As my plane descended toward Bonaire, I could see Klein Bonaire and the turquoise sea from my window seat and I could not contain my excitement for my first visit to this lovely place. I basically jumped off the plane and ran inside so I could get started with my SCUBA dives! I had heard tales of the wonderful underwater world and wanted to see it for myself.
VIDEO: Bonaire #1: Are you ready for truly outstanding diving?
Where is Bonaire? It is close to Venezuela and part of the ABC islands: Aruba, Bonaire and Curacoa. There are now direct flights from Atlanta, Houston and Newark so it is much easier to arrive at this tiny island filled with 86 dive sites!
On our first day with Jonathan from VIP Diving, we explored two famous sites named Tolo and Salt Pier. After an easy shore entry, we spent 75 minutes in the warm waters examining the incredible creatures. At Tolo we saw razor sharp surgeon fish, groups of up to 5 trumpet fish, several scorpion fish, a chain moray eel, juvenile box fish, honeycomb cow fish, multiple flounder, file fish, several swimming moray eels, cleaner shrimp, arrow crabs, damsel fish and sadly many lion fish. The corals are vibrant and we saw amongst others fan coral, brain coral and staghorn coral.
VIDEO: Shore Diving at Salt Pier in Bonaire at the top of your list with VIP Diving #3
Above water, we had a private tour with Jonathan from VIP Diving and saw flamingos, the national bird of Bonaire, around the lake and learned about cotton, aloe vera and brazil wood tree that was used for red dye. We made plans to dive Margate Bay in the South and Karpata in the North. We saw the Slave Huts where the mining ships picked up the salt.
Another day, we dove with VIP Diving and Jonathan, our Dive Butler, took us to Vista Blue and we saw several turtles and a hogfish with a sea urchin in its mouth—it spit it out to hit it against coral and then scooped it back up into its mouth! We saw an incredible sharptail eel with bright white spots. It was out swimming and we watched it slither around the corals. At the end of our long dive, we saw juvenile damselfish. I love their bright blue spots. I also love when the juveniles look so different from the adult fish. We saw honeycomb cowfish about four times and porcupine fish with their flat fronts. There were scrawled file fish and peacock flounders! I loved watching the spotted moray eel breathe with its mouth open inside the coral head. We had long lovely guided dives.
The lighthouse is the Southern tip of the island and of the top 5 windsurfers in the world, 3 live in Bonaire. We had plans for a windsurfing lesson at Jibe city but that will have to happen on my next visit. I also want to come back for the night diving with the ostracot: 5 nights after full moon, 45min after sunset, this magical spectacle occurs. Have you been on a fluorescent night dive? I never heard of it but it is on my list for my next visit along with seeing the turtles at night at Lak Bay. You can also kayak and visit the distillery but I want to be under the water as much as possible! We drove by Devils Rock and the archway that newlyweds walk through to gain five things in this order: SEX, MONEY, HEALTH, Children and Happiness.
For our third dive, Martin took us to learn about the Coral Restoration Foundation of Bonaire which began in 2012. You can take a specialty class and assist the team in taking care of the coral tree nursery. At Buddy’s Dive Resort, there are 20 trees and the staghorn coral and elkhorn coral are really growing! You can do a one dive adventure or a 3 dive specialty class. Volunteers can clean trees in the nursery, help with pruning and add coral to the thicket. There is also a nursery on Klein Bonaire. It is possible for you to sponsor a tree and help save our ocean and our planet. While we were in the coral tree nursery, we saw three enormous tarpon and a very large turtle.After a tour at Harbour Village Beach Club Bonaire, we went on a boat dive with Great Adventures Bonaire to Andrea 1 and 2. I loved going to 90 feet and during the dive seeing eels, juvenile drumfish, juvenile damsel fish, peacock flounder and four shrimps.
Absolutely, Bonaire is bucket-list worthy for divers! From vibrant coral reefs and diverse marine life to unique experiences like night diving with ostracods and exploring the Hilma Hooker wreck, it’s a diver’s paradise. Your adventures at sites like Salt Pier and Karpata sound amazing—definitely a destination to revisit and explore more!