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Bonaire Family Adventure Our featured locale for our next Family Adventure is Bonaire...well known for having the world’s Daily Adventure Itinerary Day 1 As your arrive at the airport in Bonaire you’ll be met by Buddy’s staff and transported to the resort. You’ll get checked in to your condo and your rental vehicle will be assigned. If you have a few hours until dinner, the pool and the ocean are both open for some great snorkeling or relaxing. Or maybe you’d like to drive into town (only 5 minutes) to pick up some food and beverages to stock the condo fridge. Most of the meals are provided in this package, but it’s nice to have some lunches and snacks available when you have the munchies. Later this afternoon we’ll all get together for an orientation meeting and go over the schedule of activities. Tonight we’ll have a group meal at the resort as we plan our fun for the week! Day 2 After a delicious breakfast buffet we’ll start our adventures! The Sharks and Adult Divers will do an orientation shore dive right behind the resort. The 3 reefs behind the resort (Buddy’s, Bari, Scientifico) are rated among the best in the Caribbean for species diversity and life! What an awesome place to start your vacation! While the Sharks and Divers are doing their thing, the Sand Crabs and Seals will be having a pool party at one of Buddy’s two pools. Adult Snorkelers have the option to join the pool party or do some world-class snorkeling right behind the resort. After lunch any Open Water students will do their first three certification dives on Buddy’s Reef. The Sharks have their own boat for an awesome boat dive this afternoon, this is a teen boat, no adults allowed (except for the divemasters, or course). The other groups all have the afternoon free. Tonight we’ll have another group dinner at Buddy’s restaurant. Tonight we’ll also offer a night shore dive to see all the weird critters that come out after dark! This is a great time to do the Advanced Night Dive, too. Everyone will sleep well tonight! Day 3 After breakfast today we’ll load up the vehicles with dive gear and the Sharks, Adult Divers, and Snorkelers will head out to the north for a fun morning shore dive or guided snorkel alongside the rocky cliffs of divesites like Karpata, Ol’ Blue, and 1000 Steps. Schools of jacks, squid, and tropicals abound while lush gorgonians carpet the bottom, perfect for REEF fish counts, digital photography or CoralWatch surveys. Meanwhile, back at the resort the Seals will be doing their first dives on scuba in Buddy’s pool, having a blast and learning new skills. The Sand Crabs will be having their own brand of fun in the Buddy Ranger program this morning, the Buddy staff will be helping the kids to find driftwood on the shore and then teaching them how to paint it to make driftwood art. We’ll all meet back at the resort where we’re free for lunch. Later this afternoon we’ll all caravan to the Bonaire Butterfly Farm, where the whole family will get to wander amid the most beautiful butterflies from around the world. The farm breeds butterflies for reintroduction into the wild, thereby preserving rare species. This evening is Parents Night Out! While your trip leaders host Pizza and a Movie for the kids the parents can take some time off and go into town to check out some of Kralendijk’s many restaurants. You’ll find a great assortment of fun eateries...from Brazilian Steakhouses to Seafood to Tex-Mex to small cafes serving local dishes. Enjoy! Day 4 This morning after breakfast we pile everyone into our trucks and head to the Bonaire Donkey Sanctuary. Bonaire has a large population of wild donkeys, and the sanctuary provides food, water, shelter and medical care for over 400 wounded or orphaned donkeys. After our fascinating visit to the sanctuary, we’ll continue on to one of our favorite southern dive sites, Pink Beach. Here the Sharks and Adult Divers will explore the lush reef system while the Snorkelers, Sand Crabs and Seals use snorkels to do their own exploring. By noon everyone will have worked up an appetite, so a beach picnic will be just the thing to refuel the gang. After our picnic we’ll head farther south to Lac Bay, one of the world’s premier windsurfing spots that’s perfect for beginners or experts. Imagine an enormous sandy bay almost a mile across but only 3 feet deep, complete with a couple of fun surf shacks where you can hang out and watch the action! Windsurfing in the huge shallow bay and relaxing in the shade with a cold beverage is the perfect way to spend the afternoon. Tonight is free for dinner, but a popular option is to have your trip leaders organize a group meal at a popular local pizza place just a few minutes from the resort. If you really want to “go native” you can try the fish pizza! Day 5 This morning the Sand Crabs have another fun day with the Buddy Staff in the Buddy Ranger program, while the Seals will be venturing into the ocean with their scuba gear for the first time….talk about cool! Meanwhile, the Sharks and Adult Divers will be caravanning south. The far southern tip of the island has some spectacular dive sites alongside the surreal landscape of salt flats and flamingoes. For our dive we’ll pick one of the world-famous sites like Angel City, Invisibles, and Alice in