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This was my wife’s and my fourth trip to Bonaire in the last two years and seventh overall. We have stayed at Den Laman and dived with Dive Friends the last four visits. We stayed at Sand Dollar and dived with Bonaire Dive & Adventure during our three visits 2004-2008.
Reservations: There has been a major change in the management of Den Laman. Previously, it was centrally managed by Carib Mall. They rented out all 16 apartments, had an office on site, and made car rental reservations through Avis and dive reservations with Dive Friends. For reasons that are not clear, other than owners wanted it, the apartments are no longer centrally managed. There are now 4 realty companies renting out the 16 apartments at Den Laman. On the Den Laman website, you must now communicate directly with the company renting out the room you want rather than having a choice of the entire inventory. We started the reservation process during the transition period. As we were interested in renting one of the two ocean front one bedrooms we had previously been in, we were referred out to Sunwise Bonaire, who rented these two apartments. It turned out that neither was available for the entire 2 weeks we wanted, so we switched to a 2 bedroom ocean front, Grouper, and decided to invite our children to spend some of the time with us (see more about the Grouper below, in Accommodations). There is no longer a rental office on site, we were met at the apartment by a representative of Sunwise. I can’t speak for the 3 other rental companies, but Sunwise does not directly make car or dive reservations. This trip, we rented with AB Car Rental. They were fine and we had a good truck, but they are off site and they supplied pick up at the airport and drop off at the end of the stay. We found pick up and drop off at the airport with Avis to me more convenient. We made our own reservations with Dive Friends, which was not a problem, as they know us quite well by now. We made our airline reservations directly with American Airlines.
Travel: So, this is the third time we’ve taken the American Airlines flight from Miami to Bonaire, a great improvement over taking local flights from Aruba to Bonaire. Arrival in mid-afternoon made check in to Den Laman, check in with Dive Friends, and grocery shopping all very easy. The flight back doesn’t get us home until the early AM hours.
Accommodations, etc.: On our last three visits, we stayed in the 2nd floor, one bedroom, ocean front Parrotfish and its mirror image next door, Yellowtail Snapper. We had also seen 2 of the two bedroom ocean fronts, Tuna and Dolphin. When neither of the one bedrooms were available, we did not hesitate to take the 2 bedroom Grouper, rented by Sunwise. Unfortunately, we were in for a surprise. Grouper is of considerable different construction than the rooms we were familiar with. The unit had no windows, only screens and metal louvres. The only way to get natural light was to open the metal louvres. It was very hot when we arrived and the rooms were at least as hot. The construction next door at the Chogogo resort generated a lot of dust that wafted into the apartment. Though there were A/C units in the common area and master bedroom, they did not do much against the brutal heat and the darkened apartment was depressing. The one night we spent there was in the back bedroom, which, at least could be closed off with A/C. This was a good thing as the noise from Coco Beach and the Spice Club was quite loud on a Saturday night through the screens. Luckily, we were able to switch over to the Wahoo 2 bedroom. We lost ocean front but gained windows, temperature control, no dust, and quiet. There are split air conditioners in the bedrooms and living/dining room that worked perfectly. We upgraded housekeeping to every other day from the standard twice per week. Our daughter was able to join us for six days, as was her brother. They overlapped a couple of days and it was the 1st time the four of have dived together since 2004, priceless. My son’s wife also was able to join us for a few days, first time she snorkeled with proper gear. She had a great time and saw a turtle at Bari Reef! We prepared most of our meals in the apartment but went out a few times with our kids. Between Two Buns, Breezes n’ Bites, and Eddy’s did just fine. Zhung Kong is finishing up on some extensive renovations, including expanding into the restaurant/bar that used to be next door. When we went grocery shopping on the 1st day, we initially missed it because it looks so different and there is no signage. Though they were not finished fully stocking it yet, a big improvement and very convenient to Den Laman.
