Trip Report Bonaire - December 24 - December 31 2022

[SharkBeachBear]

Just got back from a trip to Bonaire. Have used this forum extensively for advice on diving trips, so figured I would finally contribute and post about one of my recent trips.

Firstly, what an amazing trip. The freedom of shorediving was a nice experience (first time) and a change of pace for my wife and I from the normal dive resort/liveaboards we are used to. But it did make us appreciate the times we've done liveaboards or stayed at resorts where others setup/transport the gear and tanks. It is a lot of work hauling tanks, rinsing gear, and setting everything up, taking it apart.

Lodging: We stayed at Beaches Ocean-view Apartments. Located less than 1.5 km south of the airport. Smaller family run operation consisting of ~10 units. Each with a kitchenette, private bathroom, AC, dive lockers/rinse stations, and a pool. There is a common area of the rooftop where they have beer, wine, and soda available for purchase at reasonable prices. 100% recommend this place and if we return to Bonaire, we will be staying here.

Rental Car: Rented thru National at the airport. Got a newer Nissan Frontier, manual transmission. I'm able to get my corporate rate thru National, not sure if it makes sense for others.

Dive Shop: Got our tanks from Wannadive. They give 10% off for those staying at Beaches Ocean-view Apartments and have free nitrox. Location was right next to Beaches which made it an obvious choice for us. They also have a north location too. Their service was great, and tanks were consistently filled to 3,000 - 3,200 psi. Highly recommend.

Diving: Dove 2-3 sites a day. My wife and I discovered that when not in a group, we are low air users. Every dive we did was about 75 minutes. Doing dives this long, it becomes a bit harder to do more than 3 dives a day. Three 75 minute dives is almost 4 hours. Plus surface intervals you start running out of time quickly. If you want to dive 3+ sites a day, you need to start early, bring snacks/water, and have a plan. I was surprised that we were able to beat the crowd at some of the popular sites by starting around 8:30 am (figured it would have to be earlier). We also did some of the other popular sites later in the afternoon (4pm) to avoid the crowds as well. This approach worked well for us.

We dove the following sites (listed from north to south). General all sites were similar and very good. Saw a lot of moray eels, garden eels, 2 green sea turtles, squid, crabs, shrimp, baracuda, and more reef fish than I can name. Reef was in excellent shape. As good as any place I've been in the Caribbean (Belize & Utila). Can't compare to the Pacific's biodiversity, but for the Caribbean, Bonaire is top-notch.

• Boka Slagbaai: In national park, not worth the effort to get to. Reef is somewhat damaged here, but still saw tons of fish. Definitely recommend a trip to the national park though.
• Karpata: One of the best. We dove two times.
• Ol' Blue: Very similar or the same as Karpata.
• 1,000 steps
• Oil Slick Leap
• The Beach: Unnumbered site located just north of Bachelor's Beach, accessible via the The Beach Restaurant. We did as our checkout dive as this was across the street from WannaDive.
• The Lake
• Hilma Hooker: Not a big wreck diver, but enjoyed this as it is surrounded by reef. Several huge tarpon.
• Angel City
• Alice in Wonderland
• Salt Pier
• Invisibles
• Margate Bay
• Red Slave: Reef not in as good of shape here. Seemed like current near the buoy was pulling hard to the south here. We went north from the buoy.

Dining: We did a combination of eating in/out. Shopped at Van Den Tweel and loaded up the fridge in our apartment. They had a good selection of food, reasonable selection of wine, and some beers. My wife is a vegetarian, and all the restaurants we went had at least 1+ vegetarian options on the menu. For the week of Christmas/New Year's, plan to make reservations in advance.

• The Beach: Across the street from our lodging. All tables were reserved for the night, so we ate at the bar.
• La Cantina: Downtown. Made a reservation ahead of time for Christmas. One of the best meals I've ever had. Nice courtyard.
• Joe's Restaurant: Between airport and downtown. Had reservation. Very good food, nice atmosphere.
• Stoked Food Truck: Located on beach at airport. Quick spot, good food. Open until 7pm, so an option for dinner.
• King Kong Burgers: Located ~2km south of airport. Great burgers and fries. Quick option for lunch. not open for dinner. Have vegetarian burgers.
• Roos Suriname Food: Excellent option for those who like ethnic food. Highly recommend.
• Kos Bon So: Located in Rincon. Local place. Excellent option for food and a beer if you are up north at the park or diving Karpata. Great prices.
• Posada Para Mira: Located in Rincon. Also a good option if you are up north at the national park or diving Karpata.

