Discover Bonaire beyond diving and snorkeling with activities like cave tours, landsailing, mini-golf, beach clubs, hiking, kayaking through mangroves, exploring Lac Bay, wakeboarding, photo safaris, and renting motorboats for trips to Klein Bonaire. Enjoy a diverse vacation experience on this beautiful island.
Bonaire is mostly visited by divers and snorkelers. In recent years, however, more and more windsurfers and kitesurfers have joined them, due to the ideal conditions.
But there is so much more to do on our little island, than just diving, snorkeling, windsurfing or kiting. And on top of that, to lower the chance of decompression sickness in flight, divers are not allowed to dive the last day before flying. Also for them it is good to know that there is a lot to do on Bonaire besides their favorite sport!
The Sunwise teams have listed their 10 best tips for our guests on their Bonaire vacation.
1. Explore Bonaire’s caves with Cave Tours Bonaire (CTB)
Bonaire has several hundred caves, both dry and wet. CTB is Bonaire’s leading and highly experienced, professional cave explorer, eager to show our guests the unparalleled beauty of our island’s underground! Since the temperature and moisture levels in the caves are already very high, one of the rare cloudy days, might be a prime time!
2. Go land sailing with Bonaire Landsailing Adventures
They offer you the opportunity to experience land sailing with so-called “blokarts”. Blokart sailing is fun, fast and addictive. Experience the most fun you will ever have on three wheels! Because of their knowledge of the wind, the sea sailors and surfers among us will probably quickly master the technique!
3. Hit a ball at Flamingo Adventure Golf Bonaire
Challenging themes such as Wild Animals, World Cities, and Pirates of the Caribbean, provide a wonderful, relaxing ambiance at Karin and Hans Bohmer, known from the television program “Ik Vertrek.”
Their golf course is now so popular that our guests often ask us on their first day of vacation exactly how to get to “the golf course“!
4. Grab a day at the beach at Beachclub Ocean Oasis
Ocean Oasis is one of Bonaire’s newest (2019) beach clubs and this beautiful entourage is located on the idyllic Playa Esmeralda, in the Punt Vierkant neighborhood. This exclusive beach bar is an oasis of tranquility and a setting where our guests can immerse themselves in luxury, comfort, and excellent service.
Friday and Sunday afternoons and evenings feature DJs spinning relaxing lounge music!
5. Climb the Brandaris in Washington Slagbaai
The Brandaris, with its241 meters, is the highest point on our island. The Subí Brandaris Trail is a 45-minute hike to the top. This is a climb of moderate difficulty, but the view from the top is truly a sublime reward for making this hike. On a clear day you can even see Curaçao and on exceptionally clear days, the Santa Ana Hill in Venezuela’s Paraguaná Peninsula and the mountains south of Puerto Cabello, also in Venezuela!
6. Kayak through the mangrove forests
The mangrove forests around Lac Bay are a unique setting in Bonaire’s wilderness. Mangroves are nature’s way of building land mass and in addition, on Bonaire the mangrove area is also “the nursery of the ocean” with nesting grounds for hundreds of different species of fish. Together with the people of the Bonaire Mangrove Center, our guests can do great kayaking and snorkeling and enjoy the overwhelming silence.
7. Marvel at the beauty of Lac Bay
Lac Bay is part of the Bonaire National Marine Park and at over 700 acres, the azure lagoon is the largest of the three ABC islands! Windsurfers know this place as a prime location for their sport. You can also swim in the shallow water, and the beach bars and restaurants at the water’s edge, including the world-famous Hang Out Beachbar, offer spectacular views of this paradise on earth. If you’re looking to stay near Lac Bay, Sunwise Bonaire has various rental houses and beach studios near Lac Bay.
8. Skim across the flat water with a wakeboard
The west side of Bonaire, with its – mostly – calm waters and generally good wind conditions, is the ideal environment for wakeboarding, even to learn it. Never been on a wakeboard before? Most rental companies also have experienced instructors on hand, and most students sail independently within the first hour! Even people who can already “get out of the water” but want to improve their skills are in the right place!
9. Go on a photo safari with a top photographer
Enrich your knowledge of Bonaire through the eye of the camera. With Casper Douma’s Photography Tour in Washington Slagbaai or his Private Day Island Tour Bonaire, you will see Bonaire from a completely different angle and learn the intricacies of photography in the meantime. And what better souvenir than a beautiful, self-shot series of photos?
10. Cruise yourself to Klein Bonaire in a rented motorboat
A good reason to rent a motorboat on Bonaire is to easily get to Klein Bonaire on your own. This uninhabited island off our coast can of course also be reached by the various water cabs, but sailing yourself remains something wonderful, especially if you add the chance of encountering dolphins along the way!
