Plaza Beach Resort Bonaire is the largest diving resort in the southern

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

Island of

Bonaire Bonaire (; , ; pap, Boneiru, , almost pronounced ) is a Dutch island in the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west ( leeward) coast of the island. Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao form the ABC i ...

, located at 80 Julio A. Abraham Boulevard, south of Kralendijk, just north of Flamingo International Airport (about away). It is operated by the Van der Valk family of hoteliers and is also known as the Plaza Resort Van der Valk. American divers have reportedly voted it one of the top 10 dive resorts in the world. The resort, which claims to be five-star, although this is disputed by several independent publications, is situated on a

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

, at the mouth of a man-made lagoon with turquoise blue waters. Plaza Beach Resort Bonaire Its beach measures long and deep and is a notable scuba diving location, known as ''Toucan Diving''.

Size

In 2002, the hotel contained 174 rooms and apartments, 198 rooms were reported in 2006 and 200 rooms were reported in 2007. As of 2006, it was reported to contain nine two-storey buildings. In 2017 Plaza Beach Resort Bonaire has 126 rooms. They have junior and grand suites. The grand suites are completely renovated. Plaza Beach Resort Bonaire has the biggest hotel rooms of Bonaire. The hotel also contains a large freshwater swimming pool, a casino, a fitness centre and a water sports facility & three different conference rooms. A turquoise lagoon meanders its way through the resort. The main restaurant of the hotel is known as ''Tipsy Seagull'' this is a buffet restaurant with different theme nights every day of the week. ; For ordering drinks and small snacks you can go to the beach bar, known as ''Coconut Crash''. Life at Bonair Plaza enlivens after sunset. Diving and snorkelling are the activities that are seen using four-cell flash lights, since the use of chemical lamps is banned in this Marine park.

Marine species

Deep water corals seen, at depths below wave action in the lagoon, grow in the limited light that penetrates into the sea. The species variety has been conjectured as ''Agaricia lamarcki'' and ''Agaricia grahamae''. These are seen in the form of thin plates stacked one above the other but are fragile. Toucan Divers of the resort arrange a special diving near the Town Pier, which is a shallow dive site with colourful and varied marine life. The nightlife witnessed, of the underwater sea, is full of coral formations and marine creatures. Tarpons, the large silvery fish gets its feed as, when the flash lights used by divers attract the smaller fish species which come out and become easy prey.

Seaquarium

The seaquarium built into the lagoon is the hub of training activities of the Dive and Sports Center of the resort. Boats are operated from the

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

attached to the resort; the marina is planned in such a way that it does not disturb the marine environment near the lagoon.

Gallery

File:Resort Courtyart.jpg, Courtyard of the Resort File:Bridge on the way to dive shop, Plaza Resort Bonaire.jpg, Bridge on the way to scuba diving shop near Plaza Resort Bonaire File:Dive Master with Eel.jpg, Scuba diving master with eel

References

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External links