Why I Suppose Bonaire Has the Finest Scuba Diving within the Caribbean

I’ve scuba dived some fairly stellar websites throughout a number of Caribbean Islands—St. Martin, Dominica, St. Lucia, and Curaçao, to call a number of. However out of all my experiences, one vacation spot has risen to the highest of my guide: the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire.

At 24 miles lengthy and 7 miles large, Bonaire is small. However it’s residence to a big fringing reef (a kind of reef that grows straight on an island’s shoreline) that helps a wholesome, thriving marine ecosystem and 87 dive websites. Bonaire Nationwide Marine Park, established in 1979, protects the encircling waters and is likely one of the oldest marine reserves on this planet. It is a must-visit vacation spot for a lot of scuba divers.

On Bonaire’s westerly, leeward facet, calmer wind and water circumstances supply extra favorable diving circumstances. There’s a string of over 60 consecutive dive websites off the west coast of the primary island, plus two dozen extra websites across the smaller, uninhabited islet of Klein Bonaire. That mentioned, most dives are accessible from the shore. In truth, dive outlets typically use vans—not boats—to get to them. Many websites are merely marked by yellow rocks positioned simply off the shoreline.

Probably the greatest-known websites on Bonaire is the Salt Pier, which is actively utilized by the island’s sea salt business. The pillars of the large pier have fashioned synthetic vertical reefs underwater, and diving right here virtually seems like coming into a science fiction world, with alien-like tree formations and coral growths blossoming out from the helps. I noticed all kinds of critters below the pier: trumpetfish, triggerfish, drums intermingled with huge colleges of grunts, stoic and solitary tarpons, free-swimming inexperienced moray eels, sea turtles, and extra.

For evening diving, head to One thing Particular, identified for its sandy backside and abundance of fish, due to its proximity to the close by marina; it is reachable by automobile. One other widespread website, Bon Bini Na Kas (that means “welcome residence” in Papiamentu), is residence to colourful fish like Creole wrasse and blue tangs, which swim amongst staghorn coral colonies and lavender stovepipe sponge. There’s additionally the famed wreck dive website of the large 236-foot-long Hilma Hooker, a former drug-running cargo ship that was sunk by port authorities in 1984 to type an multitiered synthetic reef.

It doesn’t matter what type of dive expertise you are hoping to have, Bonaire has choices in spades. It is value a number of visits—even after you’ve crossed it off your Caribbean island scuba bucket listing.