Best watersports on Bonaire

Top 5 watersports on Bonaire

When you say Bonaire, you may think of a tropical island, sandy beaches, palmtrees and crystal blue waters. Well ... kind of ... especially in regards to the blue waters as Bonaire is famous for its world class shorediving where schools of tropical fish and large areas of colorful coral will be visible as soon as you enter the water. And the island has much more to offer in regards to spending time in these crystal blue waters.

We'd like to share our top 5 watersports activities

1. Diving on Bonaire

onaire is known by many recreational & professional divers as a World Class Shorediving destination. There are over 85 dive sites to choose from, so you could easily spend all your time on Bonaire in the water. There, you’ll find tropical reefs exploding with color from more than 57 species of coral and more than 350 species of fish. Nice detail is that the names of the dive sites are marked on the yellow stones by the shore road.

2. Snorkling between the turtles

Because Bonaire's spectacular reefs are so close to the shoreline, you won’t have to be a diver to explore them. Snorkeling offers a chance to experience the world under the crystal blue waters close to the beach and in just a few meters from the shoreline. There you’ll spot turtles, rays, tropical fish and if you're lucky even seahorses.

3. Worldclass windsurfing on Bonaire

Many windsurfers enjoy the amazing blue waters at Sorobon, where trade winds and crystal clear waters come together to form one of the most idyllic windsurfing destinations on earth. Sorobon offers a stunning beach, where a few nice beach bars overlook the large protected bay with shallow waters, and nearly 365 days of warm sunshine, and excellent shorewinds making Sorobon an ideal windsurfing destination.

4. Kayaking the Mangroves

The mangrove forest of Lac Bay is one of the best preserved mangrove forests in the Caribbean. As this is a protected area, you can only explore this beautiful spot during a 1- or 2-hour guided kayaking tour. During this tour you will find different species of mangrove trees in crystal clear waters, which is the nursing environment for queen conch shells, baby rays, lobsters, baby seahorses and many other fish and bird species.

5. Kitesurfing or foiling on Bonaire

In the southwest of the island is a spot called Atlantis beach dedicated for the Kitesurfing fanatics. There are 2 kitesurfing schools with boats to learn you the basics or more specialized tricks of this beautiful spot.
On lower wind days you can exchange your kite for a wingfoil and learn yourself a new sport. Wingfoiling is practiced both at the Atlantis area as well as the Sorobon bay.

Stinapa Bonaire

STINAPA (Stichting Nationale Parken) is dedicated to manage and share, protect and restore, promote and educate the resources, biodiversity and values of Bonaire’s nature. Nature is recognized and treasured as the main resource of Bonaire’s existence and sustainable development.

The Stinapa Bonaire Nature Fee is mandatory for all users of the Marine Park and the Washington Slagbaai National Park.

Stinapa manages the two protected areas of Bonaire: the Bonaire National Marine Park  which includes the surrounding waters of Bonaire with the coral reefs, shallow lagoons, mangroves and Klein Bonaire. The second area is the Washington Slagbaai National Park which encompasses two former plantations and spans across nearly 4,286 acres across the northern end of Bonaire.

Nature foundations on Bonaire

There are quite a few foundations on Bonaire that do great work and put amazing efforts in maintaining the beauty of Bonaire, from reef renewal programs, turtle nests monitoring and expedition studies.

Reef renewal Bonaire

This foundation protects and restores coral reefs in Bonaire by developing new and innovative ways to restore reefs that are supported by research collaborations and shared worldwide. The dedicated team of Reef Renewal Foundation Bonaire works tirelessly to restore Bonaire’s reef one coral at the time.
Read more about the amazing work the Reef Renewal Foundation is doing for the coral reefs on Bonaire.
Source: Reef Renewal Bonaire website

Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire

The mission of the Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire is to ensure that Bonaire's sea turtles have a secure future, and to connect people to sea turtle conservation in ways that inspire caring for nature. They use best practices in science and conservation to build knowledge and protection of Bonaire's sea turtles. They share their knowledge to raise awareness, affect policy and build support for biodiversity protection.
Read more about the fantastic work the Sea Turtle Conservation team is doing on Bonaire.
Source: Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire website

Blue Defenders Expeditions

Blue Defenders NGO Expeditions conducts megafauna research in the Caribbean region. The goal of their research is to map numbers, species and movements outside the marine park (up to 60 meters depth in the sea). To then translate this data into being able to more effectively protect megafauna.
Source: Blue Defenders Bonaire website

Best places to eat on Bonaire

Did you already get hungry, thirsty or tired from all these amazing activities on the crystal blue waters of Bonaire and think you need to know where you can chill on a beachbed and have a great meal & drink,  then read our other blogs about the best restaurants or the best beachbars on Bonaire.