Safety precautions on shore ?

[laikabear]

Our truck got rifled through when I was there at Andrea II. They took some quarters in the console (we were going to use it to vacuum the truck because the rental place told us we'd be charged a cleaning fee if there was any sand in the truck), and some granola bars. They left my cheap flip flops, gym shorts, and a cheese sandwich.

At the same site, some other divers had brought a safe to use in the truck, which they put their cell phones and some cash. The thieves pried open their safe with a crowbar and took the contents.

Just make sure you take anything you are really attached to with you on the dive or leave it at your hotel. We left the truck unlocked and windows down unless it was really buggy, then windows up but still unlocked.

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . .
At the same site, some other divers had brought a safe to use in the truck, which they put their cell phones and some cash. The thieves pried open their safe with a crowbar and took the contents. . . . .

That's a new one to me. It has often been said here on SB that theft from trucks on Bonaire is generally a crime of opportunity, smash-and-grab, etc., meaning that these aren't thieves who do much advance planning. I wonder if the use of tools like a crowbar is becoming more common?

 

[M-Cameron]

ive never been to bonaire.....but im going to imagine vehicle safety there is the same as anywhere else in the world.

when i dive, i lock my car and leave my windows up.......most crimes are a crime of opportunity, thieves are looking to get in and out without much fuss, and breaking a window attracts a lot of attention.....they are likely to move onto easier targets.

i also park in a fairly conspicuous spot, near heavy foot traffic and in a well lit spot if possible.

never leave ANYTHING of value visible......cellphones, wallets, cameras, spare change, or scuba equipment.....lock it in a small hidden vehicular lockbox if possible, locking glove box, or even in the trunk..........for large stuff that cant be hidden (like tanks), i just cover them with a cheap moving blanket......essentially if someone cant immediately see anything of value, they arent likely to risk breaking in and attracting attention if they cant be guaranteed a payoff.

those cheap "sun shade" window blockers are great for occluding the view into your car without raising any suspicions.

dont have stickers on your car.....SCUBA stickers, NRA stickers, Ski stickers, Snap-on stickers are all signs that there might be something of value in the car.

dont use those magnetic "hide-a-key" holders.....and dont leave your keys in a gas cap door.....those are easy to find.

i carry my valet key (non-electronic) with me when i dive and keep my car locked

 

[tkaelin]

It's not.

 

[Lorenzoid]

ive never been to bonaire.....but im going to imagine vehicle safety there is the same as anywhere else in the world.

It's not. As tkaelin said.

when i dive, i lock my car and leave my windows up.......most crimes are a crime of opportunity, thieves are looking to get in and out without much fuss, and breaking a window attracts a lot of attention.....they are likely to move onto easier targets.

Before the truck rental companies on Bonaire made a point of admonishing their customers to leave the windows down, most truck thefts involved smashing a window. Thieves smash windows because they assume if the windows are up and the doors are locked, the owner probably left something of value in there. There ARE no easier targets, because everyone's rental truck is the same on Bonaire. Windows up and locked doors makes your truck MORE of a target than other trucks. Most dive sites are out in the sticks, far from where anyone can hear the smashing of a window, and the people who came with those trucks are generally underwater for most of the time the trucks are parked there.

i also park in a fairly conspicuous spot, near heavy foot traffic and in a well lit spot if possible.

Again, it's different on Bonaire. Most dive sites are in isolated areas, and the only people who visit them are divers. You park where there is room at the dive site, sometimes among other divers' trucks. Often, yours may be the only truck there, or there may be one or two other trucks. Not a lot of in-and-out. Apart from divers getting in and out of their trucks, there is no foot traffic at all at most of the sites outside of the few that are downtown-ish. There are no lights at dive sites outside of the few that are downtown-ish. At a few sites, the parking area is not even visible from the road, and those sites seem to get hit a lot.

So, as has been said, vehicle safety on Bonaire is NOT the same as anywhere in the world. Rather, it MAY be similar to some places in the world, but not many. Bonaire is one of the few places where almost every visiting diver rents a truck, everyone at the dive sites is there with a rental truck, the trucks are left unattended for long periods while people are diving, and thieves know that a few of those divers are either clueless or choose to ignore the warnings and leave stuff of value in the trucks.

