Scuba trip to Bonaire, an island very near to Venezuela. Bonaire is a small Dutch island where they speak both Dutch and "Papadimiento", which is a language derived from Portuguese and African sources. If you call it a "creole" they are quick to correct you, although I'm not sure what the difference is. Bonaire is one of the "ABC" islands, the others being Aruba and Curacao.

Anyway Bonaire is a well-known dive destination, because it is surrounded by reefs that are very close in. You can easily reach them from shore, and many people just go around with rental trucks doing shore dives. We stayed at Captain Don's resort and did mostly boat diving but also shore dives and night dives (and excellent snorkeling) from their dock.
Highlights were a really large green moray eel, lots of other eels, large lobsters, and large tarpon fish which followed us around during night diving. I also saw a very cool jelly at night - the only jelly I have seen so far. There were also many puffer fish and smaller "boxfish".

On the last day I hired a bird guide and went around the island a little bit. There are quite a few good birds there, including saffron finch, flamingos, bananaquit, bare-eyed pigeon, and the endemic yellow-shouldered parrot, which is the attraction for true listers.

Home	Bonaire Sept 2025 Scuba trip to Bonaire, an island very near to Venezuela. Bonaire is a small Dutch island where they speak both Dutch and "Papadimiento", which is a language derived from Portuguese and African sources. If you call it a "creole" they are quick to correct you, although I'm not sure what the difference is. Bonaire is one of the "ABC" islands, the others being Aruba and Curacao. Anyway Bonaire is a well-known dive destination, because it is surrounded by reefs that are very close in. You can easily reach them from shore, and many people just go around with rental trucks doing shore dives. We stayed at Captain Don's resort and did mostly boat diving but also shore dives and night dives (and excellent snorkeling) from their dock. Highlights were a really large green moray eel, lots of other eels, large lobsters, and large tarpon fish which followed us around during night diving. I also saw a very cool jelly at night - the only jelly I have seen so far. There were also many puffer fish and smaller "boxfish". On the last day I hired a bird guide and went around the island a little bit. There are quite a few good birds there, including saffron finch, flamingos, bananaquit, bare-eyed pigeon, and the endemic yellow-shouldered parrot, which is the attraction for true listers.

Bonaire Sept 2025