Bonaire Guidebook

[Spike_Digger]

Spike, I wonder if the edition I saw was the first edition. It clearly had Buddy's as an Advanced dive, several of us looked at this and scratched our heads. It also stated Buddy's ended at the cliff....hmmmm...I'm going to have to email my friend who had the book when he get's back to Holland and ask him to look that up....

Sorry Cynde, I didn't mean to start a my book vs. your book debate ;-) He did label it as an advanced dive in the heading, then in the text described it as being good for all levels. So your question about the "advanced" rating for Buddy's is perfectly valid.

I'm not pushing one guidebook over the other. I thought the Lonely Planet guide was a fun book for the pretty pictures, the history of the island, and the descriptions of what you can expect to see at each dive. But BSDME sounds like a great guidebook also, so I'm going to get a copy!

 

[Boat Chick]

Sorry Cynde, I didn't mean to start a my book vs. your book debate ;-) He did label it as an advanced dive in the heading, then in the text described it as being good for all levels. So your question about the "advanced" rating for Buddy's is perfectly valid.

I'm not pushing one guidebook over the other. I thought the Lonely Planet guide was a fun book for the pretty pictures, the history of the island, and the descriptions of what you can expect to see at each dive. But BSDME sounds like a great guidebook also, so I'm going to get a copy!

Spike, no worries! I guess after being to Bonaire seven times, and knowing the "trickyness" of some entry sites, and descriptions, I just found some of the descriptions in the LP book off. But as you said, the pictures are fabulous That would get me motivated for sure

 

[Spike_Digger]

I am going to Bonaire for the first time next month. Any opinions on what is the best guidebook to the diving there?

We just got back from Bonaire last week. Before going to Bonaire, I spent a lot of time reading my Lonely Planet guidebook, and reading trip reports to see which dives were people's favorites. Once we got down there, we never opened the guidebook or checked the list that I had compiled. The shore diving in Bonaire is so easy, and so good everywhere, that guidebooks are really optional. It made for interesting reading beforehand, but was of little value once there.

Having said that, we did pick up little tips from other divers that we met down there, such as "when diving Pink Beach, enter at the two right-most palms when facing the water." Sure enough, we went to Pink Beach, found the two right-most palms, and there was a nice sandy channel leading out through the shoreline rocks. So maybe a copy of BSDME would be handy to have for certain dive sites, but we didn't need it.

One thing that my dive buddy and I agreed on was that all of the dive sites on Bonaire are excellent, and you just can't go wrong with any of them. The northern dive sites are a bit steeper with more coral, and the southern dive sites are a bit flatter with more sand and a longer swim out, but other than that, they all had similar sealife, and they were all excellent. We dove the reef in front of our hotel 4 times, and had very different experiences every time, so for us to rate one dive site vs. another dive site based on one dive at each site, would be meaningless.

 

[Texasdivechick]

I'd recommend Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy by Susan Porter. www.bsdme.info Susan lives on Bonaire and dives daily, she knows the sites like the back of her hand. I dove 3 new sites this last trip that had been added to the book.

I totally agree and recommend this book. You can order it online from Bonaire Stuff (I think) or wait until you get to Bon and pick it up at any of the dive shops. This book is invaluable. It lists every dive site, but not Klein sites. It gives very specific information such as where to enter each site, what to watch out for at what depth, how to exit, etc.....
I wish I were going back!!!

 

[reefdiva]

I totally agree and recommend this book. You can order it online from Bonaire Stuff (I think) or wait until you get to Bon and pick it up at any of the dive shops. This book is invaluable. It lists every dive site, but not Klein sites. It gives very specific information such as where to enter each site, what to watch out for at what depth, how to exit, etc.....
I wish I were going back!!!

The guide Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy can be ordered on line at www.bsdme.info which is the author's website and fun to look at. It also has a sample page of the book. In addition to being available for sale at dive shops on the island it is available at Chat and Browse. Well worth it to "get the lay of the land" so to speak!