Introduction

On our way
We had six hours to spend at Shiphol in Amsterdam a dreary and grey day in October 2003. It was only six degrees outside, so instead of taking a trip into City and risk catching a cold we decided to stay put. Boring – but at least McDonald’s was open and we had some good books with us.

At last we were on the plane from Amsterdam to the Caribbean, i.e. the plane actually goes to Ecuador but lands midway at about 4:30 in the morning on the small island of Bonaire, part of the Netherlands or Dutch Antilles.

Blessed warmth
It was pitch dark but we could hear the ocean. Straight to bed but the following morning, lo and behold: Sea view and 35 degrees bid us good morning. Things started to look really well.

The Regulars
We sat on the terrace for about five seconds looking perhaps a bit worn out but were immediately offered fresh coffee by Bernie, an Englishman, and Uwe, a German, who were to accompany us on many a dive in the following weeks.

Both Bernie and Uwe had been to Bonaire a number of times before and were a wealth of information about where to find the best supermarket, where to buy more beers for less, which places to go to for dinner, and, of course, where to dive and what to expect.

Curaçao, Aruba, a few other tiny islands and Bonaire make up the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean about 80 km north of Venezuela – a small island with some 12,000 inhabitants.

From Rocky hills to Mangrove
The island is extremely different from north to south. In the north you’ll find an almost impassable landscape consisting mostly of rocks and tall cacti and the famous Divi divi-tree. This is the Washington-Slagbaai National Park.

In the south there’s a bit more growth like mangrove in an otherwise completely flat landscape. Here you’ll see large salt pans interspersed with heaps of salt waiting to be shipped out. At a distance the salt heaps looked almost like icebergs.

Where lizards and iguanas seem to be predominant in the north, donkeys and pink flamingos are often encountered in the south – especially donkeys. They just wander about and eat whatever donkeys eat in this landscape.

Donkey Sanctuary
The locals are not exactly cheerful about these free ranging four legged creatures but in a way it’s understandable. They roam around and dig into trashcans, and since they don’t switch on the lights when it gets dark they get run over.

There is a donkey sanctuary on Bonaire, of course, but it’s not big enough for all of them, so we did have a visit or two on the terrace almost every evening.

One Way Town
The main city of Kralendijk is not big and rather weird what infra-structure is concerned.

Practically all roads are one way so whenever we took a wrong turn we had to go all the way around town to come back again.

Bonaire National Marine Park
Already in 1979 the waters around Bonaire down to a depth of 60 metres was declared a national marine park – much to the credit of Captain Don Stewart. If you visit Bonaire, you'll come across this name more than once.

The concept of the marine park was so groundbreaking in its day that it has since been use to model many other parks, e.g. the Manado-Bunaken Marine Park in North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

On Bonaire the name of the game is shore diving, and unlimited shore diving 24/7 is usually included in whatever package you buy. At a surcharge you may, of course, join a boat on either the west coast (expensive) or the east coast (even more expensive).

The Inaccessible East Cost
The east coast is open to the prevailing winds and the swells from the Atlantic Ocean. And as the coast line is full of razor-sharp rocks and lots of current the only ones diving here do it from a boat.

Enjoy the West
On the west coast the accessibility ranges from extremely easy to a bit difficult (access can be hampered by sun rock, i.e. a composite of salt, coral and sun that grows hard as… rock – lots of slippery and treacherous crevices, and sprained ankles are not uncommon among divers here).

There are more than 80 named dive sites marked by small, yellow stones. Find a yellow stone, park your car, suit up and swim out perpendicular to the shore line, enjoy, and swim back again. Couldn’t be easier.

Parrots, Tangs and Wrasses
Once we got our heads below the surface we immediately noticed the many different parrot fishes – audibly nippling away on algae on hard corals and rock. Their colours ranged from very vivid patterns to almost bleached in appearance.

The Blue tang surgeonfish soon became another faithful companion together with the small Creole wrasse. The Blue tang was with us on most dives and was particularly entertaining when a large school engaged in a feeding frenzy.

The Creole wrasse we mostly saw on the reef top heading South before noon and going back again in the afternoon – day in, day out.

Munching the Camera
We had a delightful encounter with a baby Hawksbill turtle. It wasn’t afraid at all but continued to chew away on a sponge even though we hovered right next to it.

It took a fancy to my yellow underwater video casing as it spotted its own reflection in the glass. It munched the casing a couple of times before rising to the surface for a breath of fresh air.

Mostly Hard Corals
There are not many soft corals in the Caribbean – mostly brownish bush-like things. We did note quite a few hard corals, for instance staghorn and a great variety of brain corals, but nothing anywhere near the diversity of the Far East – let alone the Red Sea.

