Petries Pillar is named after the pillar coral that stands here on the reef top: a species that is rare on Bonaire and usually grows deeper. Otherwise it is a calm shore dive with a flat entry.
Petries Pillar is a beginner shore dive on the west coast: rare pillar coral on the reef top at five to seven metres and a slope to thirty metres.
On the top at five to seven metres a few columns of pillar coral stand among finger and brain coral. The slope drops gradually to thirty metres with sponges and sea fans. Plenty of juvenile fish around the columns; rays forage on the sand.
Year round in easterly wind. Around midday the light falls best on the columns for photos.
Apart from the columns it is an ordinary dive: little relief, little depth. The pillar coral is fragile — stay off it and keep your fins clear. Parking along the road, no shade, no water, no toilet.
Decisions on diveability, technique and health belong with STINAPA, a dive school or a doctor. This page only describes the conditions.
Pillar coral grows slowly and has declined sharply across the Caribbean in recent decades through disease. The colonies here are monitored; touching or breaking them is forbidden within the marine park.
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