Bonaire Final Trip Planning - double check and advice on dive sites?

[PStrangerX]

Thanks to all the wonderful information on this board! Here is what I have so far:

Group of 4 divers, staying in a rental home in Tera Kora. Experience ranges from 30 - 100 dives. Trip is from 3/17 - 3/25. Plan on Diving every day up to 3/23.

1. Rent manual truck from AB Carrental.
2. Rent air and equipment from Dive Friends. All 4 divers nitrox certified.

When we arrive, get truck and do check out dive from Dive Friends. Do they have lockers to rent to store equipment each night? Or will we have to haul everything into the house each day?

This is our first experience doing exclusively self-planned shore dives. Our most experienced divers have done a few live aboard. My wife and I have only done boat excursions. We would like to do 2-4 dives a day and plan on renting a dive computer. Does everything so far sound good?

I purchased a copy of Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy for info about entering each site. Can someone tell me though WHICH sites they would recommend? There are so many, it kinda' boggles my mind.

Any othe radvice or recommendations would be welcome. Thank you!

 

[DustyC]

I've never bothered renting lockers. Everything goes with us to the villa, and we roll out the next morning straight to dive sites. Or take off to dive in the middle of the night. More freedom to have your stuff with you.

One of my favorite dives is the shallows at salt pier. I just get bouyant and chill, rocking with the water. I find more small stuff that way. Dusk or night, it's spectacular. Cliff is good, and the house reef of the house we stay in, so we hit it a lot. Karpata is good too, but give it a few days to get used to the entries and exits. Andrea 2 is another of my favorites, as we often see a LOT of rainbow parrotfish in the shallows. If you're a fan of waking early, head south and you might get lucky with calm conditions way down at the southern tip.

 

[tursiops]

We would like to do 2-4 dives a day and plan on renting a dive computer.

You can buy a new computer for $200, or a used one (like rentals!) for a lot less. At Buddy Dive they cost $65/week to rent, at DF they are $13/day.

 

[PStrangerX]

You can buy a new computer for $200, or a used one (like rentals!) for a lot less. At Buddy Dive they cost $65/week to rent, at DF they are $13/day.

That's a great suggestion. I don't see any used one for sale on my local Craigslist. I do see that the Leonardo Cressi and the Mares Puck pro are both relatively cheap on Amazon. Any reason to avoid one of those?

 

[tursiops]

Both of those are probably as good as the cheapest Suunto you usually get to rent!
eBay has good bargains, but you need some wisdom on what you are buying. The Classifieds on ScubaBoard have good stuff now and then. I suspect people will be getting new ones for Christmas, and their old ones will go up for sale. You've got a little time. Where are you located?

 

[PStrangerX]

Both of those are probably as good as the cheapest Suunto you usually get to rent!
eBay has good bargains, but you need some wisdom on what you are buying. The Classifieds on ScubaBoard have good stuff now and then. I suspect people will be getting new ones for Christmas, and their old ones will go up for sale. You've got a little time. Where are you located?

I'm in Austin, TX. Great advice on waiting for after Christmas. I'll scope the boards out in January.

 

[diversteve]

Leisurepro has the Aqualung I200 on a Cyber Monday sale right now for $235.

Aqua Lung i200 Wrist Computer

Some sites we liked:

Also Salt Pier - most of it is not very deep. The shllower support piers just off the beach are more interesting.

Invisibles is a good dive. Angel City also but the ironshore just off the beach there is full of holes - some with urchins at the bottom.

Most everybody dives the Hooker. We though Vista Blue was one of the best but it is considered advanced due to afternoon currents - it was ripping.

Once you've located a good entry point, if you can park the truck behind it. From the water all the ironshore looks pretty much the same and you're too low to spot any sandy entry points - which are the easiest entries.

Up north don't miss Bari Reef. Access is thru Dive Friends, either at Den Laman or Sand Dollar condos. I have read the Sand Dollar owners don't like you using their beach.

Cliff is a good dive, you can either dive it from the Dive Friends shop at the north end or pay $5? and dive it off Habitat's dock - they have lockers but you need your own lock. If you do it right you can go past the memorial, along the "Cliff" then end on the La Machaca wreck - not worth a separate dive.

1000 Steps is an easy entry but it's the walk back up (64 stone steps) to the truck...lol

We also dove Witches Hut/Weber's Joy. All I remember was a steep but smooth entry off the beach.

Check for boat dives also - not necessarily with Dive Friends either. We paid $18 one afternoon at Toucan Divers to make a trip - 2 of us, another couple and the DM. They took us to Forest for the Black Coral and if there was a time limit on that dive - it was longer than I could stay down. We found it by checking the dive board outside the shop. There's also about 2 dozen boat dives off Klein Bonaire you can't do any other way.

Plus Rappel off the north side of Bonaire is often asked for on boat dives. Seemed very healthy since there's a rebound effect off the wall where things thrive.

We looked at Karpata but it was pretty rough that day. so we passed. Once you commit to it, you have to drive back around through Rincon as the road becomes one-way. If you do, detour to Gotomeer and see the Flamingos. They might also be in the salt pans near Salt Pier. Kind of amusing to watch for a few minutes.

 

[diversteve]

www.scubatoys.com is in Dallas...call them - some brands they can do better than the MSRP they list on the website.

 

[tursiops]

Call DRIS and NESS and ask about used computers. They usually have them.

 

[diversteve]

There was only two of us in a 4dr truck so we just threw everything on the back seat loose. You don't want to leave anything in the truck you can't afford to lose. Some of the more remote parking lots are shiny with the reason you leave the windows down, doors unlocked.

One option that may work - depends on where your house is - is to go by between dive sets. We did some of our surface intervals that way - 2 dives north, stop for lunch, new batteries etc. then south to a site or two. It worked better for us since our condo was 100' off the main road south.

From what I remember the DF shop at Sand Dollar is in a small plaza just off the main road. Their Port Bonaire shop (where they keep some boats) is inside the Port Bonaire condo complex. The shop at Den Laman is maybe 1/4 mi. in off the main road. And the Yellow Sub shop in town on the main road but it's not convenient unless you're going there to dive/boat dive. It may be the closest shpp to you though.