Diving: We used Dive Friends at Sand Dollar/Den Laman and had access to the nice gear storage unit and to the private pier, with tanks and direct access to Bari Reef. On this visit, the gear storage room was closed on our 2nd week, for renovation. They were replacing the cement floor and drainage system, installing new gear hooks… It was a nuisance using the small storage cage next to the dive office, but, the renovated gear storage room will be a nice improvement for our next visit. My wife and I had our marine park tags from our April visit so did not have to purchase them. We bought tags for my daughter and son from the DF office. We also purchased a snorkeling tag for my son’s wife there. As usual, tank fills were good and all had 31-32% nitrox. Dive Friends boats leave for 2 tank trips to Klein Bonaire or northern sites not accessible from shore, every morning. They also offer 1 tank trips some afternoons. We dived exclusively off the Dushi Diver this trip, a 33 foot, twin outboard, taking a maximum of 10 divers. Their Island Hopper, the Pelican, was still out of commission on this trip, said to be in dry dock, getting a new engine
The water temperature on this trip was much warmer than on our April visit. Most water temperatures were 84-5 degrees, with several in the lower 80s, 81-3 degrees. We dived in our 3 mm full suits and were always comfortable. As you can imagine, many divers were using less exposure protection. There was little current on most of our dives. Visibility was generally about 80 feet, varying from about 60-100 feet.
On this visit, I did 44 dives, 22 boat dives and 22 shore dives, over 12 days of diving. We took the last full day off to tour the island with my son and his wife. It’s been several visits since we have taken any time off from diving, it was very relaxing. Highlights of this visit included two seahorses at Bon Bini Na Cas, two seahorses at Carl’s Hill, a Whitenose Pipefish, a Harlequin Pipefish, two great octopi and the best Eagle Ray encounter I have ever had, right at the top of Bari Reef. There were significantly more turtles and large Tiger Grouper than on our April visit. Spotted and Goldentail Morays were numerous, there were more Green Morays than on any of our other recent visits. Sharptail Eels were everywhere, out hunting with their followers. There were many Porcupinefish and a few Balloonfish. We saw quite a few Yellowhead Jawfish, some with eggs, juvenile Smooth Trunkfish, Slender Filefish, Flamingo Tongues, and Lettuce Slugs. Of course, all the usual reef fish were there in numbers. Much of the reef and corals are in very good condition. Unfortunately, there is also more red algae on the reef than we have seen on other recent visits. Some sites seemed nearly unaffected, whereas others were rather seriously affected. We can only hope that this is cyclic, and regresses. I saw nothing that looked like stony coral tissue loss disease.
So, this trip had a few hiccoughs, but nothing that could not be fixed or tolerated. Now that I know how the new Den Laman works, I could easily deal with it for a future trip and would pass on staying in Grouper. Dive Friends continues to be solid for us, the diving was wonderful. Having the opportunity to dive with my wife and both children was absolutely fantastic. We’ll be back, likely sometime early next year. I’m hoping that my fears regarding the Chogogo resort are not borne out.
Reservations: There has been a major change in the management of Den Laman. Previously, it was centrally managed by Carib Mall. They rented out all 16 apartments, had an office on site, and made car rental reservations through Avis and dive reservations with Dive Friends. For reasons that are not clear, other than owners wanted it, the apartments are no longer centrally managed. There are now 4 realty companies renting out the 16 apartments at Den Laman. On the Den Laman website, you must now communicate directly with the company renting out the room you want rather than having a choice of the entire inventory. We started the reservation process during the transition period. As we were interested in renting one of the two ocean front one bedrooms we had previously been in, we were referred out to Sunwise Bonaire, who rented these two apartments. It turned out that neither was available for the entire 2 weeks we wanted, so we switched to a 2 bedroom ocean front, Grouper, and decided to invite our children to spend some of the time with us (see more about the Grouper below, in Accommodations). There is no longer a rental office on site, we were met at the apartment by a representative of Sunwise. I can’t speak for the 3 other rental companies, but Sunwise does not directly make car or dive reservations. This trip, we rented with AB Car Rental. They were fine and we had a good truck, but they are off site and they supplied pick up at the airport and drop off at the end of the stay. We found pick up and drop off at the airport with Avis to me more convenient. We made our own reservations with Dive Friends, which was not a problem, as they know us quite well by now. We made our airline reservations directly with American Airlines.
Travel: So, this is the third time we’ve taken the American Airlines flight from Miami to Bonaire, a great improvement over taking local flights from Aruba to Bonaire. Arrival in mid-afternoon made check in to Den Laman, check in with Dive Friends, and grocery shopping all very easy. The flight back doesn’t get us home until the early AM hours.
