Bonaire Is the ABC Island Everyone Sails Right Past

Most cruise itineraries in the southern Caribbean stop in Aruba or Curacao. Bonaire is the third letter in the ABC chain and the one people forget exists.

That is a shame. Bonaire is not a place you visit for the shopping or the beach clubs. It is a place you visit to get in the water.

The whole island calls itself Divers Paradise, and it earns the name. There are 86 marked dive sites, and most of them are reachable straight from shore. You look for yellow painted rocks with the site name on them. No boat required. If you snorkel, most of those same sites work for you too.

Even if you never put on a mask, Bonaire is doing something the flashier islands are not. It leans hard into being an ecotourism spot, and the wildlife shows it. Flamingos, donkeys, and sea turtles all live here in habitats that have been protected on purpose. The flamingos alone are worth the walk.

Here is the insider move. Book an excursion out to Klein Bonaire, the uninhabited little island sitting just off the coast. It has no development and no crowds. What it has is some of the best snorkeling and diving in the area, and you reach it by a short boat hop. It is the kind of stop people remember long after they forget which mega ship they were on.

A word on expectations. Bonaire is quiet. If your idea of a great port day is a swim up bar and forty souvenir shops, you will be bored by lunch. If your idea of a great port day is clear water and turtles and actual peace, you found your island.

Fewer ships call here than in Aruba or Curacao, so the itineraries that include Bonaire tend to hide in southern Caribbean sailings and repositioning routes. That is exactly why it is still worth doing before word gets out.

If you want help finding a sailing that actually stops in Bonaire and not just next door, that is literally what we do.

Fair winds and following seas,
Captain Steve