Best Bonaire Boat Dives

[nquandt]

Hi all,

I'm making my first trip to Bonaire in late July. My group (consisting of one other already certified diver who, like me, has about 50 dives under his belt, plus three others who will be earning their c-cards between now and when we depart) will be staying at the Plaza and diving w/ Toucan.

Although I know that there are many, many, folks who go to Bonaire primarily, if not exclusively, for the shore diiving, I've opted to add two tanks of boat diving to our Plaza 3D package. My (admittedly limited) experience with shore diving was less than stellar. Honestly, at least in Grand Cayman, it was a lot of work to hump tanks and gear from vehicle to gear up point, enter the water safely, swim out to the reef/wreck, then do it all in reverse upon return. Methinks it's a good deal easier (read: better in my book) to let a boat carry me there :ggrin:

Anyway, I'm open to hearing counterpoints in favor of shore diving, and I'm sure we'll try it, but my main question is this: since we're going to be doing a chunk of boat diving, what boat sites do folks recommend? Are most of the best shore dives accessible by boat as well? When making suggestions, bear in that my group will include three first-timers...

Thanks,
Nathan

 

[caymaniac]

When we have gone to Bonaire, we always do boat diving as well as shore dives. Some of the boat dives are around Klien Bonaire and you won't see anyone shore diving because it's too far off shore to swim to. The north side of Klein B. has been destroyed by a hurricane surge, but, there still is some great reef intact on the south and eastern side. One of our favorites is on the eastern side of K.B.,"end of the island".
We also have boat dove the Salt Pier off from the boat, which was a drift dive, although the current is very light and there is no problem swimming against it, this is a very enjoyable dive. All dive at Bonaire, boat as well as shore I would consider do-able for beginners as long as you stay shallow 60- 80ft. range. Of course you can dive almost all areas in 30ft., the coral is not that great in less than 30. The Plaza is a really nice place to stay, nice beach and facillities.
We've rented the big hobbie off the beach and sailed down the coast as well. While we were sailing we were going fast enough to get one pontoon out of the water and chase the flying fish out of the water in front of us
....yeehaah!

Diving is fun,
Caymaniac

 

[MgicTwnger]

Because I went with my non-diving wife, I did the Plaza/Toucan/boat dive thing. Most of the dives were at Klein Bonaire, which can only be reached by boat, although a few were at Bonaire shore dive sites. Everything was great: the Plaza, the Toucan staff, and the diving. Every dive was a winner. Also, there were a few newbies, and Toucan took care of them just fine without unduly cramping the style of the more experienced divers.
One other thing: try the Indonesian restaurant on the road just outside the Plaza: exit the Plaza grounds at the gate near where they rent jetskis, wind surfers, etc., and take a right. The sampler platter has more food than you've ever seen in your life, and it's GOOD. :drool:

 

[scubasteve27]

Please try "The Invisables"dive site,it was great!!It's a three tier reef --60ft,80ft,and bottoms out at 100ft it was by far my favorite.You can get a lot of info on [www.infobonaire.com].Say hello to Ebby and Irwin for me[dive masters for Toucan].Have a Blast!!!!!


ASTA---


SCUBA STEVE




P.S The shore diving is really good off the Plaza,18th palm!!!!:mean:

 

[TedJ]

You've picked the best on Bonaire. My wife and I have gone for a week over Labor Day week for the last three years. Stayed at the Plaza and dove with Toucan. They're great. Everything everyone here has told you is right on the mark.

Make sure they take you to the Salt Pier, it's an unusual dive but the fish life is incredible. You'll enjoy whereever they take you.

We do almost exclusively boat diving because it is also inexpensive compared to Grand Cayman which is our other annual dive trip. We have done some shore diving in Bonaire but my wife isn't really strong enough to schlep tanks all over the place and the boat diving is so convenient.

TedJ

PS Ebby and Irwin are great. Say hi from the Annapolis Scuba group.
The restaurant at the Lighthouse is great!

 

[herman]

Well, guess I come from the other camp. We almost never do boat dives in Bonaire. There are so many sites to see and we don't have to be on anyones sched but our own. At a lot of the dive sites, you can park within 3 to 30 feet of the shore, not much of a schlep to me. We use the shallow portion of the dive on exit as a swimming/fish watching deco/safety stop. Not that it's needed, most of our dives never exceed 40 ft but we have gas remaining and we like max bottom time. If you are going to do both shore and boat diving, then Klien Bonaire and the nothern end of the island would be my suggestions for the boat dives. The southern end has the easier shore diving. The double and triple reefs are neat, they are more twards the southern end, Alice in Wonderland comes to mind. The only dive that I would really caution a new diver about is the Helma Hooker, a 275+ ft ship lying on its side in 100ft of water. It's not a difficult dive, just a litte deeper than new divers may should go. That being said, most of the diving on Bonaire is along a fairly steep wall that starts at about 35ft and drops to 90-110 ft, more in places. New dives need to be aware of this and be extra careful not to drift down the wall farther than planned (been there, done that, our planned 55ft dive ended up a 95ft dive), it's easy to do.

 

[nquandt]

Not to discourage any further posts, but I did want to thank everybody who has responded for their suggestions re: sites, eats, and people to meet. Our trip will be better for it.

Regards,
Nathan

 

[herman]

If you want to get away from the tourist restaurants and eat at a good local place, don't miss Gibi's. The food is good and he has good prices. The rest is a litte disceptive, all the tables are outside under a big tree beside a small building that houses the kitchen. I have a couple of friends who live on island, they eat there a lot and introduced me to Gibi's. The menu is hand written every day, kind of depends on what Gibi wants to cook that day.

When are you on island? Maybe we can arrange to meet one evening, we are there July 19-26.

Do you know about the web cams on Bonaire? If you have internet active people back in the states, they may get to see you on the webcam if you drop by it. There is one on the street and one underwater.

 

[nquandt]

On a related note...

We're actually reaching Bonaire by way of a Delta flight into Curacao, followed by a puddle-jump on DCA over to Bonaire.

I haven't heard a lot of good things about DCA. And I understand that the Ferry service that was running between Curacao and Bonaire is, at least for the time being, out of commission. (Does anybody know why?)

Can anyone suggest a third means of getting between the islands (err, other than swimming)? I'm afraid that we definitely cannot fly direct into Bonaire-- our flight is via Delta Skymiles and the route is locked in at this point.

Any suggestions/hints for dealing with DCA? Thus far they've lost my web reservation once and twice failed to fax me a reconfirmation... I'm really looking forwad to entrusting them with my gear...

Regards,
Nate