Best to worse Bonaire dives

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ronski101

Contributor
Messages
472
Reaction score
35
Location
redondo beach, calif
# of dives
500 - 999
We are going back to Bonaire in Nov. and need an up to date consensus from SB members on what their favorite and worse dives there were and why. We are experienced divers and like most everything from muck to soft corals, invertebrates, fish, wrecks, big stuff, etc. We couldn't find a link as we suspect this topic should have already been covered.
 
My favorites in no particular order:

Bari Reef - we dove with the naturalist from BD&A - he pointed out (as I recall) 185 different fish.
The REEF fishcount paperwork after the dive was a little tedious though. Playing with the squid was fun also.
Rappel - just a good dive.
Forest - "forests" of Black Coral at 70'
Vista Blue - Although the current was ripping, we thought it would've been the best dive all week - if we'd done it on a calm day.
I also liked diving under the Salt Pier. Not the greatest for life, but interesting.

I don't know that these were the "worst" but I was underimpressed with Witches Hut, South Bay and Jerry's Reef. Although we did see Turtles at Jerry's.
 
Our favorite is Karpata. We did Oil Slick Leap twice last year having not done it on our previous trips to Bonaire and enjoyed the structure and amount of life on that dive also. I don't know that I would call any dive there a "worst" dive, but we seemed to like the sites north of town the best. We're going back to Bonaire in two weeks and are counting the days.
 
If you like a bit of wall diving, entering at La Dania's Leap (and exiting at Karpata) is the bees knees. Much more of a wall than Cliff. Additionally, the transition from the wall near La Dania to the rolling hills (like curtains, tilted 45 degrees) of Karpata is quite nice. The shallows of Karpata where you can do an extended safety-stop-depth "second half" before exiting were amazing.

I don't have a "worst", but when we did Larry's Lair, the curtain of fire coral that we had to thread through, single file, just a few feet from shore wasn't exactly delightful. None of us brushed any of it, of course, but it did add a little extra stress to the beginning and end of that dive. (The dive was great.)

The terrain at North Belnem/Corporal Meiss/Windsock was quite cool. The reef curves around, making you feel almost as if you're diving on the seats of a Greek amphitheater.

Oil Slick Leap and 1000 Steps were a blast, just due to the entry and exit parameters, and the dives themselves were fantastic. (If you look at pictures online of Oil Slick Leap and see a rickety old rusted ladder, that's gone. The ladder there now is a nice, wide ladder such as I love to find on well-kept boats.) Oh, and the best thing about Oil Slick Leap was making a bunch of extra entries after we finished the dive. We stowed the gear in the truck and just took turns launching ourselves from the overhang. :D
 
Wow, I can't say we found any "bad" dive sites on Bonaire....we just didn't get to as many as we wanted. ;)

One of our favorites was 1000 Steps with least favorite being the Hilma Hooker.
 
Favorites include:
Lac Cai
The Cliff
Oil Slick
Andrea I and II
Hilma Hooker
Night Dive on Town Pier
Night dive anywhere (we did 4 and they were all great)

Least Favorite:
Larry's Lair
Yellow Submarine
Bachelors Beach

Like other posters said we didn't really have any bad dives, just less awesome than others. Have a great time!
 
The sand chutes at Invisables are great. Saw big sting rays and eagle rays there. Hilma Hooker is a fun dive to mix it up with. Karpata is a crazy cool dive with huge "walls". Sorbon if the waters are right.
 
One of our favorite dives (there are no bad dives) is "The Rock" down south. Nice sand entry, about a 150 yard swim out to over the top of drop off & then you drop down to the rock which is an underwater island of it's own.
 
is your last!

Some favorites - in no particular order
Playa Benge and Playa Funchi in Wash Park
Red Slave
Hilma Hooker at Night
Someplace Special
Karpata
 
My favorite site was Angel City because of the double reef structure. Also liked the giant stride entry at Oil Slick (and nice site in general). Town Pier night dive was fun and interesting, but try to do it with a small group -- I did it with a large group, and it got crowded, even though they split us into smaller, divemaster-led mini-groups. Like someone else said, I didn't really have a "bad" dive. I wouldn't pay extra to do boat dives at Klein Bonaire.
 

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