Bonaire

The Hilma Hooker is a 71 m cargo vessel that sank in 1984 under mysterious circumstances (large quantities of marijuana were later found in a hidden compartment) and now rests on its starboard side between 18 and 30 m off Bonaire's west coast. The wreck is an exceptionally accessible and photogenic site surrounded by healthy coral gardens and resident turtles, free-swimming moray eels, and schools of grunt. It requires only a short swim from a shore entry.

The uninhabited islet of Klein Bonaire sits just a kilometre offshore and its protected waters offer some of the Caribbean's most pristine reef diving. No Name is one of the top sites, with a sloping reef from 5 to 25 m packed with healthy stony corals, sea plumes, and brain corals in near-perfect condition. Sea turtles are almost guaranteed, and the lack of strong current makes it ideal for photography and relaxed exploration.

Salt Pier's massive wooden and concrete pilings, used to load salt cargo ships, have been transformed over decades into artificial reef structures draped from surface to 9 m with sponges, corals, and enormous aggregations of glassy sweeper fish. Frog fish, seahorses, and rare scorpion fish hide among the encrustations, and the whole structure glows at night with bio-fluorescent organisms. Diving is restricted when ships are loading, requiring advance co-ordination.

Bonaire Blue Current Divers embodies the famous Bonaire shore-diving philosophy, providing 24-hour unlimited shore diving access to the Bonaire National Marine Park — one of the first and best-protected reef systems in the Caribbean. Guests collect yellow stones to mark their entry points and navigate the buoyed dive sites independently, visiting seahorse nurseries, electric-yellow frogfish, and dense barrel sponge gardens without ever boarding a boat. Boat dives to the smaller uninhabited Klein Bonaire island are available daily, providing pristine hard coral coverage rarely found elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Klein Bonaire Dive Adventures specialises in multi-day beginner to advanced dive packages that take full advantage of Bonaire's unique self-guided shore diving ethos within the marine park. Their instructor team is among the longest-serving on the island, with intimate knowledge of elusive macro critters including seahorses, lettuce sea slugs, and the rare spotted drum that inhabit the shallow sandy zones. Photography courses and underwater naturalist specialties are perennial favourites, reflecting the exceptional conditions Bonaire's clear, calm water offers year-round.