Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the park; divers are encouraged to provide data
on any turtle sightings by logging details on the
website W www.bonairenature.com. Spear-fishing
is prohibited, as is anchoring boats on the reef
- all of Bonaire's dive sites are marked with
yellow buoys to which boats must tie a line.
While many of the world's popular coral
reefs are suffering from damage caused by
overcrowded dive sites and boat pollution, the
Bonaire reefs are thriving. If there is such a
thing as a model for sustainable diving, this is
it: an unspoilt island where divers enjoy the
dazzling underwater world, and at the same
time help keep it that way.
Need to know There is no ferry service between
Bonaire and Aruba, Venezuela or Curaçao, so the
only way to get there is by chartering a yacht or
by air (see W www.infobonaire.com for details plus
a list of accommodation and dive operators). For
more information on Bonaire's National Marine
Park see W www.stinapa.org, or for an overview
of the island's dive sites visit W www.bmp.org.
Expect to pay around US$15-20 for a shore dive
plus equipment rentals (US$8/day for regulators;
US$10/day for snorkel, fin and mask; and US$12/
day for tanks, including weights).
Divers embarking on their
journey into the clear blue
waters off Bonaire
283 shore dive oFF Bonaire
Off the coast of Venezuela in the Netherlands
Antilles, the tiny boomerang-shaped island of
Bonaire has some of the best diving in the world:
calm, clear waters, healthy coral reefs and an
abundance of tropical fish.
The reefs typically start at the water's edge
and shelve off to a depth of about 10m, enabling
you to see some of the best sites as shore dives
without the expense of chartering a boat. In
these shallow waters, you'll see multicoloured
reef fish - parrotfish, butterfly and angelfish
- flitting through the coral. Further out at the
drop-off zone (usually between 10-12m) and
beyond, there are vivid sponges, moray eels and
groupers, and if you're lucky you may also see
turtles, seahorses and dolphins - perhaps even
nurse or whale sharks.
Despite its popularity and heavy tourist traffic,
Bonaire is still one of the best-protected marine
habitats in the world: Bonaire's shoreline (and
the offshore island of Klein Bonaire) is under
the careful management of the Bonaire National
Marine Park. As the reefs are so fragile the park
authority insists you carry out an orientation
dive to assess your buoyancy control. There's an
annual diving fee of US$25 (or a one-day pass of
US$10), which goes towards the conservation of
284 Follow the coFFee route
to Finca esperanza verde,
nicaragua
From the mountain city of Matagalpa in
Nicaragua's northern highlands, the bus takes
the unpaved road east to San Ramón, up to the
cool, clear air of the cloud forest. At the village of
Yúcul, you collect your belongings from the bus
and walk uphill for an hour until you reach an
organic farm, home to Nicaragua's trailblazing
ecolodge.
At an altitude of 1220m and far from
Nicaragua's tourism hotspots of Granada, León
and San Juan, Finca Esperanza Verde (FEV)
is a remarkable initiative. In 1998 a group of
volunteers from North Carolina, with the help
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