Overview
Salt Pier is probably the most popular dive site on Bonaire. It’s located south of Kralendijk next to the famous salt flats and mountains. The dive site is an amazing mixture between marine life, and underwater industrial architecture. It’s an exceptional spot that offers an intriguing underwater adventure like no other.
What Makes It Special
The Salt Pier is a unique dive site on Bonaire. The mixture of industrial architecture and aquatic life makes it a one of a kind dive site. The pillars create an impressive scenery. They are covered with sponges and coral that are growing on them. The pillars and shadows attract big schools of fish. Schools you won’t find anywhere on the island.
The reef in the shallows is in very good condition and again habits loads of different fish.
Entry and Descend
The entry and exit are relatively easy, making it suitable for divers of various experience levels. The dive site can be entered at either the north or south side of the pier. The south side entry varies based on the weather. Some days it’s completely flat and sand, other days it’s covered with boulders. The north side of the pier has a little step of smooth but solid rock.
Descending can be done as soon as the water is deep enough. It takes a couple of minutes before you hit the reef, but we don’t want to miss out on the Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas) that are living here!
Dive Route
The Salt Pier is a relative shallow dive where it’s usually not needed to go deeper than 50 feet / 15 meters. After entering the water descend immediately, that way you are not swimming over the turtles that are usually found in the shallows not deeper than 15 feet / 3 meter. Swim your initial leg on the outside or between the pillars to enjoy the scenery and huge amount of aquatic life. On your way back stay on the inside of the pillars, so you can enjoy the reef and end the dive whenever you run low on air.
Going in on the south entry, you can see the whole pier and return back to the entry in about 70 minutes.
Aquatic Life
Green Turtles are spotted very regularly, since the shallow rocky bottom is covered in sea grass. Barracuda’s are also found more abundantly than anywhere on Bonaire. They might hide higher in the water column so make sure you look up once in a while. The dive site is home to a Green Moray, which can be found here almost on every dive. Make sure to look under any object with a space below it!
Other underwater life you mind find here on a regular basis are Eagle Ray, Flamingo Tongue, Schoolmasters