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

At 24 miles lengthy and 7 miles huge, 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 National Marine Park, established in 1979, protects the encircling waters and is among 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 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 stated, most dives are accessible from the shore. In reality, dive retailers typically use vans—not boats—to get to them. Many websites are merely marked by yellow rocks positioned simply off the shoreline.

Top-of-the-line-known websites on Bonaire is the Salt Pier, which is actively utilized by the island’s sea salt trade. The pillars of the huge pier have shaped synthetic vertical reefs underwater, and diving right here virtually looks like getting 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 huge faculties of grunts, stoic and solitary tarpons, free-swimming inexperienced moray eels, sea turtles, and extra.

For evening diving, head to One thing Particular, recognized for its sandy backside and abundance of fish, because of its proximity to the close by marina; it is reachable by automobile. One other common website, 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 website of the huge 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 sort 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.