Absolutely amazing. I pray this marine park stays the way it is, but I fear with tourism on the rise things could change. So many tourists on the beaches and in the water and not many were using reef safe sunscreen or reusable water bottles. You will enjoy your visit here, but think about everybody doing their part to keep it as is.

Definitely worth the money and the time to go there. I suggest going with a tour. Going on your own would be fine, but the information we received was top notch. Snorkeling was top notch! be sure to bring comfortable shoes for some difficult terrain.

Stunningly beautiful, dramatic scenery that really can't be experienced elsewhere on Bonaire. They are really NOT kidding about needing a 4x4. Having done it both in a guided tour and on my own I would say if you don't enjoy driving very very slowly on very bad roads the tour is worth it to have someone else take care of it for you. Otoh going on your own you can see more and stay longer. But truly bring lots of water and a spare tire. This is not a jaunt for the careless.

What an amazing place. This was one of our favorite parts of Bonaire. You need to plan a full day and pack a lunch or take lots of snacks and drinks. We really enjoyed watching the waves crash against the rugged east side of the island and then seeing the change to clam beautiful waters on the west side. We ate our picnic lunch at Playa Funchi, they have a couple picnic tables and it was fun to watch the lizards run around while we ate. We snorkeled at both Playa Funchi and Wakaya II, we enjoyed both but thought that Wakaya II was definitely the best (you don't want to miss this one for snorkeling and I'm sure diving would be amazing too). They were doing road construction (Jan 2023) so everyone had to do the long route and return to the entrance/exit via the short route. It really wasn't a big deal and would take about 2+ hours without any stops. I recommend arriving early if you want time to snorkel and explore.

We had 2 dives in the National Park and also went up Brandaris ( different day). The diving was great - lots of Caribbean lobsters and amazing coral. They could do with spending some of the revenue they get on the roads though - truly awful in places!

Basically, most of the waters around the island are a marine park. That said, the number of visitors has increased exponentially--they have literally gone from 150k in 2012 to 400k in recent non-Covid years. This many people means it is not possible to educate everyone on how to interact in healthy safe ways with the environment. The amount of building that has been done to accommodate this is not helped and the reef quality by the shore has declined quite a bit so I don't think it lives up to its reputation. That said, it's 99% better than most places in the Caribbean, unless they keep up this pace of building and visitors. As a snorkeler, there is a wide variety still of hard and soft corals, invertebrates and fish to be seen, but you have to look to find some kinds in shallower waters. I'm seeing a lot of algae and bleaching in the shallows. I think it may be better for divers. I did see more octopus, eels, and lobsters than other places, probably because of the marine park.

This was one of our cruise port stops so we had limited time. We rented golf carts from Bonaire Cruisers - excellent service and a fair price. We only had enough time to take the south loop on the island but the scenery was absolutely breathtaking! It was VERY windy so make sure your hat is secured. There were plenty of places where you could stop and get into the water if you'd like to take a swim or go snorkeling. There were areas for kite-surfing, wind surfing, etc. I could see it would be a destination for people who love water sports. Really no bathrooms or places to stop until we got to the far side of the island. Then we found a great stop over by Lac Bay - Sorobon Resort. They had a nice waterfront bar and restaurant as well as bathrooms. Everyone was stopping there though. We arrived there around 10:30 in the morning when they opened. By the time we left it was packed. I'm looking forward to going back to see the north loop but I might opt for renting an SUV just so we can get around faster and we have plenty of time for stops.