Must-SeeBonaire
A dry, cactus-dotted island where the whole coast is a marine park, famous for easy shore diving, with flamingos and windsurfing on Lac Bay.
Guide Coming Soon
Caribbean Netherlands
Three Dutch islands for divers and walkers.
US travel advisory: Level 1, Exercise Normal Precautions · checked 2026-11-07This is a first draft of the Caribbean Netherlands list. The full region guide is being written, and tiers may still change.
The Caribbean Netherlands are three small islands that are part of the Netherlands itself: Bonaire, off Venezuela near Curaçao, and Saba and Sint Eustatius, far to the north near Sint Maarten. They share the US dollar and a love of the sea, and all three are famous among divers.
Bonaire is a dry, flat island where the whole coastline is a protected marine park, with shore dives marked by yellow stones, flamingos in the salt pans and windsurfing on Lac Bay. Saba is a single green volcano with a winding road, red-roofed villages and a cloud forest on Mount Scenery, while Sint Eustatius, known as Statia, has a quiet colonial town below the crater of the Quill.
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- Best Time
- All year on Bonaire, south of the usual hurricane track; December to May on Saba and Statia
- Ideal Trip
- 5–7 days on Bonaire for diving; Saba and Statia are separate trips through Sint Maarten
- Fly Into
- Bonaire (BON), with nonstops from Atlanta, Houston, Newark and Miami, some seasonal; Saba and Statia by small plane from Sint Maarten
- Getting Around
- A rental car or pickup on Bonaire; taxis and walking on Saba and Statia
- Entry
- No visa; a $75 visitor entry tax on Bonaire
- Money
- US dollar; tip 10–15%
- Power
- US-style, 110–127 volts
- Drives On
- Right
The Short List
Type
Rank
Must-See
Worth a DetourSaba
A single steep volcano rising from the sea, with a hairpin road between red-roofed villages, a cloud forest on Mount Scenery and pristine dive sites.
Guide Coming Soon
If You're NearbySint Eustatius
Quiet Statia, a once-busy colonial trading port with a hilltop fort, wreck dives offshore and a rainforest inside the crater of the Quill.
Guide Coming Soon
On the Map
Grey pins: guides still being written.
Good to Know
Getting Around
On Bonaire, a rental pickup takes you to the shore dive sites along the coast road, each marked by a yellow stone, and to Washington Slagbaai National Park in the north. Saba's one road climbs between its villages, so taxis and hiking trails do the rest, and Statia is small enough to walk or take a taxi.
Weather
Bonaire is dry and breezy all year, around 88°F, with brief showers mostly from October to December. Saba and Statia are greener and cooler in the hills, and lie in the hurricane belt from June to November.
Food
Try goat stew, fresh wahoo and kadushi, Bonaire's cactus soup; Saba is known for its spiced rum, and Dutch snacks like bitterballen turn up everywhere.
Before You Go
Americans don't need a visa. Bonaire charges a $75 visitor entry tax and a yearly nature fee of about $40 for diving, snorkeling and the national park, both paid online. The marine parks ask divers not to wear gloves or touch the coral.