Specific questions about Bonaire

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Hi all, I have some specific questions ref Bonaire as opposed to general ‘what is it like’ queries or commentary. I’ve read a lot of excellent dive reports on this board and info, but hoping someone may be able to help with the below:

1) How does the reef compare to Red Sea reef like Torba Arbaa etc.
2) I know you are supposed to leave windows open/car unlocked due to crime, but are there any rentals with built in safes ( similar to trucks in the US that have lockable safes on the flat bed for tools...I want to leave my lunch in the car, if I make 2 sandwiches and ask the burglars to only take 1, will that work ?
3) I have heard stories of villas being burgled, if you are lugging Circa $20k worth of camera equipment, do you feel safe having it in the villa (doors locked/windows shut etc.) or should I keep in the hotel safe when not in use as it won’t fit in the room safe?
4)Anyone stayed at the Delfin resort within the last 3 months?
5) what is the earliest the diveshops open?
6) can you rent tanks and keep them for a dawn dive?
7)for people who dive Bonaire a lot (100 + dives) is there any point taking a boat to Klein Bonaire or should you just stick to shorediving if you only have 30 dives in total. I.e. what would YOU do as opposed to ‘it depends what you want to see’
8) is there anything hard to get on the island you always bring along/ ( I always bring camera spares etc.)
9) anyone seen any baby newly hatched turtles on a dive around Klein bonaire?
10) when driving around, what do photographers use for dunk tank? I have a portable one, but concerned it will get stolen when i’m diving. Is this an overreaction?
11) what should I avoid when the cruise ships are in ( what areas/restauraunts etc.)

Thanks!

 

[diversteve]

Cruise ships moor downtown at Town Pier so the shops/restaurants nearby will be busy. Possibly the main waterfront road also. If it's a big ship you'll see it from a lot of areas - downtown Bonaire is pretty low and flat so just dive south near your resort those days. About the only impact to diving is the Dive Friends in town nearby - they can have a line waiting to dive

I don't believe it's an overnight port so by dinner the restaurants downtown should be back to normal. There's also a back road thru town that won't be affected should you want to go north. I believe only 2 ships can moor there anyway and I don't believe the really big ones do. Probably because there's not enough infrastructure to support 4-5K tourists at once. Kralendijk is a pretty small town. Do eat at Donna/Giorgio's and nicer is It Rains Fishes. Bobbe-Jans for takeout bbq. From Delphins, if you don't eat there you'll be driving to town. Or at least the Plaza resort area.

We didn't see any babies but did see quite a few turtles in the shallows at Jerry's Reef (Klien site) They were under the coral between the mooring and the island. The dive generally goes the other way - I happened to spot them while waiting under the boat. They blend in pretty well.

I'd do a trip out to Klein. Forest is one of the best sites on Bonaire and I liked drifting at Hands Off.

25 of the Bonaire sites are there.

You can rent tanks and keep them all week. We always had spares in the truck in case of a bad valve/o-ring.

Does Delphins have an on-site shop? Otherwise I think you're nearest options are Buddy Dive at BelMar condos or the Dive Friends at Port Bonaire. Either would be a good choice, both have boats at those locations and both have a tank exchange on the north side also. DF has about 5 locations - Buddy Dive has the drive-thru at their north location. Actually the DF at Cliff is one also - just a u-turn. Their shop at Sand Dollar is also convenient as it's just off the main road in "resort row" north of town. Port Bonaire is a condo complex so you have to drive in there a short distance to the shop. Buddy's at Belmar is 25' from the main road you'll be on daily and their tank exchange area is streetside. IDK their housrs for non-guests though although I'm pretty sure someone was there by 8am - we stayed at Belmar so could get in 24/7.

You could also get tanks at Toucan Dive at the Plaza - the shop is at the far south end of the resort. We dove with them but stayed at BelMar. Nice smaller boats and 10--12 divers max.

IDK hours but suspect one of the Dive Friends shops would be the earliest to open.

Nice thing about them is if you arrive early enough, you can do the BMP orientation that afternoon so you can start diving the next morning. Most of the other shops run it around 9AM so you lose a dive that morning. Most will require a check-out dive there b4 issuing your tag.

