Trip Report Bonaire: Divi Flamingo Resort July 10-17, 2021

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Thank you for the report and information on the tanks
 
We are going next week from Nashville as well. I have not been to the Divi since 2019 when I was there during remodeling...it wasn't pretty. Anyhow, we usually request a downstairs studio, have those changed significantly?? Thanks for the report!!
 
My wife and I recently returned from a one week trip to Bonaire.
We traveled with a small group of area divers and non- divers, staying at Divi Flamingo Resort.

We flew from Nashville through Miami on American Airlines Saturday flights.
After we purchased our tickets last fall, American made changes to the flight schedule, leaving us about 55 minutes to make connections in Miami. We checked on overnighting in Miami, but ultimately were not able to make the change. Thankfully we had no problems and arrived on Bonaire on time. We will consider overnighting in Miami on future trips.

The recent changes in travel requirements did not happen in time for our trip, so we were required to have an antigen test upon arrival in Bonaire. This definitely added to the amount of time required for the arrival process. The paperwork and scheduling required was a lot to manage, but ultimately a small inconvenience to make the trip possible.

We stayed in a second floor deluxe oceanfront room at Divi resort. These are nice rooms with a small refrigerator and in room safe for valuables. The view from the balcony was beautiful and we saw some amazing sunsets from there. Housekeeping was every other day.

The breakfast buffet was included in our package and we enjoyed these each morning before diving.
They have a cook on site preparing omelets and pancakes to order.
We ate a couple of lunches at Chibi Chibi restaurant on property, but
most lunches we had sandwiches at the cabanas on the raised deck overlooking the ocean.
At night we either walked to town or ate at Pure Ocean restaurant at the Divi.

One notable restaurant in town was The Umbrella, a newer location on the ocean not far from the cruise ship shops. The food was good and the atmosphere was relaxing.
Our group had a final evening meal at Joe’s. The outdoor dining area and good food provided a nice wrap up to our trip.

Our dive package included 11 boat dives and unlimited shore diving tanks. We did all our shore diving off the pier at Divi on the house reef. I logged 18 dives this trip, with some of our group getting 20 or 21 dives in. Tanks were filled to 3000-3100 psi except for the occasional low fill. We checked all tanks before departing for boat dives so we never had a problem with tanks.

We dove northern and Klein sites earlier in the week and finished down south the last two days.
The visibility was in the 70-85 foot range at most sites we visited. Our dive master mentioned there was some silting at southern sites due to Elsa being in the Caribbean a few weeks before.
We saw some interesting sights. Including several trumpet fish hovering over coral.
Our guess is they were feeding. We saw two seahorses, two turtles, and a green moray eel.

One of the best sightings of the week was made by our trip organizer Chuck.
Near the end of our orientation dive on Calabas reef, he found an octopus in the open.
I guess the octopus sensed he was overhead and moved to an object a few feet away.
His movement was a beautiful display of nature.
I have attached a couple of videos showing some of the great sights we observed.

The return to the United States required an antigen test, which we got on Thursday at the Divi.
The company performed the test and provided us with the necessary documents for travel.
We arrived at airport about two and a half hours before our flight and the process went well.
American representatives were assisting with one final form required for travel.
Security was smooth and our flight was on time.

We had a wonderful trip to Bonaire with great diving and even better friends
We hope to return in 2022 for our twelfth visit to the island.


Bonaire Shore Dive with Octopus Calabas Reef 2021
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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