Calabas Reef
12.1445°N 68.2767°W · reef
Calabas Reef
The house reef of Divi Flamingo Beach Resort on Bonaire’s central west coast — an accessible fringing reef with easy beach entry and a slope running to 35 metres.
Overview
Calabas Reef is the house reef of Divi Flamingo Beach Resort, one of Bonaire’s established dive resort hotels on the central west coast. The site is used heavily as a training dive, warm-up dive, and night dive by resort guests. The fringing reef here is typical of central Bonaire: a gradual slope starting in shallow water and running to around 35 metres, with healthy coral formations and steady fish life. The beach entry is easy and comfortable, making this one of the more accessible sites in the central corridor.
Site Information
- Location: Central Bonaire, Divi Flamingo Beach Resort house reef
- Entry Type: Shore entry
- Site Type: Reef
- Difficulty Level: Beginner
- Maximum Depth: 35 meters
- Typical Visibility: 20–30 metres
- Current: Usually light
- Best Time: All day
Marine Life
Central Bonaire reef community: parrotfish, angelfish, grunts, snapper, and groupers on the reef slope. Turtles are seen along this stretch of coast. The resort proximity means the reef is dived regularly and the fish are relatively accustomed to divers.
Dive Profile
Beach entry from the resort and swim to the reef. Gradual slope from shallow to 35 metres. Most of the interesting life is in the 8–25 metre range.
Entry and Exit
Easy beach entry from Divi Flamingo resort. Exit at the same point.
Tips
- Night dives are excellent given the easy beach entry and proximity to the resort
- Good training site for recent graduates working on buoyancy
- The shallow inner reef is ideal for snorkelling
Safety
Easy beginner conditions. The 35m slope is deeper than it looks — monitor depth on the outer section.
Photography
Standard Bonaire reef photography. The inner reef in good morning light is particularly photogenic.
Nearby Sites
18th Palm is just north. Windsock and Bachelor’s Beach are in the same central corridor. Chachacha Beach is nearby.
Sources: InfoBonaire Dive Site Map, Divers-Guide – Calabas Reef, Bonaireisland.com. Last updated 2026-05-24.
Sea-surface temperature and wave height from Open-Meteo Marine (ERA5 reanalysis, monthly averages).
2145 verified species observations (192 species) logged within ~11 km of this site between 1930 and 2019, from the Ocean Biodiversity Information System.
- Eretmochelys imbricata · Hawksbill sea turtle
- Chelonia mydas · Green sea turtle
- Caretta caretta · Loggerhead sea turtle
- Pterois · lionfish
- Scarus taeniopterus
- Scarus vetula
- Sparisoma viride
- Microspathodon chrysurus
- Cephalopholis cruentata
- Lutjanus apodus
- Haemulon flavolineatum
- Acanthurus coeruleus
Scientific survey records skew toward sampled taxa (molluscs, corals) and do not reflect what you are guaranteed to see on a dive.
Source: OBIS (obis.org), aggregated Darwin Core occurrence records.
Conditions change with the tide and the season. If you have dived this site, share what it was actually like — date, visibility, current, and what you saw. Real, recent reports from divers are exactly what this guide is built to collect.
Send a conditions report ›