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Caribbean Family Vacations

A Caribbean Family Vacation – it sounds so lovely, doesn't it? Wanderlust and romance, excitement and intrigue. . . and then images come to mind: your son falling overboard, your 12-year old daughter running around with a soccer player, your wife slinking along the beach in just about nothing, or--heaven help you if your son sees it happening--you falling overboard. And you're all stuck together in a ship's cabin or a. . . bunnngalow. Makes you take pause, doesn't it? Well, settle back. What you're dreaming of isn't a family vacation, at all. A Caribbean family vacation should be unhurried, in a place that's unspoiled, and unforgettable for the right reasons. Let this image come to mind--Harbour Village Beach Club on The Island of Bonaire.

One of the so-called 'ABC' islands in the Dutch Antilles, Bonaire has avoided the development and more hurried life of its sister islands, Aruba and Curacao. Only about five percent of the island is developed at all. With a population of only 13,000, Bonaire has only two population centers, Kralendijk (pronounced 'Crawl-en-dike' but locally called "Playa", meaning "beach")--and Rincon. Aside from five small villages, that's it.

The people of Bonaire have made the difference. Devoted to their homeland and to their family life, they set aside 100% of their coastline in the 1970's, from the high water mark to the 200 foot depth contour, as the Bonaire National Marine Park, and nearly 25% of their land mostly in the Washington Slagbaai National Park on the northern coast. Ever since, they've been careful to monitor development on the island.

For their families, and now for yours, the results have been wonderful, a lot more like the lovely images of a Caribbean family vacation you first had in mind. All together, over 170 species of birds are found in Bonaire at one time or another, including heron, osprey, frigate birds, cormorants, and others. Pink Flamingoes breed in only four places and Bonaire is one of them; they live there in the tens-of-thousands feeding on brine shrimp and larvae found in the salt ponds to acquire their pinkish hue. Seeing them float above the white salt flats at sunset is truly unforgettable.

Scuba divers flock to Bonaire, as well, to dive at over 80 top-rated sites in waters that are crystal clear because the island is well off the path of storms and hurricanes (that also means scheduling your Caribbean family vacation is a lot easier--you can come anytime and not have to worry about a hurricane season). Over 355 species of fish have been counted by researchers in the waters around Bonaire and groves of stoney corals like Fire, Elkhorn, Massive Starlet, and Boulder Brain corals are common. In 2005, readers of Scuba Diving Magazine rated Bonaire Top Caribbean Dive Destination for the third year in a row in addition to Top Marine Life, Top Shore Diving, Top Snorkeling, and Top Destination for Underwater Photography. They also named it Top Destination For Beginner Diving, a fact your wife might want to know for the sake of you and your son.

Windsurfers come to Bonaire to skim along the surface of Lac Bay, one of the Caribbean's premier windsurfing locations due to its protected waters, steady trade winds, and average daily temperature of 82 degrees.

Harbour Village Beach Club Bonaire is perfect for a Caribbean family vacation offering gracious accomodations including vacation rentals, excellent dining, package vacations, fitness centers, a pool, tennis courts, sailing, kayaking, diving, and a beachside location close to top diving sites, natural wonders, the airport, its own marina, the boutiques and art shops of Kralendijk, and the festivals of Rincon. Vacation rentals in Premier Villas or the Residences offering one, two or three bedrooms are especially appealing to families because they are so much like being at home with 27" TV's, CD players, patios, hammocks, a full-kitchen and all the trappings of family life away from home. Among the available amenities are babysitting and supervised children's activities, and Great Adventures packages suit beginners as well as more experienced adventurers who want to dive together.

Of course, the Harbour Village staff can not guarantee there are no soccer players hanging around the beach, and you might want to keep your wife away from Sorobon Beach, Bonaire's naturalist resort (clothing optional) just south of Lac Bay, but nowhere does the image of a Caribbean family vacation come to life like it does in Bonaire.

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