I am winding down a 2-week trip to Bonaire with my wife and 5 close friends from the West Coast of the USA. One more day of diving tomorrow.
I have been coming to Bonaire every year and sometimes twice a year over the last eleven years.
I have visited and dived during the months of April, August, December and now, January for the first time. Longest trip was the entire month of August in 2019, logging 94 dives during that trip. We have stayed in a lot of various accommodations, which is probably uncommon for being here as many times as we have over such a long period of time. I find that a lot of people find their sweet spot and preferred place to stay and stick with it. I guess the reason I have stayed in so many different places has to do with the number of people traveling with and working around and with everyone’s desires.
I have been here by myself; with my wife; with a buddy; with 3 others; with 5 and 7 others; with 11 others. It has given me opportunity to experience lots of different accommodations both waterfront and otherwise, but never more than across the street from the waterfront.
That being said, this trip was our first time staying at Belmar, which is a well-established waterfront location on the island in the Belnen neighborhood just before you get to the Delfin’s Resort and Punt Vierkant. They have an onsite Buddy Dive retail shop and Buddy Dive also provides pier side tanks for people staying at Belmar and purchasing their dive package through them. It is an excellent setup with an abundance of both air and nitrox tanks in 80cf aluminum and 62cf aluminum sizes sitting next to the analyzer for tank pressure and O2 % and next to the gear up bench. From there, it is a walk down the 5 or so steps to the pier where you can giant stride in and come out via the super well-done ladder that is properly angled for a stress-free exit. Rinse tanks and showers are also adjacent to the pier.
Back in the day, Belmar was a resort, similar to Buddy Dive or Captain Don’s and everything was booked directly through them. These days, the 1, 2 and 3 bedroom villas have been sold off and you need to book them directly from the owner through a 3rd party like AirBNB, VRBO or a management company like Sunwise Bonaire (who manages around 14 of the units). Very similar to the Den Laman condominiums, for those familiar with that stellar location.
We booked very late in the year, while here last August 2024, and it was difficult to find any waterfront accommodations on the island for our timeframe. It was one of those last minute, on a whim, choices to come to Bonaire in January by a group of friends that could make it happen after finding well below market airfares.
Four of us grabbed the last 2 bedroom waterfront ground level villa at Belmar and the other 3 were able to get a 2 bedroom condo about 4 blocks away, but not waterfront.
The dive site at Belmar is called Sara’s Smile and is a very lovely dive site in both directions. It is a gently sloping reef with lots of big coral heads and varied terrain and quite healthy. The reef bottoms out at the sand in 95-100 feet.
As for diving on the rest of the island, I made 40 dives total over 12 days of diving. We made it as far north as Nukove (last diveable site outside the national park) and as far south as Red Slave. National Park in Slagbaai is still off limits to diving. Best dive sites without a doubt were Nukove and Red Slave. The road to Nukove was a long slog through muddy, rutted and pot holed roads, but well worth the effort from our group’s perspective. We intended to dive 1,000 Steps, Tolo and Karpata that day, but the winds were pushing huge waves into the shoreline and made conditions for entry and exit precarious. So, knowing that Nukove sits up and around to the NE in a fairly sheltered bay, we went for it and got rewarded with easy entry conditions (as easy as Nukove can be) and 100+ foot visibility and turtles, barracudas, all sorts of schooling fish, massive porcupine fish and healthy reefs. Red Slave was dived under optimal entry and exit conditions. Visibility was a bit murky and current was noticeable from the north to south, but the reef is super healthy and we were met by a spotted eagle ray when we got to the reef. Schooling midnight blue parrot fish in the shallows, big barracudas, lots of garden eels in the shallows during safety stop as well.
Vista Blue was also healthy and a favorite, although the kite boarders encroaching into the entry and exit zone is quite disturbing. Karpata was also outstanding, as usual. Theme might be that the further north and further south you go, the better the diving. We did happen upon 2 large black seahorses at Bachelor Beach, so that is always a cool thing to have happen.
The new Isadel Park adjacent to Den Laman Condominiums is really well done and provides a super nice and easy paved walkway entrance with a handrail right into 2 feet of water and just a few fin kicks to Bari Reef south of the Den Laman/Sand Dollar pier.
Very well done. Only issue at this site during certain times of day and days of the week is the limited amount of parking.
The island as a whole continues to develop and grow and expand, making things busier and even more so in the winter with the huge cruise ships coming in daily and all the snowbirds from Europe and North America. Definitely need to secure accommodations and truck rental well in advance. We tried to dive 1,000 steps four different times and never did. Could not find a parking place within 2 blocks of the stairs due to all of the tour buses, golf carts and other vehicles. If you like to eat out, consider making reservations at the top restaurants a week or so in advance.
The upside to wintertime here is that the topside temps and winds are wonderful and the island is a verdant green. Quite the view coming over the hilltop and down into Rincon with everything so green. I guess that covers it for now. Oh—Water temp the last 2 weeks of January during this trip were a consistent 80-81 depending on day and location. Topside temps in low to mid 80’s, very little humidity and nice refreshing winds all day. Lots of rain, but never impacted life negatively. Mostly strong to mild thunderstorm bursts or rain at night. Sorry for no underwater pics this trip. Had issues from day one with my Sea Life Sport Diver App that controls functionality for the Sport Diver housing.
