Washington-Slagbaai Park or another non-snorkel/SCUBA option?

[AlliG]

My husband and I will be on our first cruise on the Crown Princess in April with a stop in Bonaire. Everything I've read about this island screams water activities. But we will be getting our SCUBA certification on the trip and have the open water dives the days before and after our stop in Bonaire (in Grenada and Aruba)...so we're leaning away from another water-related activity on this island.

 

As an alternative, we were thinking about a hiking or mountain biking excursion through Washington-Slagbaai park through Bonaire Dive and Adventure. Can anyone provide any comments on either the park or the company?

 

But will we be missing out if we don't take advantage of Bonaire's marine park? If we're there from 11 to 7, could we just do a little snorkeling off a beach close to the port after another activity?

 

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

[10X]

The latest issue of Scuba Diving magazine rates Bonaire as number 1 for:

 

Best Caribbean/Atlantic Dive Destination

Healthiest Marine Environment

Best for Beginning Divers

Best for Underwater Photography

Best Shore Diving

 

These should be plenty of reasons to get in the water in Bonaire.

[jimw]

It's good enough, that I would be tempted to do a Resort Course just to get in some dive time. If you should go to the park, snorkeling is great there in several locations. The roads are challenging, ie horrible, so going thru much of the park may take too long, You could easily do the short swing up toward Rincon on paved roads and then snorkel or windsurf.