10 Days to Bonaire!

[Togalive]

Well, its been a bit in the making, but now theres only 10 days until I'll be in Bonaire! My father and I will be staying at the GRI until the 5th for anyone who's looking for some dive buddies by the way So, right now im planning on packing all of my dive gear (minus tank and weights) into my carry on (Dads renting), and I'll be diving in a 3 mil. Besides leaving nothing in our rental truck, and keeping the windows down, does anyone have any additional suggestions for the trip? It is all shore diving at the moment with tanks supplied by Wannadive, but we are hoping to do atleast one or maybe two boat dives. Mainly I'm just excited to be diving in a location with more than 15 ft of vis I'll be sure to post up plenty of photos and a full trip write up as soon as I get back!

Happy Diving!

 

[Scubasw]

Coming back for my 4th trip Sep 4 and also staying at GRI. My group of 5 can't wait. Have fun.

 

[keithdiver]

Well, its been a bit in the making, but now theres only 10 days until I'll be in Bonaire! My father and I will be staying at the GRI until the 5th for anyone who's looking for some dive buddies by the way So, right now im planning on packing all of my dive gear (minus tank and weights) into my carry on (Dads renting), and I'll be diving in a 3 mil. Besides leaving nothing in our rental truck, and keeping the windows down, does anyone have any additional suggestions for the trip? It is all shore diving at the moment with tanks supplied by Wannadive, but we are hoping to do atleast one or maybe two boat dives. Mainly I'm just excited to be diving in a location with more than 15 ft of vis I'll be sure to post up plenty of photos and a full trip write up as soon as I get back!

Happy Diving!

If this is your first trip, and you plan on doing multiple dives, the core gets cooler the more you dive. I would possible suggest bringing a 3mm beanie or a 5mm suit. The 3 mm will get chilly after a few days espically on night dives.

 

[TheWizard]

If this is your first trip, and you plan on doing multiple dives, the core gets cooler the more you dive. I would possible suggest bringing a 3mm beanie or a 5mm suit. The 3 mm will get chilly after a few days espically on night dives.

That depends a lot on the diver.
I brought my 3mm full length suit last November and left it in the room the whole time because I was too warm with it on.
OP looks like a newish diver so he may not know if he is warmer or cooler than average...

 

[keithdiver]

That depends a lot on the diver.
I brought my 3mm full length suit last November and left it in the room the whole time because I was too warm with it on.
OP looks like a newish diver so he may not know if he is warmer or cooler than average...

How many dives were you doing a day?

 

[RJP]

Does anyone have any additional suggestions for the trip?

Here's a couple things that I didn't know or have a specific appreciation for before going. Understanding these things will help in planning a bit...

• The island is tiny; a lot smaller than you think. You can get from pretty much any one dive site to any other dive site in much less time than your surface interval. (with caveats below)
• The sites are for the most part all immediately adjacent to each other. Almost no reason to finish a dive at one site and then dive the one right next to it right after. Next day, next week, that night? Sure. Right after? Nope.
• Heading up north, the shore road switches to "One Way" northbound. (Forget exactly where.) So for instance you can't dive Karpata and then 1,000 Steps without going around through Rincon, most of the way back down into town, and coming back up around the shore road again. Of course doing 1,000 Steps and then Karpata is no problem at all.
• The road in the park is essentially an unpaved donkey path, and runs "One Way" in a counterclockwise direction. It will take 2+ hours to get from the park entrance all the way around/through the park and back to the exit - without counting dive-time. Running back to town for more tanks or a snack isn't an option. Bring 3-4 tanks EACH and pack lunch/drinks. Make a half day out of it. The park IS worth doing!
• You will become spoiled pretty quickly in terms of having most sites "all to yourself." Accordingly, when you pull up to whatever site you have "next" on your plan and find a single pickup sitting there...you and your buddy will give each other that "I-can't-deal-with-the-crowd, let's-go-somewhere-else" look and keep driving.

Also, bring packets of powdered drink mixes with you. Iced teas, Gatorade, lemondade, whatever. Hang on to a few large water bottles and refill/mix them and freeze them in the fridge in your room each night.

My buddy and I opted to buy bread, PB&J, and some cold cuts at the market and "brown bag" our lunches in order to save a few bucks and avoid lunchtime logistics of planning/driving somewhere for lunch. Of course we blew whatever savings we realized at lunch on really nice dinners every evening - which was also part of the plan!

Enjoy - Ray

 

[TheWizard]

How many dives were you doing a day?

Up to five a day, 2 AM, 2 PM, 1 night.
I'm not real skinny, so I was OK in just a swim suit...

 

[jcroy66]

I too prefer diving in just a suit and rash guard (to prevent sunburn and to keep the BC straps from digging into my shoulders) on Bonaire. Just got back 3 days ago. Only time I was the slightest chilly (including night dives) was below 75'. Right now, there is a thermocline around 75-90' (varies depending on the dive site and the currents) where water is coming up from the deep ocean. Above the thermocline is 84*. Below is 78-80*. If I was spending 30+ minutes that deep, I might want my 3 mm (but still not my 5 or a beanie!) Since we were usually only that deep for 10 minutes (vis sucked that deep too, presumably for the same reason), it was instead just refreshing after the 90+* heat!

Oh, and we did 4 dives of 60-83 minutes each almost every day. 22 dives in 6.5 days.

 

[gert7to3]

I always take a big collapsable cube along for rinse water. It warms up in the truck, you can wash the salt out of your hair, but most importantly you can rinse your reg and camera. The water on the island is all desalinated, nearly the same as distilled so far as purity. You don't want to let salt water dry out on your camera lens and controls. I never put my reg in any rinse tank.

I have worn a beanie on my previous trips, but will probably take a thin hood next time. Saves the back of your neck from the tropical sun. I definitely get chilled on night dives after a day of diving.

Also take a packet of "O" rings for your tank valve. The tanks you'll be using get a lot of abuse from over tightening. I've had to swap "O" rings from one tank to another and even missed a dive once due to a lost "O" ring.

 

[PhilC]

[*]Heading up north, the shore road switches to "One Way" northbound. (Forget exactly where.) So for instance you can't dive Karpata and then 1,000 Steps without going around through Rincon, most of the way back down into town, and coming back up around the shore road again. Of course doing 1,000 Steps and then Karpata is no problem at all.

Once you get to Karpata and turn right towards Rincon there is a dirt road off to the right about a half mile down. It runs back to the coast road at the point where you turn down towards Oil Slick Leap. Takes about 10 minutes to get back as opposed to 30-45 going through Rincon and all the way back to town. I didn't know about it on our first trip so tried it out this trip and it saved a ton of time. Made adjusting plans after finding 5 trucks and a boat at Karpata much easier.