I have been coming to Bonaire every year and sometimes twice a year over the last eleven years.
I have visited and dived during the months of April, August, December and now, January for the first time. Longest trip was the entire month of August in 2019, logging 94 dives during that trip. We have stayed in a lot of various accommodations, which is probably uncommon for being here as many times as we have over such a long period of time. I find that a lot of people find their sweet spot and preferred place to stay and stick with it. I guess the reason I have stayed in so many different places has to do with the number of people traveling with and working around and with everyone’s desires.
I have been here by myself; with my wife; with a buddy; with 3 others; with 5 and 7 others; with 11 others. It has given me opportunity to experience lots of different accommodations both waterfront and otherwise, but never more than across the street from the waterfront.
That being said, this trip was our first time staying at Belmar, which is a well-established waterfront location on the island in the Belnen neighborhood just before you get to the Delfin’s Resort and Punt Vierkant. They have an onsite Buddy Dive retail shop and Buddy Dive also provides pier side tanks for people staying at Belmar and purchasing their dive package through them. It is an excellent setup with an abundance of both air and nitrox tanks in 80cf aluminum and 62cf aluminum sizes sitting next to the analyzer for tank pressure and O2 % and next to the gear up bench. From there, it is a walk down the 5 or so steps to the pier where you can giant stride in and come out via the super well-done ladder that is properly angled for a stress-free exit. Rinse tanks and showers are also adjacent to the pier.
Back in the day, Belmar was a resort, similar to Buddy Dive or Captain Don’s and everything was booked directly through them. These days, the 1, 2 and 3 bedroom villas have been sold off and you need to book them directly from the owner through a 3rd party like AirBNB, VRBO or a management company like Sunwise Bonaire (who manages around 14 of the units). Very similar to the Den Laman condominiums, for those familiar with that stellar location.
We booked very late in the year, while here last August 2024, and it was difficult to find any waterfront accommodations on the island for our timeframe. It was one of those last minute, on a whim, choices to come to Bonaire in January by a group of friends that could make it happen after finding well below market airfares.
Four of us grabbed the last 2 bedroom waterfront ground level villa at Belmar and the other 3 were able to get a 2 bedroom condo about 4 blocks away, but not waterfront.
The dive site at Belmar is called Sara’s Smile and is a very lovely dive site in both directions. It is a gently sloping reef with lots of big coral heads and varied terrain and quite healthy. The reef bottoms out at the sand in 95-100 feet.
As for diving on the rest of the island, I made 40 dives total over 12 days of diving. We made it as far north as Nukove (last diveable site outside the national park) and as far south as Red Slave. National Park in Slagbaai is still off limits to diving. Best dive sites without a doubt were Nukove and Red Slave. The road to Nukove was a long slog through muddy, rutted and pot holed roads, but well worth the effort from our group’s perspective. We intended to dive 1,000 Steps, Tolo and Karpata that day, but the winds were pushing huge waves into the shoreline and made conditions for entry and exit precarious. So, knowing that Nukove sits up and around to the NE in a fairly sheltered bay, we went for it and got rewarded with easy entry conditions (as easy as Nukove can be) and 100+ foot visibility and turtles, barracudas, all sorts of schooling fish, massive porcupine fish and healthy reefs. Red Slave was dived under optimal entry and exit conditions. Visibility was a bit murky and current was noticeable from the north to south, but the reef is super healthy and we were met by a spotted eagle ray when we got to the reef. Schooling midnight blue parrot fish in the shallows, big barracudas, lots of garden eels in the shallows during safety stop as well.
Vista Blue was also healthy and a favorite, although the kite boarders encroaching into the entry and exit zone is quite disturbing. Karpata was also outstanding, as usual. Theme might be that the further north and further south you go, the better the diving. We did happen upon 2 large black seahorses at Bachelor Beach, so that is always a cool thing to have happen.
The new Isadel Park adjacent to Den Laman Condominiums is really well done and provides a super nice and easy paved walkway entrance with a handrail right into 2 feet of water and just a few fin kicks to Bari Reef south of the Den Laman/Sand Dollar pier.
Very well done. Only issue at this site during certain times of day and days of the week is the limited amount of parking.
The island as a whole continues to develop and grow and expand, making things busier and even more so in the winter with the huge cruise ships coming in daily and all the snowbirds from Europe and North America. Definitely need to secure accommodations and truck rental well in advance. We tried to dive 1,000 steps four different times and never did. Could not find a parking place within 2 blocks of the stairs due to all of the tour buses, golf carts and other vehicles. If you like to eat out, consider making reservations at the top restaurants a week or so in advance.
The upside to wintertime here is that the topside temps and winds are wonderful and the island is a verdant green. Quite the view coming over the hilltop and down into Rincon with everything so green. I guess that covers it for now. Oh—Water temp the last 2 weeks of January during this trip were a consistent 80-81 depending on day and location. Topside temps in low to mid 80’s, very little humidity and nice refreshing winds all day. Lots of rain, but never impacted life negatively. Mostly strong to mild thunderstorm bursts or rain at night. Sorry for no underwater pics this trip. Had issues from day one with my Sea Life Sport Diver App that controls functionality for the Sport Diver housing.
