Be careful in Bonaire (Burglaries)

[BHB ScubaTroll]

Bonaire has a population of under 15000. Roatan has a population of 65000. Roatan has far more visitors than Bonaire. Roatan appears to have crime problems and no one denied that. They publish the stats so we know what we are dealing with. Show me the same stats for Bonaire. Oh, that's right we don't have any. How many murders on Bonaire. Oh that's right, we don't know that either. Look, I think there is probably more crime on Roatan than Bonaire but I don't know that. I also know that the violent crime on Roatan is always about property rights or people going places they don't belong.
Again I'll ask. Show me one post on any diver forum that shows a violent crime against a diver on Roatan. While your at it, show me all the reports of thefts from the resorts on Roatan. While your at it, show me all the reports of theft from vehicles on Roatan. While you are at it, show me all the breakins at resorts on Roatan on sleeping divers.

Mossman had started basing Roatan in a Boanaire thread previously. That didn't belong in this thread either. Is it really necessary to bring crime stats from Roatan into a discussion about Bonaire? I haven't been to Bonaire but have friends that have and love it there. If you will notice I have never posted anyting bad about Bonaire. I have been to Roatan, I felt perfectly safe. Just like you and others feel about Bonaire. Bashing Roatan in a thread about Bonaire isn't necessary. If you want to bash Roatan that is your right. Start a thread in the Roatan forum to do it! That's my point.

... and direct response to the statement above... I just didn't quote both. I figured it was very easy to see what prompted my posting, but it is obvious now that it was not easy...

 

[Mossman]

We stayed at the Mayan Princess and there was an armed guard at the gate. At night he would approached your car with a shot gun.

And you find it "relaxing" to have a shotgun stuck in your face every night? Me, I like to safely drive 5 minutes to town for a nice dinner, then when I return I'll leave my truck unlocked in the parking lot (though I do roll up the windows a bit if there's going to be rain), and say hi to the unarmed guard before ascending to my locked room and enjoying the breeze - maybe I'll download the photos from my expensive digital camera onto my laptop before I go to bed.

Bonaire doesn't have armed security I am told cause it's illegal to have a gun.

No, it's because it's unnecessary to have a gun. It might be more effective to shoot to kill any wannabe burglars making the attempt at stealing a T-shirt from someone's truck, but apparently they prefer to do it the hard way.

Of course there's also less of a chance that way of an innocent tourist being caught in the crossfire between the armed guards and their shotguns and the murderous thugs with guns like you might find on other islands where criminals tend to be armed and violent.

Bonaire does apparently have crooks who walk past 'secrity' with crow bars and ransack your room and steal whatever isn't nailed down.

Of course they do, but very rarely; otherwise the less paranoid of us might think twice about returning there, especially with our expensive digital camera and laptop (both of which I fully intend to bring on my next trip). It's a numbers game, just like successful plane travel, or even successful diving DCS-free (the latter is actually rendered safer on Bonaire because of the prevalent free nitrox). Given all of the hotel rooms and condos and private rental homes on the island, a few incidents here and there still means over 99% of tourists will not suffer any crime there, and over 99% of the crime that any tourists do suffer will be non-violent. Those are pretty good odds, yet I still fork over a few hundred bucks extra for insurance "just in case" - added to the cost of the trip, Bonaire is still a bargain and well worth it.

NO SAFE HAVEN FOR YOUR VALUABLES ANYWHERE ON BONAIRE. Get it???????

If they aren't safe in your room, locked in the safe they aren't safe anywhere.

They're hopefully safe at home, though with property crime rates in the U.S., that's doubtful. The average American probably runs the same risk of having their home burglarized while they're away on vacation in Bonaire as they risk being burglarized in Bonaire. The only truly safe haven for your valuables, I've heard, is a cave somewhere near the Afghan-Pakistan border :cool2:

I guess next advice to be posted is going to be about burying them in a water tight container on the beach at night.

You could wear that Rolex you want to bring, right? At least in Bonaire, unlike other places, no one will mug you or cut your hand off to get at it.

I will be leaving the rolex at home, my wife will be leaving her diamond ring at home, we will not be bringing the expensive digital camera on this trip, we won't be bringing the lap top, we won't be bringing our cell phones.

