Trip Report Bonaire- January 18- February 01, 2025

[Cornbread O'Malley]

I leave here on Sunday and fly to Houston. Gonna spend the night in the Marriott Hotel in the airport and get up Monday morning and fly to Cozumel and dive down there for 2 weeks.

What a cool coincidence! You and I are here in Bonaire and then Cozumel at the same time. Two for two!

Nice trip report. Looks like you're having a great time!

 

[arubabob1]

Hey Trail Boss. I was here your whole stay. I wish I would have met up with you. We have been hitting CandyLand pretty hard and Red Slave and Taylor made has always been my favorites but this trip. I have to give it to CandyLand. Glad you had a great time! Can I ask what a 2 bedroom cost for 2 weeks? Thanks.

 

[Trailboss123]

I love Candyland. One of the best dives on the island. The winds were still hammering the shore there when we got there, which is why we. Series on to Nukove.

We ended up staying 10 nights at Bel Mar with our friends before they left the island. We then moved over to Bloozz for the remaining 5 nights, as the cost of the 2 bedrooms at Bel Mar by ourselves would have been too cost prohibitive. It was $3200 for the 10 nights, all in with taxes and fees. So, $1600 per couple in the high season and that was booking through Sunwise, which is much better than AirBNB or VRBO.

Bloozz is right across the street from Bachelor Beach and is a great affordable option for two people. It was our 2nd time there. I did a report on them from our trip last August that you can read about.

 

[morecowbells]

I always enjoy your trip reports! We have only been to Bonaire 4 times and each time noticing more and more growth. Good and bad. More restaurants to chose from. We leave for Cozumel on Sat. If you see a crazy woman jumping away from her dining table(expletives likely) due to a bee, that will be me.

 

[Trailboss123]

I always enjoy your trip reports! We have only been to Bonaire 4 times and each time noticing more and more growth. Good and bad. More restaurants to chose from. We leave for Cozumel on Sat. If you see a crazy woman jumping away from her dining table(expletives likely) due to a bee, that will be me.

Right back at you @morecowbells I have always enjoyed your reports. Would love to run into you in Cozumel. If weather in the Pacific Northwest persists to be horrible in two weeks, I might consider another couple weeks here in Cozumel before I absolutely have to get home for some stuff at the end of February.

 

[Tortola]

We were chasing and looking for Bait Balls, but to no avail this trip. Heard of some, but never encountered. Last August we were among them so many dives.

We just returned on Sunday. We never experienced the bait ball either, but we did see them swimming overhead in a huge highway of fish at Oil Slick. Unsurprisingly, a few barracuda were bringing up the rear.

 

[arubabob1]

Thanks TrailBoss. When we was gearing up at Red Slave, we seen a huge bait ball in the sand channel. It was off to the right and I always go left on that dive so we headed to the reef and right away we was swimming with a spotted eagle ray. So I am glad we did what we did but at the end of the dive, the bait ball was gone. Last summer, we seen them almost everyday.

 

[Jersey]

Wait - a month stay and 94 dives?? As others said, yer killlin me. Prepping gear and starting the clothes packing for March trip. Eighteenth straight year, hubs has been coming since 1992. Every year we look up into the hills and see the development continue. Sad, but same thing happening where we live.

We are Buddy Dive fans, they make it so easy and I enjoy the house reef in the afternoon for practicing my photography.

Work just did institute a 'foreign remote worker' program, so maybe I can apply and stay for a couple months. Im sure that would go well with the hubs

 

[Airsipper79]

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.

Thanks for the great report. How healthy were the reefs? We used to go every year but stopped after 2022 as the reefs were in pretty rough shape due to SCTLD. Thinking of going back this fall, but am having trouble getting a good reef report from someone who has dived Bonaire over the years vs someone who is going for the first time

 

[Nettles]

Thanks for the great report. How healthy were the reefs? We used to go every year but stopped after 2022 as the reefs were in pretty rough shape due to SCTLD. Thinking of going back this fall, but am having trouble getting a good reef report from someone who has dived Bonaire over the years vs someone who is going for the first time

It's pretty bad Sipper. I posted a trip report (March 11-25) where I talk about it a little. The difference from '23 was enormous. We skipped '24, now i wish we hadn't. The soft corals and sponges are still great and there's still critters around, albeit fewer and smaller but your question was about the reef, and I refuse to sugar coat it, it broke my heart. Karpata is a grey landscape. Tolo was much better, but just when you think it's not so bad, you see a little live plate coral and remember what it used to look like everywhere.

I'm told it's the same in Roatan and Cozumel. I'm open to suggestions.