It is a colourful world, though, which is mainly due to sponges in all shapes and sizes. The large, purple tube sponge – or vase sponge – is typical in these waters.

How do we do this?
Initially we started the day in a true holiday mode. Got up, made some breakfast, discussed dive sites and went off. This meant that we had our dives before and after noon, and quite frankly… we found the dives just a tad boring (shame on us, I know).

The dive shop was very reluctant to point out anything of interest and seemed mainly interested in selling guided dives, so what to do? We tried a little bit of this and a little bit of that – and ended up diving very early morning, late afternoon and at night… and in between, of course.

Go for Morning Dives
We had some terrific morning dives, where we hit the water at about 6 a.m. and spent almost two hours submerged.

We had ribbontail rays and eagle rays, we had some five different species of trevally on their morning hunt and saw how they drove a big school of boca together in a bait ball and started eating away. And a great barracuda jointed the feast.

The Dance of the Oval Squids
One of the dives ended in the shallows where we suddenly found ourselves in the company of seven small Atlantic oval squids. They hovered right in front of us in a straight line changing colours, patterns and positions at (almost) exactly the same time.

We were rather excited – in particular Bernie, whose gift for enthusiasm quickly rubbed off on the rest us.

At one point a snapper approached looking mischievously at the squids, so Bernie sputtered and cursed the snapper away waving wildly with his arms and legs. Top notch entertainment! Apparently the squids didn’t mind but the snapper fled for dear life.

Night diving is a favourite pastime of ours and we certainly had our share on Bonaire. We were for ever searching for seahorses and frogfish which we didn’t find but we saw so much else.

Seahorses and frogfish were supposed to be almost all over the place but their ability to blend in with their surroundings made them really hard to find.

Night time is for moving
We were actually told that some dive centres caught frogfish and seahorses on clandestine night dives and put them down on their own house reefs as this attracted more customers.

Orange cups and crabs
We did, however, manage to find not only one but two seahorses on a night dive – under the Town Pier in Kralendijk of all places. Amongst tractor tires with giant green morays, oil drums and garbage, plastic cans on top of carrier crabs and other assorted items we found a magnificently strange and colourful world.

Full of small critters like the Arrow-head crab, cleaner shrimps, slipper lobsters and the overwhelming Orange cup coral. This small coral really comes into its own at night, and rest assured that if you see this coral on a photo it’s most likely shot under the pier in Kralendijk.

A Seahorse, a seahorse...
A small distance from the pier on a piece of flat and slightly muddy bottom a wooden branch stuck out. I suppose one wouldn’t normally pay any attention but knowing seahorses…

And yes, clinging to a branch with their tails two Lined seahorses sat side by side slightly waving back and forth. Now and again they seemed to trumpet with their noses as they sucked in some unfortunate little organism. Absolutely brilliant.

Master of Disguise
Other great adventures were our night dives with a Caribbean reef octopus. On one dive we followed an octopus for some 20 minutes. It is simply amazing to watch this mollusc hunt and see how it changes colour and structure in a split second depending on the substrate or the background.

Silver torpedo
Anglers (and divers) familiar with the Caribbean most likely know it but to us the tarpon was a new acquaintance. Imagine that you’re just quietly toddling along in the light of your tiny torch (looking for seahorses) and suddenly a large oblong shape rushes by you from behind moving in much the same way a shark moves. Shock, rock and horror.

But it’s only the tarpon hunting in the light of your torch. But still… it’s a big silvery predator between 1½ and 2 metres long. We almost got used to it.

Rest assured, there’s no shortage of food on Bonaire. They even produce their own drinking water so it’s perfectly safe to drink from the tap. But all foods are imported as nothing of importance grows on the island and prices are at European levels.

There is no end to the night life in the centre of Kralendijk – lots and lots of bars and discos and coffee shops. You got amble opportunity to shake that booty.

Self-served is well-served
We stayed at a studio and had to make our own meals or go out on the town. Also here especially Bernie came in handy. Bernie was fond of good food (still is) and knew a trick or two.

We had some really tasty meals at a Lebanese/Venezuelan restaurant on the outskirts of Kralendijk as well as at very, very local takeaway diner (the swordfish is highly recommended).

Whatever you want you can find a restaurant to cater for your taste. Just remember if you enter one of the American burger joints that everything is super-sized.

Our Official Holiday Beer
After some difficult testing we chose Amstel as our Official Holiday Beer – quite often enjoyed on the common terrace at the Dive Inn where we all stayed. And often supplemented by a tiny Jameson’s or a G&T – and of course our fine free ranging four legged friends, the donkeys.

What a joy to be able to sit outside in just a t-shirt at midnight in the middle of October.

