Bonaire in 4 weeks and I have questions

[Boat Chick]

Other dives that are a must are:

Angel City double reef
Alice in Wonderland
The Lake

When I was there a couple weeks ago, one of the rungs on the ladder at oil slick was missing. I'm short, so it made for an "interesting exit" for my buddy and me.

As others have stated, hard sole booties is a must. The shore is hard iron coral, lots of urchins, holes, etc. You wouldn't even be able to navigate in crocks..

Eating, depends on how much you want to spend.

Richards, best fillet on island, great atmosphere
capricios great Italian
Bistro de Paris
patagonia (call ahead and make a reservation by the water)
Unbelievables (didnt' eat there this trip, but hear it is good)
Yacht Club Apartments (didn't eat there but it is getting great reviews)

Don't go into town on the days the cruise ships are in town...it's a mess...

on the cheaper side
la flamboyant for lunch (or dinner, but dinner is more expensive)
pasa bon pizza
bobby jan's ribs

those are just a few off the top of my head.

Salt Pier is indeed closed for diving. They are not issuing permits at this time. Who knows if they will ever allow it again....sad, cause it was a great dive.

 

[diversteve]

You won't see this during the day - feeding Orange Cup Corals:

 

[CLEAR BLUE]

As everybody is saying - Crocs would never cut it. Need very sturdy dive boots. Cressi makes some nice open heeled fins. I have Cressi frog fins which I just love. Anyway - too bad Oil Slick got messed up because that was my favorite site. I agree with Witch's Hut, Ole Blue. To the south I liked North Belham, Bachelor's Beach, and Pink Beach. My husband says that his best dive ever (and he has near 500) was the night dive at the Town Pier. It is a guided dive and you have to sign up in advance because it is limited to how many people they will take. We bought a good bit of food at the Cultimara grocery store but I don't remember it being very expensive. You do need to get there shortly after their delivery is made, though, otherwise they will be out of alot of things. I can't imagine that there are ANY "don't bother" dives in Bonaire. All the dives we made were outstanding. And it's all about the shorediving. We did one boat dive but didn't see anything different than we would have seen from shore.
Oh - how could I forget - you probably want to dive the Hilma Hooker. Nice wreck! About leaving things in the truck - we always left the doors unlocked . Our gear was on us and we only left t shirts water and flip flops behind. Nobody bothered those things. Actually - I was wearing Teva flip flops and hid them nearby. Have a great time. I know we will go back. Great memories!

 

[Boat Chick]

to add, warehouse and more for less stock better meats and cheeses, and are a tad less expensive than cultimara.

ol' blue (tolo) entrance is gone. there really isn't any good way down now. i have some friends who did it but they had to hand their gear down to each other, then back up. the iron shore is extended out quite a ways. we decided to bag it and go to karpata instead.

Here is a pic of ole' blue. the arrows point to where the sand/beach entrance USED to be...

 

[1_T_Submariner]

I read some of the responses and will give an opinion on some.

1. Which dives are the "MUST DO" dives? I have bought the book "Diving & Snorkeling in Bonaire" and I have "Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy" on order, so if I can get some dive site names I can reference them.

A. Go south one day and do the Hilma Hooker. The ship is OK but I like the reef coming back up. I think alot of people focus on the ship and forget the reef.

B. North to 1000 steps there really aren't that many good dive. The second tank at Kaptra.

C. Buddies or Capt Don's house reef. Do it during the day then go back at night. Stay shallow at night. Lots of lobsters/crabs up against the rocks.

2. Are there any "don't waste your time" dives? Eden beach during the day. Ok at night

3. We plan on buying some groceries to keep expenses down. What are our options for groceries and would it be worth the hassel to bring some food from home (spices, etc.)? Go to the Warehouse same side of the road as the gas station (turn Left on the way from town) on the road to the airport just down 1/4 mile. KFC used to have Cold Hienkens for 2/$3 watch the sunset!



4. What is your favorite spot to eat? Cactus Blue / The Rib Joint above KFC Great view good food.

5. Do we need to worry about the stuff left in our rental vechicle while diving? Only leave things you want to donate to the locals


6. We use full footed fins, are the shore dives accessible in bare feet? As others have said get some good booties and open heel fins.


Any other tips and advice will be greatly appreciated!! Slow down when you get there things move really slowly on Bonaire.

 

[lmorin]

I wouldn't say that booties are an absolute must, but you'll need something on the feet. My wife dives with full foot fins. For shore dives requiring a walk-in over rough stuff, she wears a pair of lightweight water shoes from Deep Sea that have a very flexible, lightly corrugated sole. She tucks them in a pocket once her fins are on. Not great, but it works.

Town Pier has been closed to diving for weeks, apparently. Was the entire time we were there 2 wks ago and we were told it had been off limits for quite a while. Nobody seemed to know the exact reason, although there are a lot of cruise ships going in and out.

