Diving Bonaire
By Michael DeFreitas
from Diver Magazine 10/2008

After settling into my room at the Divi Flamingo, I made my way down to the dive shop to purchase the mandatory plastic marine park permit tag and to sign up for my checkout dive, which all divers must do with a local dive master before exploring the marine park.

The vis was about 100 feet (30m) so it wasn’t difficult to find the coral heads. I reluctantly searched the first one and just when I was beginning to feel really foolish, I spotted a big pink female frogfish with its much smaller male escort. Then I found the yellow frogfish perched on top of a small yellow tube sponge. I was so dumbfounded it took me a few minutes to actually start shooting. Of course, I found the yellow seahorse and red frogfish on the other coral head, along with a cooperative anemone shrimp on a Caribbean anemone and a young octopus in the sand.

Simply put, my critter encounter is the norm on Bonaire. The island boasts one of the healthiest reef and marine ecosystems in the Caribbean. The abundance of marine life and how approachable and accessible it all is will blow you away. In fact, it’s sometimes hard to tell if you’re checking out the marine life or if the marine life is checking out you.

Bonaire’s desert like topography of rocks, sand and cactus more resembles Arizona surrounded by water than one of your typical lush Caribbean islands. However, despite the island’s dramatic desert landscape its main attraction and highly prized natural resource is its fabulous reefs and marine life. (Full Text at link below.)