Tori’s Reef Bonaire Snorkeling Guide [Rated + Reviewed]

All of my snorkeling guides include my personal ratings, which will help give you a sense of what to expect at each snorkeling destination, including Tori’s Reef.

Please see the rating key below.

OVERALL SNORKEL RATING KEY

🤿 🤿 🤿 🤿 🤿   =   World-class snorkeling and worth traveling just for the snorkeling alone!

🤿 🤿 🤿 🤿   =   Incredible snorkeling and should be on your list of top things to do!

🤿 🤿 🤿   =   Decent snorkeling and worth the effort!

🤿 🤿   =   Worth consideration if you are running out of things to do!

🤿   =   Not worth it!

If you’re as obsessed with snorkeling as we are, you’ll love this guide. We’ve ranked and reviewed our 14 favorite snorkel spots in Bonaire just for you. 

Tori’s Reef is easy to reach. It is located about 15 minutes south of Kralendijk, just past Salt Pier along the main coastal highway.

You will pass two small red and white bridges. Tori’s Reef is at the second bridge and marked by yellow-painted stones, like most snorkel and dive sites on Bonaire.

Parking is available along the beach on either side of the second bridge, and there are usually plenty of spaces.

We found the most fascinating sea life along the reef shelf that runs north along the coast toward a spot known as The Rock.

We entered the water and snorkeled to the right, eventually exiting at The Rock itself.

Thankfully, my in-laws picked us up there so we didn’t have to swim all the way back to our starting point.

As always, we brought our own snorkeling gear. After testing countless masks, fins, and accessories across multiple snorkeling sites, we’ve narrowed it down to our absolute favorites.

These are our personal picks for high-quality, reliable gear that we trust on every snorkel trip.

The bridge crosses over a drainage channel that connects the salt pond to the ocean.

This channel is the best entry point. Use the flat rocks to carefully step in. Once you’re in the water, you’ll find a sandy bottom underfoot.

We always wear dive booties with our snorkeling fins to avoid unhappy toes.

Then snorkel towards the ocean and head right.

One of the most memorable and unique sightings at Tori’s Reef was a massive black grouper.

Being on the smaller side, I definitely felt like he was sizing me up as he turned and swam directly toward me.

I’m pretty sure I looked like a perfect bite-sized snack. Thankfully, he seemed to reconsider and swam off in search of something else, haha.

We spotted him below us while snorkeling the deeper back reef. The photo we captured doesn’t do his size justice. Seeing a grouper that large as a snorkeler was pretty amazing!

Here’s a list of what we saw during our snorkel at Tori’s Reef:

→   A barracuda

→   White-spotted tilefish

→   School of bar jacks

→   Porcupinefish

→   Juvenile yellowtail damselfish

→   Banded butterflyfish

→   French grunt

→   Blue tang

→   Parrotfish

→   French angelfish

→   Palometas

→   Needlefish

→   Trumpetfish

→   Sergeant majors

Such a fantastic variety of marine life!

And let’s not forget the eels, which of course, my eagle-eyed husband spotted. We saw a spotted moray eel, a chainlink eel, and even a big green moray eel. The green moray was especially impressive. He was clearly a seasoned hunter.

As for coral, we came across healthy patches of brain coral, lettuce coral, and staghorn coral, making the reefscape just as beautiful as the fish it supports.

I never snorkel without my favorite underwater camera to capture all those amazing fish moments.

Snorkeling is hands-down my absolute favorite thing to do in Bonaire!

The island is full of incredible spots to explore, from Washington Slagbaai National Park in the north to Lac Bay in the east and Klein Bonaire out west.

But some of the very best snorkeling can be found on the southern end of the island, and Tori’s Reef is definitely one of those standout locations!

REACH OUT, FOLLOW, OR SHARE THIS POST WITH A FRIEND!

Questions about our Tori’s Reef Bonaire snorkeling experience?

Let me know in the comments below!