Wonderland. The currents flowing around the south point bring in lots of bigger fish ...here is your best chance to see large pelagics like tuna, jacks, and sea turtles. The Snorkelers have the morning free, so they can opt to join the group, stay at the resort, or wander around town to do some shopping. The sites to the south are perfect for Digital Photo...lots of fish, lots of critters, lots of coral! Back to the resort for lunch and then all of us will head over to the windy east side of the island to spend an exciting afternoon landsailing at Bonaire Blokarts. The instructors will have the kids piloting their own blokart in less than 10 minutes on the longest landsailing track in the world! After the day’s excitement it will be nice to return to the resort and relax at a group family dinner at Buddy’s. On the other hand...a night dive behind the resort might be just the thing to cap off a great day! Day 6 Today after breakfast the Sand Crabs will be back at their activities overseen by the Buddy’s staff while the Seals will once again explore more of the ocean reef behind the resort under the watchful guidance of Buddy’s divemasters. The Sharks, Adult Divers and Snorkelers all have the morning free….shore dives, exploring town, boat dive, relaxing by the pool...there’s plenty to do to fill a morning! Don’t wander too far, though...later this afternoon everyone will meet down at Buddy’s dock and pile into boats for a short trip over to the island of Klein Bonaire, just offshore. The Adult Divers and Sharks will have a boat dive, while the Snorkelers, Sand Crabs and Seals explore the pristine shallow water reefs by snorkel...or just play on the beach. After all that fun-in-the-sun we’ll boat back to the resort and get ready for dinner. Tonight is another Parents Night Out while the kids enjoy Pizza and a Movie! Day 7 Today is “expedition day”! We’ll load everyone up and caravan to Washington Slagbaai National Park, a rugged, hilly landscape carpeted in towering cactus. Small rocky roads wind through the fantastic scenery, leading to remote picturesque bays with great diving! Wild goats graze alongside the pathways as parrots dart overhead and flamingoes wade serenely through the water. We’ll explore the park both above and below the waves...guided snorkels for the Snorkelers, Sand Crabs and Seals, dives for the Sharks and Adult Divers. Then we’ll have a fun picnic lunch in one of the prettiest spots on the island, complete with colorful lizards who venture out to inspect us and clean up the crumbs. After leaving the park our caravan will take a scenic route back along the windswept northeast shore, avoiding the wild donkeys along the road. A short hike will bring us to some impressive cliffs and crashing surf. Tonight we’ll have a special farewell meal at the resort to celebrate our last night in Bonaire and re-live all the fun times we’ve had during the week. Day 8 This morning we’ll have a transfer to the airport for our flight home...time to plan another family diving adventure!
Everyone in the family will have the time of their life on this exciting adventure! Important Info…
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BEST shore diving! The fabulous reefs are sometimes just a few feet offshore. Whether you live to dive or just enjoy the beauty of shallow water snorkeling, this is possibly the most perfect dive spot on earth. During our week of fun-in-the-sun, we will be staying in condos at the beautiful Buddy’s Resort and exploring as much as we can of this fascinating island. With this awesome family package everyone in your family will have a full week of fun activities from dawn ‘til dark….sometimes with friends their own age, sometimes with the rest of your family...the perfect balance! Adults can choose between the Diver or Snorkeler package, kids age 5-7 will have a blast doing fun water-based activities in the pool and ocean with the Sand Crab package, kids age 8-12 can learn scuba basics in the pool and ocean with the Seal package, kids 10-16 who are already certified will hang out with their buddies in the Shark package, doing both shore and boat dives. Your group leaders will lead daily island excursions utilizing the rental vehicles included in the package. 
There are 6 days of unlimited shore diving or snorkeling in this package (including night dives and night snorkels!) In addition there will be a variety of activities throughout the week...both guided and independent shore dives all over the islands, and guided and independent snorkeling while the divers are diving, too! There are boat dives to Klein Bonaire, a “Sharks Only” boat dive for the teens, 4 Group Dinners, 2 Oceanside Family Picnics, 2 Parents Night Out (to give the folks some “private time”) Kids Dinner & a Movie (while the folks are out). We’ll have an all-day expedition to explore scenic and rugged Washington Slagbaai Park, (with diving and snorkeling, of course!). We’ll also visit the Bonaire Butterfly Farm, have a great time at the Donkey Sanctuary, and fly across the landscape in our BloKarts during the Land Sailing adventure! There’s even an option to windsurf in one of the world’s best surfing spots, Lac Bay. And there’s plenty of free time for your family to take off and do their own thing…snorkeling, diving, shopping, or just hanging out around the pool!
