Bonaire 2026
Sandy, Tim and Mary Beth at the diver orientation session
Bonaire is my favorite place in the world to go scuba diving. In fact, since I started diving again in 2018 after a long layoff, it's almost the only place that I go scuba diving. It has the best shore diving in the world, which means that when we are on Bonaire, we dive when we want, how we want, as much or as little as we want and with whom we want. Plus the conditions are mild so the diving is easy. Warm water. Excellemnt visibility. Minimal surge. Not much current. Since 2018, I've done some kind of a family dive trip to Bonaire almost every year, except during Covid.
In late summer 2025 I started to check with people about a February 2026 Bonaire trip. Shannon and Jimmy decided that Bonaire wasn't the best destination for the kids. There really aren't any beaches by the dive resorts so it wouldn't be much fun for young kids since they couldn't get in the water easily. Mickey couldn't get away from work because of the threat of a government shutdown (again!). When the government is operating, he can take vacation. When it is closed, even though he has to stay home and not go in to work, he can't leave because he has to be on call for emergencies. Go figure. Only the government could come up with something that weird.
Sandy, Mary Beth and Tim at Blennie's after a successful dive
Tim and Yanet signed up to go, as did our friend Mary Beth. That made a quorum so I booked a three bedroom condo at Buddy Dive Resort. Mickey and I had gone there the year before. The unit we stayed in was fine and the casual restaurant at the resort was good. Most importantly, the dive setup is much better than other places that we have stayed on Bonaire.
We flew in on Saturday and were anxious to go on Sunday morning. Yanet was signed up for a PADI Advanced Open Water course. She had to start her class right away the first morning. Meanwhile the rest of us went to a diver orientation, which was required before we could dive on our own. It was pretty crowded because there is a lot of turnover on Sunday. New folks fly in on Saturday while those who have been on the island all week leave on Saturday or Sunday. The orientation took about 45 minutes and as soon as it ended, most people rushed to the dive dock to do a dive right away. To avoid the mob scene, we took a trip to the nearby market to stock up on supplies. That took about an hour and gave the crowd some time to dissipate. Then we did our paperwork at the dive shop, picked up any rental gear we needed, and had lockers assigned for storing our gear between dives.
Steve and Sandy geared up and ready to go diving
When we finally got in the water, our first order of business was to check our buoyancy and trim, making any needed adjustments to our gear and weights. Tim dives regularly in Florida so he didn't need to do anything. Mary Beth and I went into the shallows just off the dock and putzed around until we felt comfortable with our setups. Then we were ready to swim out to the reef and do some real diving.
I really like the setup for diving at Buddy Dive. The gear lockers are just a few steps from the dock. It's easy to get your stuff and get ready and to put it away when you're done. At both Plaza Resort and Sand Dollar, places we stayed on previous trips, the lockers are far away from the dive dock and you need to haul your gear there and back in a wheel barrow. This was much easier. On the dock, there were benches where you could sit while putting on or taking off your gear. And if the sun was really hot, it was usually possible to find a shady spot. When you were ready, there were two stairways that made it easy to get in and out of the water. Then from the dock it was only a one minute swim to the reef.
At the reef and about to submerge
The top of the reef is in about twenty feet of water. From there it slops down to a flat, sandy bottom at about a hundred feet. Navigation is easy because you follow the slope one way or the other at the start of your dive, depending on the current. On every dive we would check the direction of the current when we reached the reef and then head into it to start. Usually it was pretty minimal anyway. Going back just required turning around and swimming with the current, following the slope back to the start.
There is a line running from one of the stairways on the dock out to the reef and then down to about sixty feet. That always lets you know when to turn up and head into the shallows to reach the dock. That navigation aid was especially welcome on night dives because it was impossible to miss it. There was no need to guess if you'd gone far enough or to pop up to the surface to see where you were at. Night dives couldn't be easier.
A juvenile French Angelfish
I won't go through the week on a dive by dive basis. It was pretty relaxed. We did most of our dives on the house reef. Whenever two or more of us agreed that we wanted to go diving, we went. Yanet spent the first three days of diving with her class. When she finished, her and Tim took their rental truck and did a couple of famous Bonaire shore dives, like the Hilma Hooker and Salt Pier. Mary Beth went with them to Cliff. All the rest of our dives, were done on the house reef.
That one site was good for a week of awesome diving. It's famous as one of the most biodiverse reef sites in the Caribbean. Even though we did many dives on the same site, there was always something interesting to see. There were Rock Beauties everywhere, a very pretty fish. We saw lots of eels, including a Chain Moray, something I'd never seen before. We saw French and Queen Angelfish, Pufferfish, Blue Chromis, Trumpetfish, Cowfish, Spotted Moray Eels, Parrotfish, Sergeant Majors, Triggerfish, Tarpon, Barracuda, and lots and lots more. Once I even found a Flamingo Tongue, a tiny but very beautiful snail. They are quite small and I was lucky to spot it on some soft coral.
Yanet and Tim - underwater selfie
We also saw some Lionfish. They're beautiful, but they are an invasive species from the Pacific that causes major damage to Carribean reef systems. The marine park issues special spearfishing permits to divers to allow them to hunt Lionfish in an attempt to control the population. The ones that are killed end up as Lionfish burgers at Cactus Blue, a famous food truck on Bonaire. We didn't make it there this time but have eaten there on previous trips. Tim and Mickey tried the Lionfish although I stuck with just a regular burger. I'm not an adventurous eater.
