Anyone dive East side of Bonaire with Larry's?

[rbahr]

Hi All,

We are heading to Bonaire in a couple of weeks and we were considering diving the Easy coast with Welcome at Larry's Wild Side bonaire diving.

Has anyone had good or bad or neutral experiences here?

Thanks

Ray

 

[Cravin Curacao]

Hey...is Larry back up and running? We were there last year and he was not running. If he is back in business we heard great things about "Larry" and the white hole.

And if you are into art, check out his wife gallery janartbonaire.com We bought several peices on our last trip

 

[Bas Noij]

Larry does not do East Coast any more. Boat is now owned by Bonaire East Coast diving and they do a good job (pretty much the same as what Larry was doing). There is also very good guides to do East Coast from shore ;-)

 

[Angry Turtle]

I do not have 1st hand experience, but when I was there earlier this year, a couple that we befriended went with east coast diving. They gave us a good report and saw bigger animals than they where used to on the west side.

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

The boat and operation is running, although they are not as colorful as Larry was. We used them again in June and it was a good day of play; certainly worth it to add a bit of contrast to your Bonaire diving experience.

 

[rbahr]

Thanks!

Ray

 

[DeputyDan]

Personal opinion - its a been there done that experience.

Yes, give it a go, but after having done it once wouldn't really care to do it again!

 

[Doctorfish]

I don't agree. I've been out on the East several times when Larry ran the operation and it was great. Lot's of turtles, eagle rays, sting rays and even a few reef sharks. The White Hole always had a number of tarpon and usually several big morays. If you want to see big animals while on Bonaire, go East.

 

[scubadada]

I've also done East side with Larry, no reason to think new operator is not as good. Diving is generally very good, doing White Hole once was enough.

Craig

 

[gypsyjim]

We did the Larry's Wild Side with DeputyDan and friends, a few years back before he sold his boat. It was my son's 10th or 11th birthday present, and it was fun. The navy style inflatable was a neat experience and the diving was ok. As was said above, Larry is a unique character, in an old navy drill Sergent sort of way. Roll off entries are always fun, too.

Larger life than the west side, turtles, rays, tarpon, barracuda. Nothing all that spectacular, but we were glad we did the Wild Side boat ride, once.

Have not felt the need to do that boat dive again, BUT, after having just dived the west side again this last summer, but as a shore dive with another SB group, I would suggest that most divers would be better off doing these dives by boat. It can be dived from shore, but I would suggest a local guide if you do, as shore entries on the west side are NOTHING like shore entries on the east, calmer side.