 

[boat sju]

I wonder if the use of tools like a crowbar is becoming more common?

They probably saw the safe and figured it was worth going home and getting a crowbar

 

[Raphus]

It's not. As tkaelin said.



Before the truck rental companies on Bonaire made a point of admonishing their customers to leave the windows down, most truck thefts involved smashing a window. Thieves smash windows because they assume if the windows are up and the doors are locked, the owner probably left something of value in there. There ARE no easier targets, because everyone's rental truck is the same on Bonaire. Windows up and locked doors makes your truck MORE of a target than other trucks. Most dive sites are out in the sticks, far from where anyone can hear the smashing of a window, and the people who came with those trucks are generally underwater for most of the time the trucks are parked there.



Again, it's different on Bonaire. Most dive sites are in isolated areas, and the only people who visit them are divers. You park where there is room at the dive site, sometimes among other divers' trucks. Often, yours may be the only truck there, or there may be one or two other trucks. Not a lot of in-and-out. Apart from divers getting in and out of their trucks, there is no foot traffic at all at most of the sites outside of the few that are downtown-ish. There are no lights at dive sites outside of the few that are downtown-ish. At a few sites, the parking area is not even visible from the road, and those sites seem to get hit a lot.

So, as has been said, vehicle safety on Bonaire is NOT the same as anywhere in the world. Rather, it MAY be similar to some places in the world, but not many. Bonaire is one of the few places where almost every visiting diver rents a truck, everyone at the dive sites is there with a rental truck, the trucks are left unattended for long periods while people are diving, and thieves know that a few of those divers are either clueless or choose to ignore the warnings and leave stuff of value in the trucks.

Agree!
Bonaire is different. Lock your car and you make yourself a target.

 

[Hethen57]

Last week I saw broken window glass at nearly every dive site parking area resulting from people who did not heed the advice of the rental car companies and others who always say to leave all windows down and no valuables in your car. All we left in our truck were tanks, cheap clothing items, hats and a cooler that we were willing to lose and we did not lose anything or have any problems.

 

[darook]

Agree with the previous 5 posts. Nothing of value in the car. Windows down, doors unlocked. You won't have a problem unless they steal your battery or spare tire. Neither has happened to me through 11 previous trips and 4 days into two weeks currently. Some sites seem to have more issues than others. I often hear of it more at the northern sites and I think it is because the sight lines are not as good. Down south you can see a few sites down vs. up north you really can't see far and there may not be many other divers within view.

 

[Steelyeyes]

Hi all,

I'm going with a group of 10 divers to Bonaire for my 1st time.
We'll be renting three trucks to move around the island.
I've read several warnings about non leaving valuables in the trucks while diving, leave the trucks open, etc
Practically speaking, even if we do no bring any valuable, we plan to rent 2 tanks at the time for 2 dives, leaving one in the truck.

Besides taking turns to dive and leaving a sentinel on shore :-( , anyone got advice on best practices to avoid surprises when returning to shore ?

Thanks,
Carmelo

Not to belabor a point, but I'm going to anyway. We've rented trucks and gone diving on five our our six trips averaging 2+ weeks each. I don't leave anything in the truck that I will miss much. We always have a book of the dive sites but I don't imagine those will go for much on the used market. I have a tire inflator attachment for my LP inflator hose, my log back when I logged dives, my C cards, a pen, a pair of cheap sunglasses, and spare batteries for my camera and strobes in a one gallon plastic ziplock. My sweaty dive shirt, one cheap towel per person, flip flops or other footwear. and some bottles of water which got reused over and over. I also kept a 5 gallon plastic bucket and lid with water in it back when my camera would fit in one.

We never locked doors. We always left the front windows down a crack even if it looked like rain. Normally we'd tuck our towels over the top of the door and shut it so they might dry between dives.

Nobody messed with our stuff. If they did they were very careful to stage it like it hadn't been touched.

To carry things like cash, credit or debit cards, etc. I have two old camera cases from a Fuji compact camera I used to use. One is all we need. I attach that firmly to my BCD by threading the knotted lanyard around a strap with a quick release. I don't use bolt snaps for that. Sometimes my wife would leave a protein bar. Apparently "healthy" food is not in high demand either.

Never had a problem.