Editorial Methodology

What this site is

An independent comparison of the guided snorkeling trips sold on Bonaire, plus the practical information a visitor needs before booking one. We are not a tour operator, a travel agency or a seller of travel. We hold no bookings, take no payments and have nobody stationed on the island.

Every booking happens on the operator's own platform under their terms. If something goes wrong with a trip, the operator and the platform are who you deal with, not us.

Where the tour data comes from

Prices, durations, ratings, review counts, inclusions, group limits, age restrictions and cancellation terms are read directly off each operator's own listing and reproduced with the date they were read. Every tour page carries the same fields in the same order so six very different trips can be compared line by line.

We do not copy operator marketing descriptions. Where an inclusion, a group cap or a meeting point is quoted, it comes from the listing's own structured fields.

• Tour listing checked: August 2026
• Last price check: August 2026
• Review counts and ratings read on the same date as the price
• Product IDs published on every tour page so you can verify the listing yourself

When a listing and the park's own rules disagree

Operators write their own listings, and the small print does not always match what the park authority publishes. The clearest example is the nature fee: one trip here states it is included in the ticket, another states it is required and excluded, and a third says nothing at all.

Our rule is to print what each listing actually says, with the date we read it, and to tell you to confirm the includes line on the checkout screen before paying. We do not smooth the contradictions out, and we do not guess on the operator's behalf.

Where the park information comes from

The nature fee, who is exempt, how it is checked and what it covers are taken from STINAPA's own published information and official Bonaire tourism sources, then dated on the page. The current figure is $40 per person per calendar year, verified August 2026, with under-13s and ABC-island residents exempt and a $10 day rate for cruise passengers.

This matters more here than at most destinations. The two-tier system of $45 for divers and $25 for other water activities was replaced by a single $40 rate in 2023, and guides still quoting the old split are three years out of date. Where sources disagree, we say so and show the date attached to each number.

Rainfall and temperature figures are long-term averages from published climate records for Bonaire, not a forecast. Reef condition statements are attributed to the dated field reports they come from.

How traveller feedback is used

Traveller feedback reviewed: more than 2,200 published reviews across the six trips, on the booking platforms.

We quote reviews with the reviewer's first name, country and the month they travelled, exactly as published, and we do not edit them into something more flattering. Critical and qualified reviews are quoted alongside positive ones. The jellyfish warning on the catamaran trip is a traveller's own words, not ours. We never write testimonials.

What we cannot verify

We do not inspect boats, ride along on the tours, meet the crews or audit safety records. We cannot tell you whether the second stop will be worth it on the morning you sail, whether a listed inclusion appeared on the day, or how a particular guide behaves in the water.

We also cannot see live availability or the price you will be quoted for your date. The figures here are starting prices at the time of the check; the number that matters is the one on the checkout page.

How affiliate links affect this

Links to tours are affiliate links. If you book through one, the platform pays a commission and you pay the same price you would pay going directly. The full arrangement is set out in the affiliate disclosure.

Commission does not decide which tours appear, the order they sit in, or what is said about them. The cheapest trip on the site earns the least and is recommended without hedging; the most expensive one carries a warning about non-refundable cruise timing.

Corrections

Prices move, operators change boats and park rules get rewritten. If a number here is out of date, tell us what you found and when you were there. Corrections get made and the check date on the page is updated with them.