Salt Pier

Bonaire's most photogenic structure dive: rows of pier pilings transformed into columns of sponge, cup coral and gorgonians, shafts of light cutting between them onto a sandy 5-18 m bottom. Schools of tarpon and barracuda stack in the shade while green and hawksbill turtles graze nearby; the pilings hide seahorses, frogfish and octopus for macro hunters. It is an active industrial pier: entering the water is prohibited whenever a salt ship is moored or maintenance is underway — status is posted on-site and known to every local dive shop. Easy sandy entries lie both north and south of the pier. Depth is modest; most of the dive happens shallower than 15 m.