If you bring batteries with you, take them when you go. I believe their landfill still has a hard time processing them.

I never saw a truck with any sort of toolbox in back. If there's anything back there it's a tank rack of some sort - often out of 2x4's

I left 5K worth of video gear at our condo while we were gone but the office can see the entire place and we had a night watchman. We left our dive gear in a locked closet outside our back door - I wasn't too sure leaving it on our ground floor patio was the best plan.

Only once at a dive site did I think we were being watched but nothing was gone thru - I intentionally closed a strap in the door. I also mistakenly left a video camera under a towel while parked in town once with the windows down - still there when we got back.It is apparent windows down is a good idea judging by the broken glass mixed in the gravel at some sites.

Delphins is midway between many of the better south sites so you're only 5-10mins. max from your room. If you dive north that's about 15-20mins. unless you go past the one-way towards Karpata b/c that requires an extra 20-30min. drive back thru Rincon and along the east coast back to town. Worth doing once - stop along the way at Gotomeer (short detour) and see if the Flamingos are there. If not, they might be at the salt pans near Salt Pier.

There was a small restaurant across the street from the Plaza Resort entrance that would bag sandwiches for pickup. Between the Buns north does also

 

[Trailboss123]

Does Delphins have an on-site shop? Otherwise I think you're nearest options are Buddy Dive at BelMar condos or the Dive Friends at Port Bonaire.

There is a full Dive Friends Station and retail at Delfin's Resort. Most of the Dive Friends shops open at 8:30am.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Thanks guys. Very helpful. Appreciated!

 

[Lorenzoid]

Hi all, I have some specific questions ref Bonaire as opposed to general ‘what is it like’ queries or commentary. I’ve read a lot of excellent dive reports on this board and info, but hoping someone may be able to help with the below:

1) How does the reef compare to Red Sea reef like Torba Arbaa etc.

I Googled Torba Arbaa reef and couldn't find anything. Is it spelled correctly? My only Red Sea trip was Brothers-Daedalus-Elphinstone. I would say it's difficult to compare, since the topography is different. By "compare," do you mean in terms of abundance of marine life? If so, I would say the reefs I dived in Egypt had somewhat more abundant marine life.

2) I know you are supposed to leave windows open/car unlocked due to crime, but are there any rentals with built in safes ( similar to trucks in the US that have lockable safes on the flat bed for tools...I want to leave my lunch in the car, if I make 2 sandwiches and ask the burglars to only take 1, will that work ?

I have never heard of Bonaire rental trucks with lockable storage like that. I have also not heard of anyone's lunch being stolen. The odds of your truck being targeted are low. Even if a thief were to rummage around in your truck, the odds of something not of value--lunch, water bottle, flip-flops, cheap sunglasses, etc.--being stolen are low. Take reasonable precautions--don't leave tempting items like a backpack in the truck, and leave the windows down--but don't let all the talk about truck theft get to you.

3) I have heard stories of villas being burgled, if you are lugging Circa $20k worth of camera equipment, do you feel safe having it in the villa (doors locked/windows shut etc.) or should I keep in the hotel safe when not in use as it won’t fit in the room safe?

I have taken a number of trips as part of a small informal group, and I happened to sit out the one trip where their villa was burgled. It happens. I would not leave thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment or electronics in a villa unless there were some sort of unusual crime-prevention measures in place, such as bars on all the windows or a security guard. If I knew I had to leave valuable in my lodging, I would choose a hotel property with security guards over a private villa.

5) what is the earliest the diveshops open?

Something like 8 am, I would guess. I use Dive Friends Bonaire, which is open 8 am-5pm.

6) can you rent tanks and keep them for a dawn dive?

Of course! You don't "rent" tanks--you just pick them up from where they are sitting there waiting for divers to pick them up, and you load them in your truck. There is no clock running that requires you to return them at any particular time. Keep them for a week if you wish.

