1st Bonaire trip great

[Strima77]

I got into Bonaire Saturday evening on April 28th and left early Sunday morning on May 6th - and had a great time. My wife and I stayed at Den Laman, which was very nice. Bonaire Dive and Adventure made if very easy to dive. I got in 14 dives of which 6 were boat, saw tons of fish and beautiful coral and sponges, and enjoyed the island very much. Bari Reef was wonderful. One day I was surrounded by an enormous school of silversides, with jacks patrolling and chasing. Then a sea turtle came very close. Also liked 1000 Steps, Andrea I, Small Wall and Hilma Hooker. The dives off Klein seemed like they would have been very nice, but the huge amount of tunicates made them less enjoyable. Saw the big tarpon on a night dive on Bari - pretty cool to see the big fellow gliding by about 3 feet away out of nowhere. Saw a big eagle ray too. But I never did find that little seahorse. Also went kayaking and hiking with my wife who doesn't dive. She saw lots of stuff snorkeling though. We enjoyed some very nice dinners at various restaurants including Paris Bistro, Casablanca, Den Laman, Chibi Chibi and Rum Runners. The week could hardly have been better. Thanks to all who posted info that I found to be very helpful.
Steve

 

[Mountain Dog]

Thanks for the report. It looks like you had a great time, even during the SI's. LadyDog and I are heading there in September and can hardly wait. Sorry about the seahorse, but hey, it just gives you a reason to go back.

Mountain Dog

 

[Illini_Fan]

Steve -- thanks for taking the time to provide the report. I'm looking to do my 1st Bonair trip later this year. Did you think the split between shore diving and boat diving was worthwhile? Or would you recommend 100% shore diving.

Also, how was the kayaking? As of right now, I'm planning on doing nothing but diving, but.....some alternatives are never a bad idea. Was it a half-day, full day, other?

thanks

 

[spectrum]

Glad you had a great time, we did to that week. I'm still working on my trip report but it's coming!

We're very tempted to repeat the timing if we return as planned.
No bugs to speak of
Just enough breeze to be comfortable without kicking the seas up much
A little off season so crowds were not a problem but things seemed fully open.
Off season reates

I think you agree that the week went far too fast!

Pete

 

[CLEAR BLUE]

Steve -- thanks for taking the time to provide the report. I'm looking to do my 1st Bonair trip later this year. Did you think the split between shore diving and boat diving was worthwhile? Or would you recommend 100% shore diving.

Also, how was the kayaking? As of right now, I'm planning on doing nothing but diving, but.....some alternatives are never a bad idea. Was it a half-day, full day, other?

thanks

We were in Bonaire in November. Did 1 boat dive and like 16 shore dives. We recommend shore diving all the way.

 

[Buc Chick]

Oooooooh, I cannot wait! First trip to Bonaire in July. My hubby and I will also be staying at Den Laman and using BDA. I read on another thread that they did not have enough weights to loan out because people were not returning them--did you find this to be true? I hope not, due to the airline weight limits, cannot imagine bringing our own weights. Anyway, hoping to do maybe just one boat dive with them. Thanks for the trip report!

 

[herman]

Oooooooh, I cannot wait! First trip to Bonaire in July. My hubby and I will also be staying at Den Laman and using BDA. I read on another thread that they did not have enough weights to loan out because people were not returning them--did you find this to be true? I hope not, due to the airline weight limits, cannot imagine bringing our own weights. Anyway, hoping to do maybe just one boat dive with them. Thanks for the trip report!

We are at Buddy, 2 doors down the second week of July. Drop by and say hello if your there that week.

 

[CLEAR BLUE]

Oooooooh, I cannot wait! First trip to Bonaire in July. My hubby and I will also be staying at Den Laman and using BDA. I read on another thread that they did not have enough weights to loan out because people were not returning them--did you find this to be true? I hope not, due to the airline weight limits, cannot imagine bringing our own weights. Anyway, hoping to do maybe just one boat dive with them. Thanks for the trip report!

We dove with Wanna Dive at Eden Beach and had all the weights we needed.

 

[piikki]

Oooooooh, I cannot wait! First trip to Bonaire in July. My hubby and I will also be staying at Den Laman and using BDA. I read on another thread that they did not have enough weights to loan out because people were not returning them--did you find this to be true? I hope not, due to the airline weight limits, cannot imagine bringing our own weights. Anyway, hoping to do maybe just one boat dive with them. Thanks for the trip report!

We were there when the place was bursting. Low season had just started but the op said they were real full because of couple of big groups just arrived. It did show, we did not use the gear room much but there were occasions when wetsuit hangers and drying rack just plain old ran out (in the middle of the day - I am sure it must have happened more at night when we never used them). Some divers were also allocated same gear slots, eg numbers 64 and 64A, most likely couples/buddies had to share the same spot as the week went on. I don't know if this was an issue.

For lead, I was slightly bothered because we did have enough lead but not in the denominations we wanted. There was plenty of some sizes but not some others. If you have pockets that won't take certain sizes you might end up having to dive a little lopsided. We arrived a little before the biggest group, so I am not sure if they ran out. We had plenty and when we wanted more or wanted to swap sizes, BDA was always happy to give out whatever they happened to have. It's always worth asking in the middle of the stay if you did not get a great selection at first, or if you (like me) realized you need more neoprene as the time goes by

For what it comes to boat versus shore - shore rocks! We did 24 dives in a week, only one of them from boat. I'd do it that way again. I especially would not want to tie myself to boat dives beforehand, one can always book them there.

 

[dvrliz1]

Hope I can help.

We normally recommend that you book your shore diving then if you wish to boat dive, do it ala carte when you get here. I definitely recommend doing 1-2 boat dives to Klein. Also, try Rappell...a boat dive because it is not accessable by shore, there are a couple of others...recommend the book Shore Diving Made Easy (SDME) by Susan Porter....lists all the marked and unmarked dive sites, what to expect to see, entry and exits, level of expertise in diving, excellent guide book.

Kayaking is great. It is usually a half day. You can also look into horseback riding (1/2 day) and bunches of other things to do, especially on your non-dive day. Once again I recommend Bonaire Tours. They book 1/2, full day, packages, etc for days you can't or just don't dive.

Hope this helps.

Liz

Steve -- thanks for taking the time to provide the report. I'm looking to do my 1st Bonair trip later this year. Did you think the split between shore diving and boat diving was worthwhile? Or would you recommend 100% shore diving.

Also, how was the kayaking? As of right now, I'm planning on doing nothing but diving, but.....some alternatives are never a bad idea. Was it a half-day, full day, other?

thanks