Why I Suppose Bonaire Has the Greatest 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 just a few. 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 extensive, Bonaire is small. However it’s residence to a big fringing reef (a kind of reef that grows immediately 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 without doubt one of the oldest marine reserves on the planet. It is a must-visit vacation spot for a lot of scuba divers.

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

Among the finest-known websites on Bonaire is the Salt Pier, which is actively utilized by the island’s sea salt trade. The pillars of the large pier have fashioned synthetic vertical reefs underwater, and diving right here virtually appears 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 beneath the pier: trumpetfish, triggerfish, drums intermingled with large faculties of grunts, stoic and solitary tarpons, free-swimming inexperienced moray eels, sea turtles, and extra.

For night time 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 automotive. One other fashionable web site, Bon Bini Na Kas (which 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 web site of the large 236-foot-long Hilma Hooker, a former drug-running cargo ship that was sunk by port authorities in 1984 to kind 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 price a number of visits—even after you’ve crossed it off your Caribbean island scuba bucket checklist.