7)for people who dive Bonaire a lot (100 + dives) is there any point taking a boat to Klein Bonaire or should you just stick to shorediving if you only have 30 dives in total. I.e. what would YOU do as opposed to ‘it depends what you want to see’

I can only say that in five or six trips, I have yet to make it out to Klein Bonaire. I will do it someday, as there are some sites that people say are very good, but there is just so much to keep one occupied on the main island. It's not like Klein Bonaire is a magical place that's so unique it would be crazy not to dive there. Also, for me, the boat is just another hassle--the shore diving is the major attraction of Bonaire for me.

8) is there anything hard to get on the island you always bring along/ ( I always bring camera spares etc.)

The obvious things that you would bring on any trip, like medicines. As scuba diving islands go, Bonaire is pretty well on the beaten track. People live there comfortably. There are all kinds of products imported from the Netherlands for the Dutch people in their vacation homes.

10) when driving around, what do photographers use for dunk tank? I have a portable one, but concerned it will get stolen when i’m diving. Is this an overreaction?

Soft-sided picnic coolers are popular as dunk tanks. Or if you're really paranoid about that getting stolen, how about a cardboard box lined with a plastic bag?

11) what should I avoid when the cruise ships are in ( what areas/restauraunts etc.)

The "commercial center" of Kralendijk is very small, and we try to avoid stopping there when a ship is docked. That said, there isn't a whole lot of interest to us there, except for some nicer restaurants that we wouldn't be hitting during the middle of the day anyway (as we tend to bring a sandwich for lunch), and even if we were in the mood for a restaurant lunch, there are plenty of restaurants elsewhere. You can't avoid the cruise ship people entirely. We have seen minibuses of them pull up at the (relatively few) dive sites that have sand beaches or scenic overlooks.

 

[Trailboss123]

Even if a thief were to rummage around in your truck, the odds of something not of value--lunch, water bottle, flip-flops, cheap sunglasses, etc.--being stolen are low.

Concur with this statement. I have a funny story though. We parked at a site down south that is unmarked and is called Chogogo. As usual, we left windows down and everything unlocked. We came back from the dive and saw that the truck had been rifled through.
We had left towels, shirts, cheap sunglasses and a small cooler that had 2 sandwiches and 2 Red Bull's in it. Of course there were also the additional tanks in the bed of the trunk for the next dive. As we took inventory, the towels were there, shirts were there, sunglasses where we left them, tanks in the trunk, cooler was there, both sandwiches were there, but one of the 2 Red Bull's was gone. I thought it was hilarious. They could have taken the entire cooler, but just decided that all they wanted was one Red Bull.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Sorry, Tobia Arba’a . I know it’s nothing like brothers etc, but wanted a comparison against some really top reef/ shore dive reef in the Red Sea, like breakers house reef etc.

Tnx!

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Concur with this statement. I have a funny story though. We parked at a site down south that is unmarked and is called Chogogo. As usual, we left windows down and everything unlocked. We came back from the dive and saw that the truck had been rifled through.
We had left towels, shirts, cheap sunglasses and a small cooler that had 2 sandwiches and 2 Red Bull's in it. Of course there were also the additional tanks in the bed of the trunk for the next dive. As we took inventory, the towels were there, shirts were there, sunglasses where we left them, tanks in the trunk, cooler was there, both sandwiches were there, but one of the 2 Red Bull's was gone. I thought it was hilarious. They could have taken the entire cooler, but just decided that all they wanted was one Red Bull.

Love it! I think I’m going to take a ‘Christmas Eve for Santa and his reindeers’ approach and leave a sandwich/redbull, 5 bucks and a note we always leave $5 for Santa now because my mother in law got a ticket down the road and the kids are paranoid Santa will get ticketed, so we have to cover the cost...

 

[Lorenzoid]

Sorry, Tobia Arba’a . I know it’s nothing like brothers etc, but wanted a comparison against some really top reef/ shore dive reef in the Red Sea, like breakers house reef etc.

Tnx!

The videos I found look nice. I'll go out on a limb and opine that, as much as I love Bonaire, the quality of the reef overall--health and abundance of coral, abundance of marine life, interesting topography (e.g., pillars)--is not as good as top Red Sea sites.

 

[AdivingBel]

They could have taken the entire cooler, but just decided that all they wanted was one Red Bull.

LOL...I lost a granola bar in exactly the same fashion. Maybe they stopped at my truck first then got thirsty.