Exploring Tide Pools in Bonaire

Bonaire' coast line is very rocky from is volcanic origins dating back 50 million years ago. Because of this, Bonaire only has a few white sand beaches while the rest of the coast line is full of tide pools! Park anywhere you see them and venture out to find crabs, shrimps, eels, brittle stars, sea urchins, lizards, and more! I explored tide pools during the day and at night. Generally, intertidal species are more active at night so let's have a look at what I found!

Where to go 

I explored tide pools as often as possible - between dives, on walks, stopping my car on drives. Each time, though, I found myself down south around the Salt Pier area. The coastline here is perfectly suited for teal activity. During the day, I helped free a trapped moral eel and saw an octopus. At night, well, let me show you. 

At night, my boyfriend and I came down by the salt pier to explore the tide pools. Let me tell you it's DARK so make sure your flashlight is charged and your phone flashlight so you can find your way back to the car. The stars are beautiful though and its honestly super peaceful with nobody else there, nobody driving by except the occasional night divers. 

What We Saw

We had the most magical experience looking for saline in these pools. The rocks are very sharp so please come prepared to protect your feet and watch your step. Also watch for little gobies that anchor themselves out of the water where waves are crashing! We found it very hard but doable to not step on these little guys. I'll put in a photo of them below so you know what to look out for. 

All the photos I took were on my iPhone 11 and they actually came out nice. One small tip- turn your phone upside down with the camera closest to the ground to take these photos and they'll come out much better. 

Watch out for these fellows!

What they look like from above

As you can see from the photos, we saw lizards, geckos, crabs, and some small fish. We also saw lots of brittle stars and shrimp but didn't see the magical eel or octopus we were looking for. We only covered a small area though and could have explored all night. A long day of diving got the best of us! We still had a great time. 

Be Gentle

The best way to find animals in tide pools is by picking up rocks and turning them over. Remember to please be gentle because animals may be on the bottom of rocks or may be where you choose to set down the rock after picking it up. I remind you to be conscious of the animals who live in the tide pool! You can also pick up the brittle stars super gently KEEPING THEM IN THE WATER. If you're not gentle with them they may lose an arm or die. 

Brittle stars do not have eyes but they have photo receptors to detect light. Their goal is to stay hidden so they will try to move into darkness. This means as soon as you find one, it will begin to move looking for darkness. ​Here's a video of that:

A Hermit Crab Aggregation???

We had no idea what this was but it looked like a huge hermit crab aggregation. We saw several in different spots during the day! Photos by George Campbell.

What I love about this activity is you can really make it however you like. Want to go for 30 minutes or 5 hours? Up to you! Want to bring your camera? Up to you! Where should you go? Up to you! There's even lots of tide pools in the north waiting to be explored. 
What's not up to you though is bringing a light and good shoes. With that, I'll heave you with good tide pooling vibes!