Accommodations, etc.: On our last three visits, we stayed in the 2nd floor, one bedroom, ocean front Parrotfish and its mirror image next door, Yellowtail Snapper. We had also seen 2 of the two bedroom ocean fronts, Tuna and Dolphin. When neither of the one bedrooms were available, we did not hesitate to take the 2 bedroom Grouper, rented by Sunwise. Unfortunately, we were in for a surprise. Grouper is of considerable different construction than the rooms we were familiar with. The unit had no windows, only screens and metal louvres. The only way to get natural light was to open the metal louvres. It was very hot when we arrived and the rooms were at least as hot. The construction next door at the Chogogo resort generated a lot of dust that wafted into the apartment. Though there were A/C units in the common area and master bedroom, they did not do much against the brutal heat and the darkened apartment was depressing. The one night we spent there was in the back bedroom, which, at least could be closed off with A/C. This was a good thing as the noise from Coco Beach and the Spice Club was quite loud on a Saturday night through the screens. Luckily, we were able to switch over to the Wahoo 2 bedroom. We lost ocean front but gained windows, temperature control, no dust, and quiet. There are split air conditioners in the bedrooms and living/dining room that worked perfectly. We upgraded housekeeping to every other day from the standard twice per week. Our daughter was able to join us for six days, as was her brother. They overlapped a couple of days and it was the 1st time the four of have dived together since 2004, priceless. My son’s wife also was able to join us for a few days, first time she snorkeled with proper gear. She had a great time and saw a turtle at Bari Reef! We prepared most of our meals in the apartment but went out a few times with our kids. Between Two Buns, Breezes n’ Bites, and Eddy’s did just fine. Zhung Kong is finishing up on some extensive renovations, including expanding into the restaurant/bar that used to be next door. When we went grocery shopping on the 1st day, we initially missed it because it looks so different and there is no signage. Though they were not finished fully stocking it yet, a big improvement and very convenient to Den Laman.
Diving: We used Dive Friends at Sand Dollar/Den Laman and had access to the nice gear storage unit and to the private pier, with tanks and direct access to Bari Reef. On this visit, the gear storage room was closed on our 2nd week, for renovation. They were replacing the cement floor and drainage system, installing new gear hooks… It was a nuisance using the small storage cage next to the dive office, but, the renovated gear storage room will be a nice improvement for our next visit. My wife and I had our marine park tags from our April visit so did not have to purchase them. We bought tags for my daughter and son from the DF office. We also purchased a snorkeling tag for my son’s wife there. As usual, tank fills were good and all had 31-32% nitrox. Dive Friends boats leave for 2 tank trips to Klein Bonaire or northern sites not accessible from shore, every morning. They also offer 1 tank trips some afternoons. We dived exclusively off the Dushi Diver this trip, a 33 foot, twin outboard, taking a maximum of 10 divers. Their Island Hopper, the Pelican, was still out of commission on this trip, said to be in dry dock, getting a new engine
The water temperature on this trip was much warmer than on our April visit. Most water temperatures were 84-5 degrees, with several in the lower 80s, 81-3 degrees. We dived in our 3 mm full suits and were always comfortable. As you can imagine, many divers were using less exposure protection. There was little current on most of our dives. Visibility was generally about 80 feet, varying from about 60-100 feet.
On this visit, I did 44 dives, 22 boat dives and 22 shore dives, over 12 days of diving. We took the last full day off to tour the island with my son and his wife. It’s been several visits since we have taken any time off from diving, it was very relaxing. Highlights of this visit included two seahorses at Bon Bini Na Cas, two seahorses at Carl’s Hill, a Whitenose Pipefish, a Harlequin Pipefish, two great octopi and the best Eagle Ray encounter I have ever had, right at the top of Bari Reef. There were significantly more turtles and large Tiger Grouper than on our April visit. Spotted and Goldentail Morays were numerous, there were more Green Morays than on any of our other recent visits. Sharptail Eels were everywhere, out hunting with their followers. There were many Porcupinefish and a few Balloonfish. We saw quite a few Yellowhead Jawfish, some with eggs, juvenile Smooth Trunkfish, Slender Filefish, Flamingo Tongues, and Lettuce Slugs. Of course, all the usual reef fish were there in numbers. Much of the reef and corals are in very good condition. Unfortunately, there is also more red algae on the reef than we have seen on other recent visits. Some sites seemed nearly unaffected, whereas others were rather seriously affected. We can only hope that this is cyclic, and regresses. I saw nothing that looked like stony coral tissue loss disease.
So, this trip had a few hiccoughs, but nothing that could not be fixed or tolerated. Now that I know how the new Den Laman works, I could easily deal with it for a future trip and would pass on staying in Grouper. Dive Friends continues to be solid for us, the diving was wonderful. Having the opportunity to dive with my wife and both children was absolutely fantastic. We’ll be back, likely sometime early next year. I’m hoping that my fears regarding the Chogogo resort are not borne out.
