Bonaire's travel update

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Here is a link about Bonaire "Hospital"

Travel Tips for Bonaire, Updated Intl. Guide

After visiting their facility for a few days I want to highlight items from this link


"Basic medical/surgical care can be provided on Bonaire. Good medical care is available on Aruba, Curacao, and Saint Maarten."

"
• Travelers are advised to obtain comprehensive travel insurance with specific overseas coverage. Policies should cover: ground and air ambulance transport, including evacuation to home country; payment of hospital bills; 24-hour telephone assistance. In the event of a serious illness or injury that can't be treated adequately in this country, you should be flown by air ambulance to another medical facility with more advanced capability. Evacuation to Miami should be considered."

"The Hospitaal San Francisco is a 60-bed facility that offers limited medical care. The hospital has an air ambulance service to Curacao and Aruba. A hyperbaric recompression chamber is located adjacent to the hospital and is run by a highly trained staff - admittance is via the emergency room at the hospital. The emergency phone number is 191."


I can tell you that Most of their Hospital rooms are just a room with 2 beds , tv, bathroom and a call button and are NOT like hospital rooms in US that have Pulse Ox, heart monitor, blood pressure... 24x7. They only have medical equipment in the ICU (called Special Care) and it is very small with very limited beds.

You are responsible for your bill before you can leave the island. They can provide basic care and you will need to be air ambulance off island for major issues.

I am in no way suggesting you should not go. I am suggesting you get adequate medical insurance to cover your expenses especially if you need to air ambulance out. Read policies carefully about exclusions to pandemics and what is covered and when. What is a diving accident and what is not.

Again you are responsible for payment before you can leave or your insurance company must send a letter for Guaranteed payment. YOU need to coordinate this payment between your insurance company and the Hospital if your insurance does provide coverage.
 
we're going the last week of march/first of April(maybe) and will give you and update how it goes. (hopefully)
Hi @homerdoc

How are you getting down? I would certainly be interested in how your trip goes.

We fly on AA through Miami. Due to flight changes well before Covid-19, we must stay a night at the Miami Airport Hotel on the way down and on the way back. I am as concerned with our hotel stays as I am about being on Bonaire. We cook nearly all (probably all this time) meals. We will not use the rinse tubs on the Sand Dollar/Den Laman pier for our masks or regulators.
 
I read somewhere that the virus may be heat sensitive and cannot survive long in temps above 80.
Ask Australia if they think this is true.
 
Hi @homerdoc

How are you getting down? I would certainly be interested in how your trip goes.

We fly on AA through Miami. Due to flight changes well before Covid-19, we must stay a night at the Miami Airport Hotel on the way down and on the way back. I am as concerned with our hotel stays as I am about being on Bonaire. We cook nearly all (probably all this time) meals. We will not use the rinse tubs on the Sand Dollar/Den Laman pier for our masks or regulators.
we are on the Greenville SC to Atlanta direct to Bonaire (the Saturday Delta Flight).

It is still full (I was looking if I could get a cheap upgrade)

Im not that particularly worried about getting it (the virus) down there, will probably not go into town - and will use the Korean Grocery vs the VDT. Again avoiding the place that most cruse folks might go.

But, one worry is if we get down there and get stuck. But, there are worse places to be stuck and my teenage daughter would be in heaven.
 
Personally...

I wouldn't be going to any of these places...not right now...or within the next few months...

The virus is going to get worse before it gets better...and getting to ''any'' offshore country is one thing...

Getting home may be something else entirely...and if you can't get home...as in some cases has already been shown...you're stuck...where ever that may be...and if you're stuck...you're burning money...

Further...''diving'' is not ''necessary travel''...with little effort...we can all dive at/or near home in our own countries...

Remember as well...third world ''precautions being taken notifications''...should be taken with a grain of salt...most are being put forward in a panic by ''local tourist organizations'' and less than trustworthy ''local governments''...what they say they're doing...and what they're actually doing...may be worlds apart...

My wife is a cancer survivor...and has a compromised immune system...I wouldn't risk taking her to any of these third world locations right now for the sake of diving...

I have a world class location within five hours of home...in Canada...and for the time being...that will have to do...

W.M...
 
I gotta ask...how do they enforce this? Is it 'you're not supposed to' or 'they will stop you?'
They require you to give them your passport when your admitted into the hospital(or ASAP when spouse brings it to them). They make a copy and can alert passport control if you sneek out of the Hospital without being discharged. When they run your passport you are denied exiting the counrty.

Your last stop on discharge is payment. You pay the bill or have a letter sent from insurance company stating they are Guarentee payment from them.
 
One thing to consider is Bonaire is a small island and imports everything. My understanding is alot of goods were transported by the cruise ships.

If other supply chains were to fail, there could be severe shortages of many items on the island.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

Back
Top Bottom