jtreed
New
I didn’t realize this before my trip. Bonaire is not a tropical island. It is a desert island. Not bad, just different. Outside of the city center it is a desert landscape. You can find A/C if you want, but many/most places don’t have it. It’s not bad in the shade because of the constant breeze. Long sleeve sun shirts are your friend.
Overall, very safe. We didn’t leave anything in our truck just to be safe, but we saw zero signs of any crime of any sort. We never felt unsafe in any way.
Food was great. The main grocery store was a bit expensive, but not terrible. Restaurants and food trucks were all surprisingly good. Cheaper than big US cities, more expensive than small towns. Reservations seem to be a big thing here, even where you wouldn’t think you need one.
Rented a truck from Pickup Huren Bonaire. Small company. Easy to use. Had a sign waiting for me after leaving baggage claim. Had to drive off of airport property to sign paperwork. I did the good insurance. Otherwise, nothing unusual. Return was in the short turn parking lot. It took 2 seconds. So easy. Would definitely use them again.
Driving was easy. Mostly no stop signs. Zero lights. Lots of round abouts and yields. Except for the occasional one-way street in town, it was 100% clear what to do.
Got a house off booking.com. There was a small mixup, but the owner got us in a different place in 30 minutes. Not a big deal. Would probably go with a resort near the city center or north side of town in the future. (More shops and restaurants; less chance of a mix up)
Interesting to note, the island/housing does seem to be very economically divided. The nice houses, roads, stores are mostly start in the city center and go North. South and East are a lot more rustic.
Grocery stores close at 8:00. Gas stations only sell gas. Found a convenience store open late.
Used VIPdiving for tank rental. Super easy to do. $185 for six days unlimited. You choose air/Nitrox aluminum 63/80/100. Both DIN/yoke. All are the same price, lots of everything. Fills were very consistent (one bad fill for our group over the week). They provide Nitrox/pressure gauges for you to use, and you are supposed to use them to check out tanks. They have a 24/7 locked gear room, with security cameras. Would definitely use them again.
Entries and exits - Every site is different. If you are a bit athletic with good balance, not a big deal. If you are not at that point of your life, many spots will be challenging, just scout the different sites and choose wisely. One member of our group had a rough time in most locations. Three of us had zero issues all week.
Underwater - Everyone we met told us to go North or South. Avoid all the sites in the middle near the built up areas, resorts, etc. We mostly did that. We found some reef damage on the ends, but not too bad at all. Every site had tons of fish, lots of species. Very few large fish. The current was very manageable at every location we dove. The first few days, visibility was almost unlimited. The last two days, probably 50 feet. Water temp - 82-84.
We did one dive from Captain Don’s house reef. They built a small pier for giant stride entries. The named sites are very close together in town. We swam south through 3 named sites before turning at 1500. The reef was in much worse shape in this area. Still tons of fish. Still a great dive, and many coral species were not damaged at all.
We did one 2-tank boat dive with East Coast Divers. Definitely worth it. I had to book a few weeks in advance. Probably saw 75-100 turtles over the 2 dives (up to seven at once). Several dozen tarpon. The surface was rough. I fed the fish
.
We dove the following sites, due to a big focus on ease of entry/exit.
Overall, very safe. We didn’t leave anything in our truck just to be safe, but we saw zero signs of any crime of any sort. We never felt unsafe in any way.
Food was great. The main grocery store was a bit expensive, but not terrible. Restaurants and food trucks were all surprisingly good. Cheaper than big US cities, more expensive than small towns. Reservations seem to be a big thing here, even where you wouldn’t think you need one.
Rented a truck from Pickup Huren Bonaire. Small company. Easy to use. Had a sign waiting for me after leaving baggage claim. Had to drive off of airport property to sign paperwork. I did the good insurance. Otherwise, nothing unusual. Return was in the short turn parking lot. It took 2 seconds. So easy. Would definitely use them again.
Driving was easy. Mostly no stop signs. Zero lights. Lots of round abouts and yields. Except for the occasional one-way street in town, it was 100% clear what to do.
Got a house off booking.com. There was a small mixup, but the owner got us in a different place in 30 minutes. Not a big deal. Would probably go with a resort near the city center or north side of town in the future. (More shops and restaurants; less chance of a mix up)
Interesting to note, the island/housing does seem to be very economically divided. The nice houses, roads, stores are mostly start in the city center and go North. South and East are a lot more rustic.
Grocery stores close at 8:00. Gas stations only sell gas. Found a convenience store open late.
Used VIPdiving for tank rental. Super easy to do. $185 for six days unlimited. You choose air/Nitrox aluminum 63/80/100. Both DIN/yoke. All are the same price, lots of everything. Fills were very consistent (one bad fill for our group over the week). They provide Nitrox/pressure gauges for you to use, and you are supposed to use them to check out tanks. They have a 24/7 locked gear room, with security cameras. Would definitely use them again.
Entries and exits - Every site is different. If you are a bit athletic with good balance, not a big deal. If you are not at that point of your life, many spots will be challenging, just scout the different sites and choose wisely. One member of our group had a rough time in most locations. Three of us had zero issues all week.
Underwater - Everyone we met told us to go North or South. Avoid all the sites in the middle near the built up areas, resorts, etc. We mostly did that. We found some reef damage on the ends, but not too bad at all. Every site had tons of fish, lots of species. Very few large fish. The current was very manageable at every location we dove. The first few days, visibility was almost unlimited. The last two days, probably 50 feet. Water temp - 82-84.
We did one dive from Captain Don’s house reef. They built a small pier for giant stride entries. The named sites are very close together in town. We swam south through 3 named sites before turning at 1500. The reef was in much worse shape in this area. Still tons of fish. Still a great dive, and many coral species were not damaged at all.
We did one 2-tank boat dive with East Coast Divers. Definitely worth it. I had to book a few weeks in advance. Probably saw 75-100 turtles over the 2 dives (up to seven at once). Several dozen tarpon. The surface was rough. I fed the fish
.We dove the following sites, due to a big focus on ease of entry/exit.
- Salt pier
- Red Beryl
- Atlantis (poor decision - kite boarders were there first)
- Pink beach
- Tori’s reef
- Weber’s Joy
- Karpata
- Red Beryl (night)
- Fuji’s (sp) Reef
- White Hole/Turtle City
- Alice in Wonderland
- Angel City
- Hilma Hooker (night)
- Hilma Hooker
- La Machaca