Besides all the cool fish, the reef itself is quite beautiful. The coral is interesting but I especially like all the sponges found in Bonaire. There are purple tube sponges, large orange elephant ear sponges, and my favorite, the azure vase sponge. On night dives lots of brittle stars come out and are all over the sponges, but you'll almost never see them during the day.
A purple tube sponge
There is actually a lot of stuff that hides during the day and only comes out when it's dark. Night dives are a chance to see a whole different set of sea creatures. Added to that is the eerie feeling of being in almost total darkness except for where your dive light is shining. That can make navigation tricky too because you can't see very far.
But Bonaire is a great place to do night dives. The navigation there is very simple to begin with. Plus, after diving the same site many times during the week, we knew the reef quite well and were able to recognize many landmarks. It's especially convenient too, because the dive dock is open 24/7. You can dive whenever you want, night or day, early or late. Lots of people take advantage of the opportunity. In the evening when we were having dinner or sitting in the bar, we would often see lights moving around underwater where people were doing night dives.
Tim and Yanet at the entry for the Hilma Hooker
We took advantage of the opportunity too. Tim and I did three night dives during the week, and Yanet joined us for one of them.
Large tarpon would always show up and swim around us, hunting in our dive lights. Tarpon are very impressive fish. They're big and fast and look mean, although they never bother people. They would follow us very closely though, before suddenly darting out ahead to try to grab some potential prey. They even bumped into us once or twice.
Lobsters were another common sight on our night dives. They come out at night and would get very unhappy when we would shine our lights on them, probably because they knew about the tarpons that were following us. We also saw several free swimming eels. During the day they prefer to stay partially hidden in the rocks but at night they come out to hunt. It's cool to see them when they're out swimming on the reef. They look like a weird cross between a fish and a snake.
A Cable Moray - a new one for me
Another major part of our trip was that Sandy started diving again. Her and I used to dive a lot. For a long time, we would take two diving vacations to the tropics every year. We both quit when we moved to Singapore in 2007. There was just too much other stuff to do, too many interesting places to go. And when we lived in the tropics, vacation trips to the tropics lost some of their appeal.
I got back into diving in 2018 when we did our first family reunion dive trip with our adult kids. Since then I've tried to do at least one dive trip every year, except during Covid. But Sandy decided that she had retired for good. She started to change her mind on our last trip to the Cook Islands last fall. I got her a new mask for her birthday. It had corrective lenses in it so she could see a lot better in the water. She really enjoyed snorkeling in the Cook Islands, and decided to try scuba diving again. Since it had been twenty years since her last dive, she did a refresher session in the pool at Dive Magic, the local dive shop in Boise. The instructors there are really good and she wanted to give diving another chance.
Bonaire is the ideal place to do that. The diving is easy, and you can dive with just your family and friends. No getting buddied with strangers on a dive boat. It also helps a lot that Tim is a PADI divemaster and very experienced. After one or two dives to shake off the rust and get her equipment tweaked, she was enjoying her dives again and did several over the course of the week.
Steve, Tim and Sandy over the reef and about to descend
I think everyone's final totals for diving during the week were as follows:
Tim - 18 dives
Steve - 17 dives
Yanet - 12 dives
Mary Beth - 8 dives
Sandy - 5 dives
Most of our dives were sixty feet or less so that everyone felt comfortable regardless of experience. Tim and I did do one "bounce" dive to the bottom of the reef slope. I put my dive computer right on the sand at the bottom and it read 112 feet. We only stayed for about one minute before starting to gradually ascend up the reef slope. I always like seeing the grass eels down on the sandy bottom. They really do look like grass waving in the current until you approach them and they duck down into their holes. Everyone in our group really enjoyed the diving that they did. For me, the biggest advantage of Bonaire is you can dive as much or as little as you want.
An orange elephant ear sponge
When we weren't diving, we got to hang out together a lot. We shared a three bedroom condo at Buddy Dive. I have to admit that it was more crowded than the one bedroom that Mickey and I shared last year. The common area inside was really cramped. But there was a nice patio and the we were in the tropics, so we spent most of our time out there, which worked well. Usually we ate at Blennie's, the casual restaurant at Buddy Dive, but we went out for dinner several times. We went into town and ate at Pier Dos, on the water. We went to the Italian restaurant near our resort, and also went out to restaurant at Captain Don's Habitat one night. It looked like they had just done some major refurb and Sandy thought we might try staying there on our next trip to Bonaire. (Note: the fact that Sandy was talking about our next trip to Bonaire before this one even ended was a sign that she really enjoyed diving again.)
The week went by quickly. Before I knew it, we were packing up, saying goodbye and heading home. I think everyone had a great time. We did some good dives, and really enjoyed hanging out with friends and family. Yes, I will be planning another trip back to Bonaire.
Steve and Sandy enjoy a glass of wine after a day of diving
Here are links to a few underwater videos that Tim made with his GoPro.
The La Machaca - a small wreck near Buddy Dive
A Honeycomb Cowfish. Yes, they are a very weird shape.
A Spotted Moray Eel out for a night time swim
