Bonaire: the diving paradise of the Dutch Caribbean

With its entire coast declared a protected marine park, Bonaire remains one of the most celebrated and best-preserved diving destinations in the Caribbean.

A rental car remains useful for reaching the diving points from shore.

The Bonaire Marine Park, which has protected the entire coral reef surrounding the island since 1979, remains one of the oldest and best-managed marine parks in the Caribbean.

A few minutes away, the Bonaire salt ponds, still active, host colonies of pink flamingos feeding in the island's pink-hued brackish waters.

Continuing along the coast, diving takes place directly from the shore, a distinctive feature rare in the Caribbean thanks to the coral reef very close to the coast.

Toward evening, Kralendijk's center comes alive with restaurants with views over turquoise sea and the nearby uninhabited island of Klein Bonaire.

Bonaire was among the first islands in the world to protect its entire coastline as a marine park back in 1979, a conservation model later adopted by numerous other Caribbean destinations.

The pink salt ponds of Bonaire, still productive today, owe their color to a special type of algae that thrives in high-salinity waters—the very same algae that sustains the island's local flamingo population.