Are you going by yourself or with another diver? It makes some difference in the recommendations. Given your relative newness, solo diving might be a little more than you want to take on now. Most of the dive sites north and south of town are somewhat isolated with no facilities on-site so you're pretty much on your own - except there may be other divers nearby. Since the de-facto vehicle on Bonaire is a 4 dr. pickup, many divers won't mind you tagging along if asked. If needed, it's pretty easy to find a buddy at most of the resorts.
Given that this is shore diving paradise, should I book any boat dives, if so how many?
I'm not sure I would pre-book any. Most of the time you can generally get on someone's boat with little or no advance notice - unless you're there at a busy time. Since you mention March, you might hit some spring break crowds at the larger resorts - IDK as we rent condos. The sites to dive by boat are Rappel and multiple sites off Klein Bonaire, the small un-inhabited island just offshore. 4-6 boat dives would get most of the highlights. Afaik every boat dive operator will put at least one DM in the water with you - they're good at spotting the small things - like Frogfish and Seahorses.
Which dive shop(s) do you recommend?
Buddy Dive as mentioned above has 2 facilities, one at Buddy Dive and another at BelMar condos. They're also unique in having the only drive-thru tank pickup located at the back of the property for shore dives at other nearby locations. Wannadive also has shops at multiple locations and are often recommended here. Bart from Wannadive also posts here often. They're at Eden Beach and Windsock resort among other places.
Which shore diving locations do you recommend?
It's partially dependent on how comfortable you are entering the water. Many entries on Bonaire are over ironshore and coral rubble which can be sharp and slippery. A good pair of treaded boots is a
requirement. The sites south of town are generally flatter with easier entries - most off a coral rubble strewn beach. Many have sand channels bisecting the ironshore that lead out to deeper water where you typically don your fins, find a reference point and then dive into the current (if any) Most of the sites have mooring balls and you'll see the rope/ball a long way away - the water is usually that clear. The reef generally parallels the shoreline so navigation is simple.
The sites north in Slagbaai Park and south past White Slave are mostly the only advanced dives due to currents. Although some of them are also easy good dives on calm days. But there's so many other good sites, I'd suggest saving them for a later trip.
What we generally did was just drive either north or south, find a site and stop to look over the entry, any visible currents etc. The divesites south of town run back to back for a long way - it's flat so at many of them you'll see other divers at several sites in either direction.
A good indication of what to expect is:
Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands Check the photos for each site, they show the entrance and any obstacles. There's also a book by Susan Porter called Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy - you can buy it online somewhere or on-island.
Sites I recommend:
south:
Invisibles
Angel City
Aquarius
Salt Pier - ask your dive operator - it's only done if there's no ship loading with a DM accompanying your group.
north:
Rappel - boat dive only
Witches Hut/Weber's Joy
1000 Steps (64 stone steps down)
Bari Reef - site has the highest # of species in the Caribbean. Easy entry off Bonaire Dive/Adventures dock.
Cliff - just north of Habitat
LaMachaca - small accessible wreck at Habitat
Hand's Off - a drift dive off Klein Bonaire.
Jerry's Reef - we spotted a lot of turtles.
Forest - lots of Black Coral at 70'.
What diving environments should I look for (wreck, coral, sea life, etc)?
There's only a couple of smallish wrecks accessible to you. Mostly what you'll see is intense coral growth with a lot of smaller marine life. And quite a few turtles. Schools of squid are also fairly common. And lots of eels. There's the occasional tarpon - they feed in your lights if you night dive. We never saw any sharks in a week of 25 dives on either end of the island. I think we saw some Stingrays also. Bonaire is macro diving, seahorses, smaller fish, etc.
Which hotel/resort do you recommend?
There's generally 3 areas. Anything on the water typically costs more. There's a cluster of north of town dive resorts - in no order: Buddy Dive, Habitat, Eden Beach, Den Laman, Sand Dollar, Harbour Village($$) - I'm sure I'm missing a couple more. One that might be a little more reasonable in that area is Carribbean Club (Court?) as it's a block up a hill from the water. That area has a small market, a couple of shops, a deli, bank etc. within walking distance. Golden Reef Inn was another affordable option in that area - I'm not sure of their recent status.
Downtown Kralendijk is 5mins. away by car. - there's some properties in "town". the Divi Resort is about the only one that's walking distance to downtown. Carib Inn is a smaller property nearby. Staying downtown is not really optimal for diving, there's really no known sites there. Also you don't want to be in town when a cruise ship docks, it probably quadruples the town population for those hours - most of it concentrated in a few blocks near the pier.
South of town is the Plaza Resort, a sprawling resort with Toucan Dive on site. It sits on the 18Palms dive site and has one of the few nicer beaches on Bonaire. The dive shop is on the south end of the property and the dive is on the north so there's some logistics involved.
Beyond that there's a few properties bordering the lagoon near the airport (think jet noise) which are are a 2min. drive back to town. Around the lagoon south is the Belnem area where there's multiple condo/house options available. We stayed at Belmar condos in Belnem, a smaller property right on the water, the other Buddy diveshop on-site and a decent house reef of their dive dock. Small pool and no beach. It's quiet at night but you'll drive to everything from there. 5 minutes to the really good south dive sites. Beyond that is mostly just dive sites until you get to the Salt Pier and the south end of the island. East of there is the Lac Bay/Sorobon area - a kitesurfer's paradise but not a lot of diving nearby. Sorobon is clothing optional.
One other thing you can do is stay inland at Lagoen Hills but it would be a daily drive to the water from there so prices reflect that.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Just about anything Bonaire related can be found at
Info Bonaire - The Bonaire Information Site - The Most Current and Up-To-Date Information. Or I'd suggest contacting BonairePros.com.
hth, I haven't been to Bonaire in a few years so others will probably have more current suggestions here.
) and do a board search on Bonaire. Use a filter that is maybe 6 months and OLDER and read the hours and hours of tips on Bonaire then if you have specific questions, fire away.
