Tori's Reef

Parking is right off the side of the road. The entry isn't as bad as it looks. Hold your buddy's hand for a little stability while entering and exiting. A couple of returning divers exploring the intake channel.

New site for us on our most recent trip. We did this dive New Year's morning since the surf was up at some of our more favorite sites further south (like Margate Bay). Park just south of the second bridge and use the easy entry on that side of the canal. You can bypass the surf as you swim out the canal. However, it is a long swim to the reef. There is a mooring, but it is up in the sand and not visible from the reef. We swam north against the noticeable current for the first part of the dive. There is decent coral cover at about 50-60 feet, with the bonus of many sponges and whip corals along the slope. Very fishy - we were surrounded by schools of brown chromis and creole wrasse. We then ascended to about 30 feet and let the current push us back south. After about half the outbound dive time, I popped up about 50 meters short of the mooring. There are smooth trunkfish and some juvenile angelfish in the sand, but very few whips and corals.

My first trip Bonaire. Amazing. Did shore dives at 23 different sites. This was a good dive with a very easy entry, although I found Pink beach to be a much better dive.

A local recommended Tori's Reef to us. This is the most beautiful reef I have ever been on. so many varieties of corals and sponges. I saw fish I've never seen before. Entry was pretty easy by the channel next to the bridge. Moderate current, started out to the right, then drifted back to the left. Wonderful!!

The neatest thing about Tori's Reef is the entry through a salt intake channel for Cargill's salt ponds. After passing under the machinery that takes salt from the ponds to the ships, the entry for this site is at the second small bridge; the first also appears to be an intake channel but one that is perhaps more modern, concrete and less amenable to entry. There is room to park several cars within 25 feet of the entry point. After stepping down two to three feet worth of rocks, one enters the intake channel and can don fins. Then one swims out through the mouth of the intake channel. The swell was up a bit the day we did this, and swimming out was a bit more difficult than we expected, but still fairly easy. Exit by reversing the entry steps, recognizing that the swim in may be a bit choppy. We enjoyed our dive here but unfortunately the numerous sandy channels meant that the visibility was poor in the ocean state we encountered. Several guidebooks note that there are interesting fish in the channel itself; we found this to be the case but the ocean was too rough for us to spend much time looking at these fish.

My wife and I did this dive a number of times while in Bonaire. The entry was easy and before we got out to the reef we saw a nice size octopus and scorpion fish. The best time to dive this site is at dusk. We saw an abundance of eel, octopus, barracuda, and a seahorse. One of the best dives in Bonaire in our opinion.

Easy entry and generally easy dive. Parking near road, watch for cars!

Our first shore dive not using a boat dock. Entry was not as bad as it looked. We swim slowly and saw so many critters that we never made it to the reef drop-off. Had a great time getting photos of squid.

Went here with a couple of snorkeling friends. Lots of interesting fish in the shallows for them. Fairly long swim out to drop off. Saw some large orange elephant ear sponges, some gold entail and spotted morays, a couple of juvenile drum fish, file fish, etc.

You enter through the water channel for the Solar Salt works, so the water in the channel is way saltier and warmer than the surrounding sea. A minor surface swim IMHO, and the soft corals were healthy on the reef. Salt channel is protected against surge (if it happens).

Really enjoyed this dive, lots of plant and animal life. Will definitely do again in Nov!!!