Scuba Diving on Bonaire

About 80 % of Bonaires visitors come for scuba-diving. The island is well known for a huge variety of fish life and as an easy shore-dive-location with good visibility and calm, warm waters all year round. Almost all of the sixty official divesites situated on the accessible leeward west-coast ( dive-map) All you need to get going is a car, an 24-hours-unlimited-air-package from one of the diveshops and a bit of experience in organzing your own dives (orientation, safety, currents, dive-computer). And then you're ready to explore! No need to wait for a group to get ready, no divemaster who limits your divetime, no schedules at all. 
     
Yellowpainted roadside rocks make it easy to find the divelocations and a practical guide for shore dives, written by Jessie Armacost and sold by Photo Tour Divers describes exactly where and how to get in and what to expect from your choosen dive site.   The divesites name "1000 steps" describes the exhausting feeling you have when walking up the 68 steps with your heavy dive gear. It feels like a thousand!!  ;-)
     

View from "1000 steps" in the north of Bonaire

 

A Pick-up-truck is the most practical car for your stay.  The south with the Salt Pier in the background

 

 

Proofen by research and polls in Scuba magazines Bonaire's reefs and diverse marine life are unique to the Caribbean, but don't expect a lot of big stuff, look out for the small and fascinating tiny and little things!! 

To give you an idea of what to expect I found some photographers who were so kind to provide some pictures for our website. Thanks for that! Check out their websites to find more uw-photos.

     spotted Scorpionfish              ©  Tom Doeppner

lilac tube sponge   © Andreas Pluetzer

cleaner shrimp (5 mm small)      © Andreas Pluetzer

 spotted moray eel and striped cleaner shrimp          ©  Tom Doeppner

 

peacock flounder          ©  Tom Doeppner

french angelfish          ©  Tom Doeppner

white spotted filefish            ©  Tom Doeppner

ballonfish or  porcupine fish           ©  Tom Doeppner

arrow crab             ©  Tom Doeppner

  flamingo tongue          © Andreas Pluetzer

spotted moray              ©  Tom Doeppner

christmas tree worms              ©  Tom Doeppner

blennie              ©  Tom Doeppner

     caribbean lobster   yummy!!!    ©  Tom Doeppner

juvenile filefish              ©  Tom Doeppner

lizard fish or sand diver              ©  Tom Doeppner