Why bother going then? What kind of relaxing vacation could you possibly have without the Rolex, diamond ring, and cell phones?

I'm probably going to have to look at using travellers checks now instead of bringing a lot of cash with me

Hint: Many, if not most, Bonaire merchants accept credit cards and there are ATM machines as well.

So keep making silly remarks about how much 'work' it is and the rest of us will worry about reality and how we must compromise our normal ways of enjoying a vacation based on the realities of Bonaire, thanks to the few people who have posted the truth about the place so we can be forewarned.

Sorry, but we who have been to Bonaire and can appreciate the risks, think it silly that others feel a shotgun in the face every night is so much more relaxing than safe Bonaire where you dive at your own pace and can enjoy walking around outside at night without fearing for your life or having guns pointed at you. Getting robbed would surely be an inconvenience - my home was robbed once when I was growing up in the lovely beach town of Santa Monica, and my apartment robbed when I was living in the lovely beach town of Pacific Beach - but I still live in relaxing Southern California rather than move to the safe haven of North Dakota or wherever.

Maybe I'll pack a giant bag of batteries and see if I can pay off the thieves when I get there with some protection ransom paid in batteries, with the promise of there is more where that came from if you leave us alone.

Please don't use disposable batteries, or if you do, please don't leave them on the island.

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

Please don't use disposable batteries, or if you do, please don't leave them on the island.

Moss, isn't it interesting how the OP and members of the OP's group who were the victims of this particular crime thread are planning to return to Bonaire and enjoy the Island as vacationing divers again?

 

[Mossman]

Don - I think that is what will end up happening, any places to start for the insurance. I'm guessing my homeowner's policy is not going to cover them. Is it a separate trip insurance?

It certainly can't hurt to check your homeowner's policy. My $1,200 Farmers policy insures my personal property up to $365,250 that's "owned or used by an insured anywhere in the world." I don't see why my insurance wouldn't cover my dive gear, though there is an exception for jewelry and watches that limits coverage to $1,000 per item, $5,000 aggregate, which would probably be insufficient for the Rolex and diamond ring. The laptop has a $5,000 limit, more than enough for me.

Still, I use the Senn, Dunn policy available through DAN. It provides a year of coverage that includes flooding insurance. It's not cheap, but neither is recovering from a flooded housing.

https://www.h2oinsurance.com/program_details.asp

I don't think my homeowner's policy would cover a flooding since there are all sorts of limits on reimbursable water damage. In any case, I prefer the separate policy because I'd rather not make a claim on my homeowner's policy and make the rates go up unless I have to.

Trip insurance will also provide (limited) coverage for personal property and I sometimes buy a trip insurance policy too, especially if I'm traveling somewhere far away and exotic (Wakatobi in May, for instance), or to the Caribbean in hurricane season. J broke her ankle in Bonaire the year before last and the trip insurance covered all our out of pocket expenses and more (we got a check back for over $6K) - had we been robbed as well, TravelGuard really would have lost out since we only paid $150 or so for the policy. I love insurance - it's paid off much better than the blackjack table at the Divi casino

 

[Mossman]

Moss, isn't it interesting how the OP and members of the OP's group who were the victims of this particular crime thread are planning to return to Bonaire and enjoy the Island as vacationing divers again?

They must hate rest and relaxation if they're going to dare dangerous Bonaire again. All the crowds, traffic, aggressive shop keepers and time share salesman, turista, 8 am boat departures, crowded dive sites, lack of decent afternoon diving, and expensive nitrox. Oops, wait a minute, I was thinking of somewhere else, one of those islands that starts with a C, not a B.

That's right, I forgot, Bonaire is the place where you can chug along on a practically empty road, without even any stop lights, to a practically empty dive site, whenever you want and whereever you want. Who could possibly call that relaxing, I dunno?

Just make sure to "ook vor bermen" - dodging donkeys can be such hard work

(Actually, dodging lizards on the one-way road to Karpata and in the national park can be a bit stressful - I'd feel terrible if I ran over one)

 

[dmoore19]

By that logic, any posts that compare one island to another don't belong in either forum even though they really do. Defending Bonaire by bashing Roatan is surely on-topic for a Bonaire forum or a Roatan forum. If I post there, however, I'm outnumbered by a large margin. Safety in numbers!

