Dive site · sea · Bonaire National Marine Park
🇧🇶 Karpata
Rincon, Bonaire, Bonaire
Named for the castor-oil plant that grows along that coast, below the ruins of the plantation house of the same name, with old anchors lying on the reef.
- Dives here
- 1
- Deepest
- 23.6 m
- Water
- salt
- First · last
- 2012
- Position
- 12.2197, -68.3521
Revision 1 · changed 10 Oct 2026
History
- r1 10 Oct 2026 Imported from the personal log · Dennis Bakhuis
Site data © divelog-sites contributors (ODbL), descriptions and maps CC BY-SA 4.0 · 53edcaf
1 map
- Entry / exit
- Buoy
- Point of interest
- Anchor
- Shoreline
- Depth contour
- Dive path
- Wall / drop-off
- Coral / reef
- Depth
Shore dive from the concrete steps and platform below the Karpata landhuis: elkhorn shallows at 3-8 m, a steep drop-off close in with buttresses and sand channels to about 45 m, the mooring at about 6 m and the old coral-covered anchor at about 11 m (bonaire.com and infobonaire.com site descriptions; more anchors lie in the shallows but their positions are not published). The anchor's exact spot beside the mooring and the route direction are assumptions. Coastline and dive-site markers © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Positions are approximate.
Map © divelog-sites contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0 · 53edcaf
Karpata is Papiamentu for the castor-oil plant, Ricinus communis, which grows thickly along this stretch of the north-west coast. The dive site takes its name from the Karpata plantation above it, whose landhuis still stands in ruins by the road — the estate grew aloe, and the stone vats they boiled it in are still there.
The reef is one of the healthiest on the island, with a steep drop-off close in and dense hard coral. Old anchors lie on the slope, left from the days when ships worked this coast.
Dived 15 August 2012 to 23.6 m.
Dived here with
Nearby sites
1 dive at Karpata
- 15 Aug 2012 with Kim date15 Aug 2012 depth23.6 m time60 min water—
Sources
- First-hand observation (Dennis Bakhuis)