Snorkeling in Bonaire during tour of the Island

[Thechamp555]

Me and the wife are planning to tour the island and would like to stop at a couple of occasions for snorkeling.

 

Is there locations to stop along the coast ? We are planning to tour the island ourselves with a golf cart rental ....

 

Thanks for the advice

Germain

Quebec

 

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[Clarea]

You might also want to check out the port of call forum: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=69

[BillOh]

The west side of the island will be calmer waters. I dove there from the shore last year.

[Thechamp555]

How long does it takes to do the tour by cart ?

 

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[Dunfer]

There are several places. We rented a vehicle, and the map the rental agency gave us, showed where the snorkeling spots were. Maybe the cart rental place has these, also? If not, there is a downtown "Visitor's Office" where you should be able to get one. The best one we found was south of town, on the west side and on the main road, just past the airport. It is a public beach. We parked on the side of the road, walked about 10 feet to the beach. We set our stuff up under a tree, and probably spent 2 or more hours there. It wasn't crowded at all. There were snorkelers and divers there. It is rocky, tho, so be sure to wear water shoes. You walk out in the water 10, maybe 20 yards and are in 3 to 4 feet of water. Another yard or two, and you are (in my opinion) 500' of water! Huge drop off!

[xpcdoojk]

The beaches of Bonaire are odd. No sand, but large chunks of coral. That said, I haven't been there since 96, but the west side of the island there are no waves to speak of and the waters are like a lake. The dive sites are all marked on the side of the road. We stayed at a resort for a week, where we did a boat dive each day, then we took tanks and drove the loop road and dove many sites during the week. Our wives snorkeled while we dove. Easiest place on the planet to dive and snorkel. there is a drop off wall most places just 50 to 100 feet from the beach. Lovely. I am not sure I would feel confident driving the loop road in a golf cart though, as it is several miles from town to the north and south ends of the island.

 

JC

[cpshaye]

I am not sure I would feel confident driving the loop road in a golf cart though, as it is several miles from town to the north and south ends of the island.

We rented golf carts this past January and are doing it again next month with our family. It was wonderful and we felt very safe. We could stop whenever we wanted just get out and explore. The golf cart rental place gave us a map of the island and it had all the snorkel stops on it.

[Badgertr]

We just did the golf carts last week, best thing we ever did. However, we only did the south run. We attempted the north run and got severely lost. There are many one way streets and I asked directions but still got lost, then stopped again and the store employees knew zero English. With our map they pointed our way back and we gave up. We snorkeled at one stop, swam in another, and stopped several times, got lost, got found and we made it back to the ship maybe around 3.

 

 

 

 

 

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[trippintex]

we rented twizzy elect. cars two diff. times we where there had a blast

[Dunfer]

Thanks for the photos, Badgertr! Brings back wonderful memories. That first photo is the public beach by the airport where we stopped to snorkel. You can see how crowded it is. Ha, ha! Were you able to take the cart all the way to Lac Bay?

[Badgertr]

Is Lac Bay where the windmills are? We did a complete circle around the south. Soroban beach seemed to be where the circle turned to go back to town. I think that may have been the spot they had marked for kayaking? That's where these guys were.

 

 

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[Badgertr]

Also, people have asked what the ships do for Christmas decorations, etc. it was pretty festive our week. Photographers were set up by the tree each night.

They held Christmas light shows, Menorah lighting, ugly sweater contest, I think the kids had a parade and pics with Santa, Christmas caroling by the royal singers. Very nice.

 

 

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[Badgertr]

Oh, I have one mystery for the "pros". This was a little over half way back to Miami. It was an actual monument.

Another comment about cabin location for this itinerary. We were on a hump cabin starboard side. I think this was our least used balcony. For the 2 sea days down the balcony cooked all afternoon. Even our cabin was hotter than other ones we've had.

We were on the pier side in Labadee

And Bonaire

At the other 2 ports the balcony was cooking again in the sun so we couldn't use it for sail away.

We thought on the way home we would have the 2 sea days, however, it got windy and not real nice out there. Just something to think about.

We ended up stranded in Miami with that Atlanta fiasco so I haven't even been able to remember the good times. It is kind of trickling back to me.

Oh, another comment about the Navigator. We had extremely windy conditions on our way back. They roped off the doors for deck 4. We were hitting the waves towards the side of the ship. I have to say I hardly felt it. As you were walking it was a little wavy but sitting or laying it was just a little shimmy. Very impressed with the stability.

 

 

 

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[Dunfer]

I believe Lac Bay is where the kite surfers were. There was a neat little strip with shops, bars and restaurants. It has been 5 years, so I may be mistaken. We did see the flamingos, tho.