Good, out of the way, local restaurant--Mi Banana.
Favorite dive--Angel City

 

[tiggrr]

We arrive via Houston at 6am on the 7th and will also depart on the 15th. Where are you guys staying?

I have been reading numerous threads on Bonaire and have also spent time at BonaireTalk but after awhile everything just gets muddy and I forget what was good and what was bad (although I've taken a few notes). I thought that asking here I could just keep all the info together (I'm kinda lazy at times too).

We are probably on the same flight. We are staying at Golden Reef.

I know. I get like that too. But, this trip, Phil is taking care of everything but the who/what/where/when. He made that my job. Since work is slow and I hate winter soo much, its been quite the escape planning and dreaming of Bonaire. Lol

Oh so, check this out.....we're taking a class with bonaire dive and adventure on Monday called Dive with a Naturalist.

Bonaire Dive and Adventure

Dive with the Naturalist
Join naturalist Jerry Ligon as we learn the basic and advanced levels of fish identification in an academic presentation, and then go on a guided dive to the Number One Reef in the entire Atlantic and Caribbean for fish diversity. It is a one-half day course and can be the first course for either a speciality PADI level Aware Fish Identification or Underwater Naturalist Speciality. It is the basic course to present you with the techniques to employ to learn to develop search patterns in the ocean that everyone must develop in order to find the cryptic organisms, and then, how to identify them. Many examples of fish behavior that we see all the time, but never knew what it was the creature was doing are also described and shown.


How cool is that?? I'm ok at Fish ID and Phil is soo very not so, it'll make the rest of the week pretty interesting.

There are also boat dives to Klein Bonaire. I think we're going to do that just 1 boat trip. A friend highly recommended it.

And I totally agree and forgot to say earlier, hard soled boots with open fins really are the best way to go. I have a nice scar on the top of my right foot from the last trip to Bonaire from my flimsy boots. Ended up having to buy the hard soled boots mid trip in Bonaire. Not cheap.

 

[Martha]

Town Pier has been closed to diving for weeks, apparently. Was the entire time we were there 2 wks ago and we were told it had been off limits for quite a while. Nobody seemed to know the exact reason, although there are a lot of cruise ships going in and out.

Town Pier has been closed to diving since Omar. From what I understand, it isn't closed due to pier damage, it's closed because the wave action from Omar wiped out all the sea life that was on the piers. It was a very cool night dive. I especially liked the Orange Cup Corals.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

• I agree with what's been said about getting hard-soled booties. The ironshore will tear up your feet. I would also recommend bringing along some surface interval footwear -- cheap flip-flops -- to leave in the truck while diving. On my last trip to Bonaire I had blisters on my feet because I was running around post-dive in my wet booties.
• Lock up your expensive dive gear (regs, BCDs) at night...and whenever someone from your party isn't "around." Theft has been an issue in recent years.
• If I had to choose between hiring a naturalist for a dive and doing a boat dive, I'd definitely hire the naturalist. Ask him/her to show you how to look for seahorses and frogfish. They're there. Get your camera ready.
• Bring some spare o-rings + toothpicks with you. Many of the o-rings we encountered on the Yellow Submarine/Wanna Dive rental tanks were in need of replacement.
• There are times of the year when mosquitoes are a big problem. Bring your favorite DEET-containing product. If mosquitoes are around, wear pants and shoes at dinner. If you don't, they'll feast on your ankles.
• Take advantage of the happy hour at Buddy's even if you aren't staying there. The view of the sunset there is very nice.
• Even if you're into getting a taste of the local cuisine, I'd skip the goat stew. I tried it, and I found it quite chewy (sorry Gibi).
• Give El Fagon Latino a try. Cheap and tasty!

 

[DiveMaven]

Oh so, check this out.....we're taking a class with bonaire dive and adventure on Monday called Dive with a Naturalist.

How cool is that?? I'm ok at Fish ID and Phil is soo very not so, it'll make the rest of the week pretty interesting.

This is a GREAT class, it is definitely time well spent. We did our PADI UW Naturalist specialty with Jerry last year, which required spending two mornings with him, including 2 dives. I'm pretty good at fish ID and behavior, but Jerry takes it to a whole different level and I learned a TON from him. He tailors the class to his audience (no canned curriculum), and since we had a decent amount of knowledge, he just bumped us up from that point.

There are also boat dives to Klein Bonaire. I think we're going to do that just 1 boat trip. A friend highly recommended it.

We bought a dive/drive/stay package for our first trip that included 6 boat dives and did ONE to Klein. Although Klein was beautiful, we both hated following a DM and not being able to set our own pace. We also hated diving with 10 other people in the water, and it was then we realized we had been completely spoiled by Bonaire's diver's freedom. For this year's trip, we're buying our boat diving ala carte, and probably will head down to the East side for a 2-tank dive "on the wild side" instead of Klein.