Any questions, feel free to ask.

Thanks for the info, this is perfect for me. I am going in August. Do you know if there is a "Bad" time to go there?

 

[slushangar]

Thanks for the trip report! I'm heading there in March and I am a vegan/vegetarian. What were some of your wife's favorite restaurants for vegetarian meals? I always worry about ending up eating nothing but rice and beans, or some crappy thrown together mixed vegetables with no love.

Most of the restaurants I mentioned had legitimate vegetarian options. My wife doesn't eat fish either, so when I say vegetarian, that excludes fish (maybe not up to date on the lingo). The Beach, Cantina, and Joes all had excelent vegetarian options on their menus. Stoked Food Truck had a falafal wrap that was good and King Kong had a good veggy burder. Posada Para Mira had an excelent vegetarian plate with rice, beans, avacado, squash, and a few other items that was very good. Roos had a similar option. Kos Bon So was the only one that really didn't have a set vegetarian option other than rice and beans, but that was good enough for a quick meal when we were there.

I know what you mean about a mess of mixed vegetables just thrown together, none of these places were like that.

 

[PamelaH]

I'll second Den Lamen as a great place to stay with Dive Friends right next door. I did zero shore diving as Dive Friends has daily boat trips and I was diving solo so that worked for me. If you wanted to do shore diving they were well positioned and they have a dive locker to stow your stuff. With a car you could do both shore diving all over Bonaire and boat diving from your local pier. Den Lamen has nice condos with kitchens and also has a restaurant (but I never ate there so no recommendation). There are several places in walking distance, though. All in all Den Lamen is super convenient.

 

[dmaziuk]

There is a "buddy board" on the wall of DFB Sand Dollar/Den Laman: you can leave your info and see if anyone bites.

 

[PamelaH]

There is a "buddy board" on the wall of DFB Sand Dollar/Den Laman: you can leave your info and see if anyone bites.

That's true about the buddy board. I was hanging out with snorkelers so boat diving in the AM and snorkeling in the PM worked out pretty well although every time someone suited up and went down those stairs....

 

[dmaziuk]

That's true about the buddy board. I was hanging out with snorkelers so boat diving in the AM and snorkeling in the PM worked out pretty well although every time someone suited up and went down those stairs....

I can neither confirm nor deny never seeing any scuba police on the pier... of course staying at Sand Dollar one can always dip from the stairs on Buddy side of it where there are few people to none at all.

 

[PamelaH]

I can neither confirm nor deny never seeing any scuba police on the pier... of course staying at Sand Dollar one can always dip from the stairs on Buddy side of it where there are few people to none at all.

Oh it was all legal! I was just jealous that I was surface cruising in the afternoon instead of swimming eye to eye with the fish! If I go back there I'll be sure to rustle up a dive buddy and explore the reef at depth. The visibility wasn't very good for snorkeling and the abundance was just kind of sad.

 

[bluechub]

Just got back from a trip to Bonaire. Have used this forum extensively for advice on diving trips, so figured I would finally contribute and post about one of my recent trips.

Firstly, what an amazing trip. The freedom of shorediving was a nice experience (first time) and a change of pace for my wife and I from the normal dive resort/liveaboards we are used to. But it did make us appreciate the times we've done liveaboards or stayed at resorts where others setup/transport the gear and tanks. It is a lot of work hauling tanks, rinsing gear, and setting everything up, taking it apart.

Lodging: We stayed at Beaches Ocean-view Apartments. Located less than 1.5 km south of the airport. Smaller family run operation consisting of ~10 units. Each with a kitchenette, private bathroom, AC, dive lockers/rinse stations, and a pool. There is a common area of the rooftop where they have beer, wine, and soda available for purchase at reasonable prices. 100% recommend this place and if we return to Bonaire, we will be staying here.

Rental Car: Rented thru National at the airport. Got a newer Nissan Frontier, manual transmission. I'm able to get my corporate rate thru National, not sure if it makes sense for others.

Dive Shop: Got our tanks from Wannadive. They give 10% off for those staying at Beaches Ocean-view Apartments and have free nitrox. Location was right next to Beaches which made it an obvious choice for us. They also have a north location too. Their service was great, and tanks were consistently filled to 3,000 - 3,200 psi. Highly recommend.

