3mm slippers shore diving in bonaire?

[land luber]

I asked about sharp or scrambling and you give me both! I guess I'll get some other fins for many of the north/south sites off the resorts.

Those are great links, BTW, I love being able to see the sites. Thankfully, we will be staying at Divi and Calabas looks pretty gentle. So at least I'll be good there.

I have until the end of August to think of more questions. How many free threads do I get here?

 

[diversteve]

You'll be good at any of the resorts since they all have docks or beaches.
Some are even great dives:

Cliff at Habitat - closest thing you'll find to a vertical wall on Bonaire
Bari Reef at Den Laman - REEF says it has the most counted species of fish in the Caribbean.
18 Palms at the Plaza - never dove it but friends who stayed there liked it.
Eden Beach, can't recall the site name but there's a couple small wrecks just offshore.
Either of the piers are easy entries but you have to do both with a DM now. Town Pier only at night.

Others you might try:
South:
Pink Beach
Vista Blue - ripping current in the afternoon sometimes.
I think you could get in at Alice in Wonderland also. I don't recall it being that rocky offshore.
North:
Witches Hut
1000 Steps - assuming you want to carry your gear back up post-dive. There's 64 stone steps down to the beach.

 

[land luber]

so can I ask how many times you have been to bonaire sjspeck? seems like you have alot of knowledge....

 

[diversteve]

so can I ask how many times you have been to bonaire sjspeck? seems like you have alot of knowledge....

Actually just once but we're divers not tourists. We did a lot of dives that week. Except for Pink Beach, I've been to every site I mentioned. Didn't dive 1000 Steps though, I didn't want to carry my gear back up...LOL

Someone with a lot of Bonaire trips/knowledge? That would be herman

 

[rjchandler]

free threads? after two you have to buy a ticket to Bonaire for everyone who responds so we can tell if you are actually following our advice.

i have seen people wear flip-flops into the water then clip them off to their BC and put on full foot fins.

 

[land luber]

only once sjspeck? is that just "the way things turned out" or do you find other places preferable?

I already have my ticket to bonaire and will be diving at the very end of August. I'm booking a full rental package so I'll have both sets of fins as needed

I may need more than 2 threads though. Most important thread is how to convince the wife to forgo the day/night in willemstad so we can get a 4th day diving in at Bonaire. Other threads down the road are where to go to see bigger critters if anywhere (i.e. east side on a boat diving?), whether its worth getting guided to go to more advanced dives (e.g., lighthouse).

 

[Bonairetrip]

I have done Lighthouse several times w/o a guide. Here are the cautions:
a) Go earlier in the day and, ideally, during reversals (waves are smaller);
b) The entry is tricky -- it stays fairly shallow for a distance -- but with holes and gaps -- you should know how to do a more sporty entry/exit;
c) I would not go if the waves are of any significant size;
d) Be aware of currents and skilled at navigation

Given your experience, I would get a guide.

In terms of larger stuff, sometimes around Klein you get lucky. I have certainly seen rays (most often, spotted eagle) at the southern sites but that is hit or miss. Tarpon are a regular at some night dives. The white hole area can get some stuff as can baby beach.

And sjspeck got it exactly right about the need for sturdy well fitting booties (I often use the sunrays)

Curacao: What is it your wife wants to see/do that she thinks Bonaire does not offer?

 

[diversteve]

only once sjspeck? is that just "the way things turned out" or do you find other places preferable?

I'm sort of loosely working my way through the Scubadiving top 10 dive destinations in the Caribbean - 6 down, 4 to go. And the Indo-Pacific starting in 2010. Toss in a few liveaboards and it's years before I return to Bonaire. But I will.

Tell your wife that while I'll go back to Bonaire, I'll probably never go back to Curacao - it's pretty grimy in some areas downtown. Being a tourist in Willemsted for the day would be ok. It's likely there'll be cruise ships in port during the day, they tie up right downtown along one side of the harbor. Take a cab, parking is a huge problem also.

Bonaire will be one of the best places you'll ever dive. The visibility can be spectacular, a lot of places on the reef it's impossible to see the bottom due to the coral growth. One thing I would suggest is slow down and enjoy all the small stuff. We spent the better part of one dive circling around one pier at Salt Pier, it was covered with stuff and there was a whole predator/prey ecosystem in an area 20' wide. And less than 40' deep so a nice long dive. But the brown stuff - that's firecoral...

Another thing is the friendliness of the locals, at dinner they won't even bring your check until you ask for it specifically as they consider you guests not customers.
And tooting their horns means hello, I can't stop to talk now, but I wanted to. We asked about the Bonaire license plates at one store, the owner didn't sell them but called three places that did to locate one for us - giftshop at the airport if interested. And wouldn't let us leave till she did.

have a good trip,

P.S. In case you haven't already read about it, pay your departure tax before you wait in line to check-in. It's the window just north of the ticket counters (at least when I was there) Last I heard it was $32 but you can't go through to the gate without the receipt.