fish and critters and pointing them out to you!!

I dove Andrea 1 and II last October and was disappointed with all the dead reef. From a snorkeling perspective, I enjoy the shallow area near shore when entering to dive the Hilma Hooker.

Have spent two weeks each winter for the past 3 years snorkling on Bonaire. I been to a lot of sites. Just returned from this years trip. My VERY most favorite is Lac Bay. Just walk out from the windsurfing beach to the reef. Takes about 10 min. Don your gear and swim along the reef. There are beautiful coral heads surrounded by white sand so they stand out and and you are so close you can see the colors etc. Lots of juvenile fish you can see close up. The water is no deeper than 2-3 ft. Use the wind to snorkle all the way back to the beach. I just can;t say enough about this spot - a hidden jewel in my opinion. Also this year snorkling off the Sand Dollar (Bari Reef) was excellent. Andrea is another good spot.

Thanks Jane,
I never really thought about Lac Bay.
This will probably sound stupid, but where do you go for Bari Reef? I assume straight out from the dock between Sand $ and Dem Lankin, but we've tried it and didn't see much. Did we just not go out far enough?

Just got back yesterday and Toris reef was great, but our number one spot was cliff. easy entry and when you go to the right you hit lots of old piers in tthe water and there was soooooo much to see up close. we saw a beautiful BIG octopus, a spotted eagle ray, a turtle, porcupine fish all different sizes, eels of every color!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was my favorite sight this time!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I agree with Jane, Lac Bay is the VERY BEST! I have done the Woodwind. The water is too deep to be up close.

We usually stay at Sorobon. Have dove and snokeled all over the island.

Things we have seen during the day at Lac Bay.

Octopus, Squid, Turtle, Baracuda, Giant Parrot Fish (bigger than we have seen diving the reefs), and all of the regular reef fish.

BUT, all very close up, the water is chin deep at max.

Thanks, everybody! You've been really helpful. Keep 'em coming. Susan, where is "cliff"?

I'm with the others - Lac Bay is the bomb.

Giant green moray, bonefish, and...

The only shark I've ever seen on Bon.

Either before or after, a beer and burger at one of the windsurf places goes really well.

You will see the marker (yellow boulder) going past coral paradise which is just after captn dons, there is a right turn with a sign for Hamlet oasis and the dive shop. cant remember which dive shop. turn in and park by the shop go down the red steps, to the left there is a marker of the exact spot to enter the water, very easy then go to the right or the left, we did both, almost every day it was so great!!!

Hi Susan et al! That dive shop is Dive Friends, Hamlet Oasis.

Thanks...we went to the darn sight almost everyday last week,you'd think i'd know it by now!! Thanks

Is Lac Bay the same thing as Lac Cai? I thought often the current made the Lac Cai reef difficult to enter. Thanks.

Nope, Lac Bay is where the windsurfers are, Lac Cai is a different location. Never noticed a current at Cai. With this wind reversal right now, Cai would be a GREAT dive (with a guide of course...lol)

just came back and found that the Klein on the eastern side was the best snorkeling that we encountered. Saw many sea turtles, squid, a gray stingray and many,many species of fish. We got over there by renting a kayak from Buddy Dive. It only took us about 15 minutes to kayak over.

typically its the kayak back that takes more time
or atleast in my experience.
depending on wind some can get blown further north but it does look close enough to swim :-)
glad you're enjoying it.

I think we went to the wrong direction at Lac Bay. If standing on the shore looking out, we went to the right and it wasn't anything great. When we got all the way back, we were told that off to the left is better. Is that about right?

YUP

I am usually a diver but this last trip I did more snorkeling- now I am (almost) a total convert!! I spent more time above the diver I shadowed pointing things out- squid, eels, all sorts of things.(not that he paid any attention.) Our last day we were in Washington park and did a snorkel at Slaagbai- just the two of us were in the water in the middle of the bay and a turtle circled us VERY closely not once but THREE times. Maybe we looked like someone he knew- but that NEVER happens when we dive- the bubbles scare them off. We must have looked odd from shore- just rotating in place- but it was a wonderful thing to have happen right at the end of our stay......