Calabas Reef

Park outside the property walls, and check-in with the dive shop before unloading. The beach area makes for a perfect entry. The dive facilities and docks are in the background.

My first trip Bonaire. Amazing. Did shore dives at 23 different sites. I was pleasantly surprised with this dive and found it to be a bit of an enigma. The reef and plant life is definitely more sparse and less healthy than the reefs slightly to the north (Buddy's, La Machacha) but I encountered several new species of fish (spotted drum, interesting squirrelfish relative) and some beautiful sea anemone. We were not staying at Divi so I did not use their dock or facilities (probably should have asked), and just entered from the shore just up the road instead.

We stayed at Divi Flamingo, so this was our house reef. The facilities here are fantastic, and the waters were always calm. Even though the reef wasn't as beautiful as places like Karpata, we always see something new on our dives here. 2-spot Caribbean octopus, various types of eel, lots of the usual sea life, and even a seahorse. On our last dive, we even got to hang out with a pair of Caribbean reef squid for 5 minutes at about 10 feet before heading back up the ladder to call it a day. Night dive here was a little annoying as the local tarpon hang out and use your dive light to chase other fish. It makes it hard to really investigate the little stuff as this huge silver behemoth of a fish constantly swims over your shoulder. (But this is typical of Bonaire night dives I hear). Still, due to the excellent facilities, it really made the dive safe and enjoyable. All in all, this is a great spot to do a dive if you are a beginner, or just want to have an easy dive.

Excellent dive, day or night.

The upper 20 to 30 feet of this apparently once pristine reef was largely wiped out by large surf recently. This upper region is now mostly sand with coral rubble. The easiest entry is from the Divi Flamingo dive deck, with two wooden (and somewhat slippery) stairways descending a couple of feet underwater. The dive really begins here, as I found a sharptail eel, fireworms, anemones, sleeping parrotfish (at night), and even a mantis shrimp, all under or within 10 feet of the dive deck. A little farther out, a large anchor (~6 feet across) offers many macro photographic opportunities, with many ting gobies. At around 60 feet, lies an upright small wreck that looks like it's still sliding down the reef. At night, tarpons and great barracuda dart in and out from the deep. Smallish invasive lionfish can be found between 30 to 80 feet. This is really a superb macro dive site, but there are enough sponges and larger critters that it's even good for wide angle. A lone manta ray cruised past the dive deck, just a foot or two below the surface. There is a lot of trash here (steel, rope, wood), but looking past all that, the dive site really does have a lot to offer!

We stayed at the Carib Inn, next to the Divi Flamingo and enjoyed our stay immensely. Both the resort and house reef are exceptional. The little boat at about 70 feet deep off the Flamingo side of the reef was probably my favorite part of the reef and made a nice dive heading north from the Carib Inn buoy. There were lots of great shrimp, nudibranch and morays nearby, and almost always tarpon or great barracuda escorted me on the way there. Occasionally, a cordon of squid was up in the shallows, and twice I saw bonefish in the brightly lit sands. I never did find the seahorses that other divers saw, but I enjoyed this dive almost every one of the seven days were on Bonaire. The dive south to the south part of the reef had more soft coral, flamingo tongues and filefish but seemed a bit more "used, " even though it wasn't anywhere near as popular while I was there.

Divi Flamingo is the best highly recommended.… we were there 6/16/01 to 23 great diving. My wife is a novice. I'm a 36y dive master with 1,764 logged dive's. What a beautiful part of the world. Everyone was warm and cheerful, good food drink for all…

most shallow sites have bad vis - like 30 ft. The deeper dive areas were 60 - 70 ft.

We stayed here at the Divi Flamingo which I highly recommend (get the full meal plan) so this was our home base for late afternoon dives, and night dives. The night dives were some of the best I have ever experienced. Access is great, just jump off the pier and you are about 20 yards away to the reefs. Saw something different on every dive here. Guests staying here at the resort can store gear right on the pier in the storage facility. Tanks are available 24 hours to guests. My wife did her check out dives with the dive shop on property and they were very professional.