multiple else if blocks or continue?

While solving a mindless task, a question came to my mind:

/**
* Find element by key in binary tree.
*/
public E find(K key) {
    BinaryTreeNode<K, E> node = this.root;
    while (node != null) {
        if (node.getKey().compareTo(key) > 0) { //element in tree too big
            node = node.getLeft();
        } else if (node.getKey().compareTo(key) < 0) { //element in tree too small
            node = node.getRight();
        } else if (node.getKey().compareTo(key) == 0) { //found element
            return node.getElement();
        }
    }
    return null;
}

In the while block, only one if statement can be true. So the while block could be written using continue instead of else if:

while (node != null) {
    if (node.getKey().compareTo(key) > 0) { //element in tree too big
        node = node.getLeft();
        continue;
    }
    if (node.getKey().compareTo(key) < 0) { //element in tree too small
        node = node.getRight();
        continue;
    }
    if (node.getKey().compareTo(key) == 0) { //found element
        return node.getElement();
    }
}

Is there any difference between the two methods? Which one is preferable?