North America
Shore diving on a pristine reef, with flamingos and salt flats inland.
Bonaire is a quiet, arid island off the Venezuelan coast and a special municipality of the Netherlands. Its entire coastline is protected as the Bonaire National Marine Park, and dozens of dive sites are marked by yellow-painted stones at the roadside, so you simply park and wade in. Washington Slagbaai National Park, the pink salt pans and old slave huts of the south, and flamingo colonies fill dry-land days.
Life revolves around the water: diving, snorkelling, windsurfing and kitesurfing at Lac Bay, then fresh fish and goat stew in Kralendijk. Most visitors rent a pickup truck to carry gear between sites. It lies outside the main hurricane belt, so diving is good all year; October to December can bring more showers, and January to August is the driest.
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August.