Diving: Dove 2-3 sites a day. My wife and I discovered that when not in a group, we are low air users. Every dive we did was about 75 minutes. Doing dives this long, it becomes a bit harder to do more than 3 dives a day. Three 75 minute dives is almost 4 hours. Plus surface intervals you start running out of time quickly. If you want to dive 3+ sites a day, you need to start early, bring snacks/water, and have a plan. I was surprised that we were able to beat the crowd at some of the popular sites by starting around 8:30 am (figured it would have to be earlier). We also did some of the other popular sites later in the afternoon (4pm) to avoid the crowds as well. This approach worked well for us.

We dove the following sites (listed from north to south). General all sites were similar and very good. Saw a lot of moray eels, garden eels, 2 green sea turtles, squid, crabs, shrimp, baracuda, and more reef fish than I can name. Reef was in excellent shape. As good as any place I've been in the Caribbean (Belize & Utila). Can't compare to the Pacific's biodiversity, but for the Caribbean, Bonaire is top-notch.

• Boka Slagbaai: In national park, not worth the effort to get to. Reef is somewhat damaged here, but still saw tons of fish. Definitely recommend a trip to the national park though.
• Karpata: One of the best. We dove two times.
• Ol' Blue: Very similar or the same as Karpata.
• 1,000 steps
• Oil Slick Leap
• The Beach: Unnumbered site located just north of Bachelor's Beach, accessible via the The Beach Restaurant. We did as our checkout dive as this was across the street from WannaDive.
• The Lake
• Hilma Hooker: Not a big wreck diver, but enjoyed this as it is surrounded by reef. Several huge tarpon.
• Angel City
• Alice in Wonderland
• Salt Pier
• Invisibles
• Margate Bay
• Red Slave: Reef not in as good of shape here. Seemed like current near the buoy was pulling hard to the south here. We went north from the buoy.

Dining: We did a combination of eating in/out. Shopped at Van Den Tweel and loaded up the fridge in our apartment. They had a good selection of food, reasonable selection of wine, and some beers. My wife is a vegetarian, and all the restaurants we went had at least 1+ vegetarian options on the menu. For the week of Christmas/New Year's, plan to make reservations in advance.

• The Beach: Across the street from our lodging. All tables were reserved for the night, so we ate at the bar.
• La Cantina: Downtown. Made a reservation ahead of time for Christmas. One of the best meals I've ever had. Nice courtyard.
• Joe's Restaurant: Between airport and downtown. Had reservation. Very good food, nice atmosphere.
• Stoked Food Truck: Located on beach at airport. Quick spot, good food. Open until 7pm, so an option for dinner.
• King Kong Burgers: Located ~2km south of airport. Great burgers and fries. Quick option for lunch. not open for dinner. Have vegetarian burgers.
• Roos Suriname Food: Excellent option for those who like ethnic food. Highly recommend.
• Kos Bon So: Located in Rincon. Local place. Excellent option for food and a beer if you are up north at the park or diving Karpata. Great prices.
• Posada Para Mira: Located in Rincon. Also a good option if you are up north at the national park or diving Karpata.

Any questions, feel free to ask.

Thanks for the report. What was the water temperature at depth? I am heading to Bonaire soon and trying to understand if there is any major difference from the summer water temperature.

Thanks!

 

[slushangar]

Thanks for the report. What was the water temperature at depth? I am heading to Bonaire soon and trying to understand if there is any major difference from the summer water temperature.

Thanks!

82 degrees F minimum temperature every time according to my computer. I wore a 3 mil suit with a 5/3 hooded vest overtop that. I was cold on a few dives. I think the extended dive times may have played a part. My wife wore only a 3 mil and was fine.

 

[Trailboss123]

Thanks for the trip report! I'm heading there in March and I am a vegan/vegetarian. What were some of your wife's favorite restaurants for vegetarian meals? I always worry about ending up eating nothing but rice and beans, or some crappy thrown together mixed vegetables with no love.

In addition to what has already been mentioned by the OP, my favorite place for an outstanding Vegan meal (dinner) is Mezze: MEZZE Mezze Bonaire

Besides the Stoked food truck, which has an excellent Falafel wrap, you should also grab lunch or dinner at the Doner Station- their falafel wrap is even better: Doner Station Bonaire
It is located at the roundabout right across from the Den Laman Condos-- NE corner of the roundabout.

I have had good luck with various pizza places, I just order a pizza with the veggies I want and are available, with a red marinara sauce and ask them to hold the cheese.