A Week on Bonaire: Diving, Donkeys, and Desert Silence
Land at Flamingo International Airport (BON) around 2 PM on a Saturday, pick up a rental truck that smells faintly of sunscreen and old neoprene, and drive straight to the nearest dive shop for your marine park tag. US$45 for the year. That tag — a small plastic card stamped with a sea turtle — is your ticket to 80+ shore dive sites on an island where you park your truck, gear up from the tailgate, and walk into world-class reef.
No boat. No dive master hovering behind you. No rush. Just you, your buddy, and the Caribbean Sea.
Bonaire is 40 km long, 11 km wide, and flat enough that both coasts are visible from the middle. Kralendijk — the capital — is a two-street town of dive shops, restaurants, and pastel Dutch colonial buildings. Population: about 22,000 for the whole island.
A studio apartment in Hato (north of Kralendijk, US$95/night — not cheap, but with a kitchen that saves a fortune on food) makes a smart base. Unpack, then drive south along the coast.
The dive sites are marked with yellow-painted stones along the road. Each one carries a name: Alice in Wonderland. Oil Slick Leap. Bari Reef. 1000 Steps. You pull over, park, gear up, and enter the water.
The simplicity of this system is staggering. No booking. No check-in. No time slot. Just yellow stones.
Day 2: First Dives — 1000 Steps and Hilma Hooker
1000 Steps (there are actually about 70) descends a limestone cliff to a shore entry point with a gradual reef slope. Visibility runs 25+ meters. Within five minutes you can be face-to-face with a queen angelfish the size of a dinner plate. Staghorn coral in good condition. A green moray eel tucked into a crevice. The reef starts in 3 meters of water and slopes to 30+.
Afternoon: Hilma Hooker, a 72-meter cargo ship sunk in 1984 (drug smuggling, inevitably) that now sits upright in 30 meters of water, dressed in sponges and soft corals. It's one of the Caribbean's best wreck dives, and you can reach it from shore — swim out about 100 meters to the mooring line and descend.
Dive count for the day: 3. Tank fills at the dive shop: US$5 each.
Day 3: Klein Bonaire
Take a water taxi from Kralendijk to Klein Bonaire — an uninhabited island 750 m offshore. US$20 round-trip. No Name Beach is exactly what it sounds like: a strip of white sand with nobody on it. The snorkeling off the shore is some of the best in the Caribbean. Sea turtles. Huge barrel sponges. Parrotfish everywhere.
Bring water, a sandwich, and a book. Stretch out on the sand for three hours. Catch the 3 PM water taxi back. It may be the most perfect half-day on any trip.
Day 4: Flamingos and Salt Pans
Drive south to the flamingo sanctuary and salt pans. Thousands of Caribbean flamingos gather here — Bonaire hosts one of the hemisphere's largest breeding colonies. The sanctuary itself is off-limits, but the viewing from the road at Pekelmeer is excellent. The salt pyramids — massive white mounds from the solar salt works — stand striking against the arid landscape.
The southern tip of the island is a different world from the north. Flat, dry, almost lunar. The slave huts — tiny stone shelters where enslaved people lived while working the salt pans — are preserved as a memorial and a sobering reminder of the island's history.
Afternoon dive at Salt Pier — the pilings of the working salt pier are cloaked in orange cup corals, sponges, and seahorses. One of the most unusual dive environments anywhere.
Day 5: Washington Slagbaai National Park
The northern third of the island is a 5,600-hectare desert park. Entry ~US$15. 4WD required — the dirt roads are genuinely rough. Give it a full day to drive the long loop, stopping at Boca Slagbaai (a secluded bay for snorkeling), the flamingo lakes, and various cacti-dotted viewpoints.
The landscape is austere and beautiful. Divi-divi trees bent by the constant trade wind. Feral donkeys wandering the road (more on those tomorrow). Zero other vehicles for stretches of an hour.
Bring plenty of water. There are no facilities inside the park beyond basic restrooms at two stops.
Day 6: Donkey Sanctuary and Lac Bay
Morning: the Donkey Sanctuary. Over 700 feral donkeys live here — descendants of colonial-era working animals released when mechanization arrived. Free entry (donations welcome). The donkeys are absurdly friendly. They'll nuzzle your hand, follow you around, and pose for photos with the patience of professional models.
Plan on ten minutes. You'll stay ninety.
Afternoon: Lac Bay, on the east coast. A shallow, flat-water bay that ranks among the world's best windsurfing spots. Even if windsurfing isn't your thing, rent a kayak (US$25/half-day) and paddle through the mangrove channels. The water runs warm, clear, and knee-deep for hundreds of meters. The Sorobon beach bar area keeps a mellow vibe — rum punches and reggae.
Day 7: Last Dives and Departure
Morning dives at Andrea I and Bari Reef — both shore entries within a few minutes' drive of Hato. Bari Reef sits directly off the Sand Dollar Resort dock and is arguably the most convenient dive in the world. Walk off the dock, deflate your BCD, and you're on a reef slope within 30 seconds.
Final dive count for the week: 16. Total tank fill cost: US$80. Marine park tag: US$45. Some of the best diving in the Western Hemisphere for $125 in fees.
Rinse the sand and salt off the truck, drop the tanks at the dive shop, and head to the airport.
Would You Go Back?
In a heartbeat. Bonaire is the most no-frills, dive-focused destination in the Caribbean. There's no nightlife to speak of. The restaurant scene is functional, not exciting. The island's appeal is narrowly focused: reef, reef, more reef, flamingos, donkeys, desert.