Nope, that's not the logic I am trying to explain to you. This thread specifically applies to Bonaire. It was not meant to compare Roatan to Bonaire. Show me where the OP has compared Bonaire to Roatan and I will be humbled and go back to lurking in the shadows.

The last sentence says a lot, "If I post there, however, I'm outnumbered by a large margin. Safety in Numbers!"

The same thing could be said for those that chose to bash Bonaire on this thread.

A thread entitled; Be careful on Bonaire (Burglaries). Doesn't indicate compare any other island in the Carribean to Bonaire, the posts should be directed toward burglaries on Bonaire and being careful. Seems pretty straight forward to me, use of logic unnecessary.

 

[Mossman]

A thread entitled; Be careful on Bonaire (Burglaries). Doesn't indicate compare any other island in the Carribean to Bonaire, the posts should be directed toward burglaries on Bonaire and being careful. Seems pretty straight forward to me, use of logic unnecessary.

Exactly, that's why I was addressing the being careful part, comparing the need to be careful on Bonaire with the need to be careful on Roatan.

In fact, I'm going to be very broad here and suggest we all be careful everywhere. Is there a forum for that?

 

[dmoore19]

Exactly, that's why I was addressing the being careful part, comparing the need to be careful on Bonaire with the need to be careful on Roatan.

In fact, I'm going to be very broad here and suggest we all be careful everywhere. Is there a forum for that?

At least part of that makes sense, the need to be careful on Bonaire or anywhere you travel, at home or in another country. Posting (didn't count the words) a 1000 word listing of crimes committed on Roatan really didn't seem to fit this thread in my opinion. But then you have your opinion and I have mine. We are both entitled to that, we just have to disagree on who is right. Have a nice day!

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

A thread entitled; Be careful on Bonaire (Burglaries). Doesn't indicate compare any other island in the Carribean to Bonaire, the posts should be directed toward burglaries on Bonaire and being careful. Seems pretty straight forward to me, use of logic unnecessary.

... and the majority have attempted to stay with that subject only to have the thread derailed by a minority of posters who are telling people to skip Bonaire and stay on a safer island dive location such as Roatan...

 

[dmoore19]

... and the majority have attempted to stay with that subject only to have the thread derailed by a minority of posters who are telling people to skip Bonaire and stay on a safer island dive location such as Roatan...

Not my perception but OK. Seems like there are 3 or 4 threads separated out from the OP. Maybe I am confused, I really don't feel like going back to prove my perception or disprove yours. Really not that important to me. Either way this is not a thread for bashing Roatan or proclaiming it is safer than Bonaire. This thread is about Bonaire.

Just my opinion, diving on both sites sounds wonderful, 2 different types of diving but both sound wonderful to me. I haven't done a shore dive since I was certified, not that I wouldn't want to try it again, just haven't done it, always done boat diving. Like I said, I haven't been to Bonaire so I can't vouch for it's safety or the diving. I would like to go to Bonaire someday.

Not sure I am prepared to leave phones, laptops, rings, cameras, vehicle windows rolled down and request a second floor non-corner unit, leaving no cash in the room, bring a door wedge alarm, bring a locking gas cap, locking lugnuts and the list of suggestions goes on and on. I don't belive ALL the hype concerning these matters either. But then I am not foolish enough to belive Bonaire is a huggy bear, kissy faced utopia either.

While the thread contains wild unnecessary accusations from both sides if you read carefully and sort out the Bull pucky and search for the nuggets of truth presented by both sides there is usable information. I just don't understand the need to denegrate one island in a thread that has nothing to do with the subject matter the OP intended it to have so many posts since.

It is natural to try to protect our favorite ____________ (fill in the blank). Bashing someplace for what is a totally subjective opinion isn't. That type of behaviour is more common by politicans and lawyers (are they the same?). The rest of us are smarter and better than that. Finding fault with something else as a means of protecting your view is not the right way to defend a point of view.

Personally, the more vicious a defender becomes the less credence I give to their remarks. That is true of both sides of the personal attacks presented here.
But the nuggets of usable information are there so I continue to sort them out.

Just my thoughts.