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When to go
Bonaire sits outside the main hurricane belt and the temperature barely moves: it is around thirty degrees by day and around twenty-six in the water, in January as much as in July. So the honest answer is that any month works. What does change is the wind, which is strongest in the first half of the year, the rain, which falls in short bursts between October and January, and the price, which peaks between December and April when the northern hemisphere wants to be somewhere else. If you want the island quiet and cheap, go in September, October or November.
The weather barely has seasons
Bonaire is a desert island twelve degrees north of the equator, and that shows in the numbers more than in any brochure: the difference between the warmest and the coolest month is a couple of degrees. Cacti grow here, not palms — the island gets a fraction of the rain that the eastern Caribbean does, and most of what it does get falls at night.
That matters for planning because it removes the usual question. You are not choosing a month to avoid bad weather. You are choosing a month for what else is going on.
| Season | What it is like | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| December – April | The driest stretch and the busiest. Steady trade wind, water clear, everything open. | First-timers, families on school holidays, anyone who wants certainty |
| May – August | Hottest and windiest. The wind at Lac Bay is at its most reliable here. | Windsurfers and kitesurfers above all |
| September – November | The calmest sea of the year and the lowest prices. Some rain arrives towards the end. | Divers, snorkellers and anyone who dislikes a crowd |
| October – January | The wet season, such as it is: short showers, mostly overnight, rarely a whole day. | Anyone unbothered by an hour of rain in exchange for a quiet island |
Hurricanes, and why Bonaire is the exception
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June to November and dominates planning for most of the Caribbean. Bonaire sits far enough south to fall outside the belt where storms usually track, which is why the island rarely closes and why insurance for a trip here reads differently than for islands further north.
Rarely is not never. Storms have passed close enough to bring wind and swell, and the east coast in particular can be unrecognisable for a few days. But planning a September trip around hurricane risk is a mistake most people make once.
If you are coming to be in the water
Divers and snorkellers should look at wind rather than rain. The west coast, where nearly every marked site is, is sheltered by the island itself and calm most of the year; the exception is a strong northern swell, which is a winter phenomenon and rare. The east coast is a different island entirely and is only diveable on the handful of days a year the trade wind drops — usually in the autumn.
Water temperature moves between roughly twenty-six and twenty-nine degrees over the year. A three-millimetre suit is enough in any month, and plenty of people dive in nothing but a rash guard.
The two dates worth planning around
Carnival falls in the weeks before Lent, so late February or early March depending on the year. It is the one time Kralendijk is genuinely busy with locals rather than visitors, and it is worth arranging a trip around rather than stumbling into.
The Bonaire regatta takes over the waterfront in October. Accommodation in and around Kralendijk gets tight, which is unusual for that month, so book earlier than the season otherwise suggests.
Things to do in Bonaire Diving in Bonaire A rainy day in Bonaire