Selected Dive Sites

Bonaire’s west coast is practically one long fringing reef. We found a huge difference between north, south and the middle part of the island. The American organisationReef.orghas conducted several fish counts in the Caribbean, and it is worth mentioning that six of the top 10 list’s dive sites are found on Bonaire.

The middle part
The dive siteBari Reefis situated in the middle of the coast and tops Reef.org’s list with 317 different species. This is very strange as there are dive sites a couple of hundred metres both north and south of this but with fewer species. It is quite evident, though, once you’ve been there.

The tiny island of Klein Bonaire is situated just opposite Bari Reef and this could, of course, affect the currents to the benefit of Bari Reef. Anyway, Bari Reef is excellent for diving around the clock. There’s a sandy patch at first, then a steep coral slope down to some 30 metres and lots of life.

Choose your yellow marker
Apart from Bari Reef any yellow marker stone will do. There’s not much difference from one site to the other – except forWindsockandNorth Belnem, two consecutive sites at the airport. We found these to be excellent for night diving, and it was here we had the pleasure of the octopus a couple of times.

Be aware of mosquitoes, though. Suit up before you go so that you can quickly get out of the car, put your tank and mask on and get in the water with no further ado. I got nine bites on my neck and even brought a mosquito with me in my mask below the surface. As I was simultaneously fiddling with the uw video and adjusting my gear I just hoped it wouldn’t do anything drastic before I could rinse my mask. But it did.

Usually these miniature vampires hit on Lene and don’t bother me much. But considering Lene’s “body count” later on we learned that they had indeed hit on her: Some 20 bites in a matter of minutes.

In the South
We usually had our early morning dives on the southern part of the island, particularlyAngel CityandThe Lake, which is where Bonaire’s unique double reef system is most evident. As previously mentioned the west coast is one long fringing reef followed by gently sloping flat sandy bottom.

In the south the sandy bottom is, however, followed by a second reef ridge lying a bit deeper – remember your compass heading before you go out. On the second reef we found lots of action in the morning, particularly with the Jacks and the bait ball and large schools of Striped snappers. Another favourite wasRed Slavewith its resident female eagle ray.

Up North
There are only a few marked dive sites on the north-west coast of Bonaire as most of this area belongs to the Washington-Slagbaai National Park. Be prepared for rugged dirt driving trails but don’t cheat yourself of this experience.

The shortest route takes about two hours to complete and will lead you through rough but very scenic terrain.

Visibility under water was the best here on our trip. Compared to the dive sites just north and south of Kralendijk hardly anybody comes here. Very pristine coral slopes and lots of life.

The sitesPlaya FunchiandBoka Slagbaaiwere our favourites with gigantic green morays, turtles, squids, lobsters, jacks and barracudas.

Time well spent
All in all we had 26 dives at an average length of almost 69 minutes, and despite our initial reservations we did believe that it had been time well spent.

Colonial history
The Netherlands Antilles is a former Dutch colony. Also known as the ABC Islands of the Leeward Antilles (in turn part of the Lesser Antilles) the three islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, just north of Venezuela, together with Sint Eustatius, Saba and Sint Maarten, located southeast of the Virgin Islands, are still part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands as an autonomy (Aruba is actually an independent state).

South of the hurricane belt
Bonaire lies below the dreaded hurricane belt, and you can dive all year round. It rains a good deal in November-December but air and water temperatures lie at a steady 30 and 27 degrees, respectively, all year round.

You'll need a car
Although Bonaire is only 35 km long and between four and eight km wide you’ll need a vehicle unless you want to spent all your dives at the house reef of your chosen dive shop/resort. Driving is easy and uncomplicated. Remember to be very careful at night due to donkeys on the road.

Price level
The price level is European since everything but salt and drinking water has to be imported. It is still one of the cheaper places in the Caribbean as American mass tourism hasn’t (yet) set its eye on Bonaire.

Not all is bliss
We did observe that young people from Holland seemed first in line in bars, shops, dive centres and restaurants – while locals were dishwashers, servants, working in the back and the like.

According to a resident Dutch guy we met, many locals were in some kind of misuse – mainly alcohol or cocaine – but no-one seemed willing to discuss these issues openly. Apparently an atmosphere of colonialism stills hangs above Bonaire.

Assorted links
The island of Bonaire has a very active tourist board and Bonaire has lots of fans, so you’ll have no trouble finding ressources on the Internet. These are some of the better ones.

•Geographia.com’s pages on Bonaire
•Breathe Bonaire with underwater webcam
(2 seconds refresh rate)
•Bonaire Talk is a forum discussing anything you could ever think of asking. Keeps you up-to-date.