Cornbread O'Malley
Contributor
I finished my first trip to Bonaire, visiting during the last two weeks of January. Overall, the experience was very good. I took the reef renewal course, did a bunch of shore dives, and tried some of the local restaurants. The weather was good consisting of a morning rain in the early morning hours on most days followed by partly sunny skies, air temperature highs of mid-80s and lows of mid-70s Fahrenheit, a consistent wind out of the east varying between 15 to 20 MPH. During diving, water temperature consistently 81 or 82 Fahrenheit.
I booked a dive, drive, and stay package at Tropical Divers Resort (TDR), about a 4-minute drive north from the airport. Link to their website: Tropical Divers Resort Bonaire. I couldn't score an apartment at TDR so settled for their hotel room. The apartment has a small living room, kitchen with cooking range, and separate bedroom with bathroom. The hotel room lacked the kitchen amenities, but a small refrigerator, an electric kettle, dishes, bowls, silverware, some knives, glasses, coffee mugs, and a cutting board were provided. My room had Type A, B, and F electrical outlets. In fact, my hotel room is the room exhibited on the website. The environs of TDR was very quiet and peaceful. There is a swimming pool that is separate from the scuba training pool. Adjacent to the training pool are the wash and rinse stations, a shower, racks to hang gear to dry, and a secure room to lock up gear at night. Breakfast is not provided. For my 10-night stay I paid $1250 USD, a slight discount from the price listed on the website.
For transportation, I was assigned a pickup truck from Green Motion. All the paperwork and vehicle inspection was done at their office at the airport after I exited the terminal building. For parking at TDR there is a small parking lot in the rear shared with Joe's Restaurant. There is parking available along the road along the wall that separates the resort from the road. My vehicle cost me $930 with insurance, which I split with a friend.
Tropical Divers Resort is a SSI facility with a training pool and a resident instructor. I really liked the dive package and the options for cylinders. TDR provided aluminum 80s and steel cylinder options in 10, 12, 15 liters. I loved using the steel 12s, which allowed me to not need any additional lead weighting for diving. TDR also provided adapters for DIN to yoke valve conversions (I brought my own adapters). Nitrox fills available at 32% O2 and provided free of charge in the dive package. For dives early in the morning before the dive shop opened, I analyzed cylinders and placed them in a locked bin the day prior. I saw the resident instructor teach a stress and rescue class and an OW class while I stayed at the resort.
The class I took was the reef renewal class spread out over two days taught by the resident instructor. The first day consisted of theory and a morning dive to clean the "Christmas trees" in the coral nursery located at Sebastian's Reef. The walk there took five minutes from the resort, and we walked there fully geared up. The afternoon dive consisted of coral handling and cutting fragments to grow in the nursery followed by more cleaning. The second day consisted of theory and a late morning dive to harvest coral fragments and outplanting them at a site close to Sebastian's Restaurant. The reef renewal class cost me a total of $290 USD. The class itself costs $250, but I was the lone student so paid a supplement of about $40 extra. I enjoyed the class and plan to volunteer to outplant coral on subsequent visits to Bonaire.
My friend arrived after my reef renewal class, and we spent the next six days doing the shore dives around the island. We saw firsthand the effects of the stony coral tissue loss disease. After two days diving the reef adjacent to the waterfront in town, we decided to find healthier reefs elsewhere. The reef health improved the further north and south of town. We enjoyed the reefs to the south particularly from White Slave to Vista Blue, with Vista Blue being our favorite. We enjoyed Salt Pier too especially during the day. I snapped a pic of mackerel scad (pic 1) swimming around the reefs at Vista Blue.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience on Bonaire. I now know what all the rave is about in regards to Bonaire diving. Tropical Divers Resort helped me plan a great first trip to the island. I plan to come back for more diving and also volunteer my time to help with Reef Renewal Foundation Bonaire as a way to give back.
Restaurants
For dining out and restaurants I visited several. I dined at Sebastian's Restaurant and had barracuda (pic 2). I also ordered the roasted bone marrow as a starter for all at the table. Not everyone liked the bone marrow, but I did. I also ate the beef birria tacos at The Fat Dog located at Isidel Beach Park. The owner and cook, Tim, was interesting to talk to. I dropped by Te Amo Beach one evening and ordered a crispy chicken wrap from the Stoked Foodtruck (an old double-decker bus). At Cuba Compagnie in town, I ordered the rope vieja. The tuna poke from the Daily Catch Fisherman's Market was a good lunch.
I booked a dive, drive, and stay package at Tropical Divers Resort (TDR), about a 4-minute drive north from the airport. Link to their website: Tropical Divers Resort Bonaire. I couldn't score an apartment at TDR so settled for their hotel room. The apartment has a small living room, kitchen with cooking range, and separate bedroom with bathroom. The hotel room lacked the kitchen amenities, but a small refrigerator, an electric kettle, dishes, bowls, silverware, some knives, glasses, coffee mugs, and a cutting board were provided. My room had Type A, B, and F electrical outlets. In fact, my hotel room is the room exhibited on the website. The environs of TDR was very quiet and peaceful. There is a swimming pool that is separate from the scuba training pool. Adjacent to the training pool are the wash and rinse stations, a shower, racks to hang gear to dry, and a secure room to lock up gear at night. Breakfast is not provided. For my 10-night stay I paid $1250 USD, a slight discount from the price listed on the website.
For transportation, I was assigned a pickup truck from Green Motion. All the paperwork and vehicle inspection was done at their office at the airport after I exited the terminal building. For parking at TDR there is a small parking lot in the rear shared with Joe's Restaurant. There is parking available along the road along the wall that separates the resort from the road. My vehicle cost me $930 with insurance, which I split with a friend.
Tropical Divers Resort is a SSI facility with a training pool and a resident instructor. I really liked the dive package and the options for cylinders. TDR provided aluminum 80s and steel cylinder options in 10, 12, 15 liters. I loved using the steel 12s, which allowed me to not need any additional lead weighting for diving. TDR also provided adapters for DIN to yoke valve conversions (I brought my own adapters). Nitrox fills available at 32% O2 and provided free of charge in the dive package. For dives early in the morning before the dive shop opened, I analyzed cylinders and placed them in a locked bin the day prior. I saw the resident instructor teach a stress and rescue class and an OW class while I stayed at the resort.
The class I took was the reef renewal class spread out over two days taught by the resident instructor. The first day consisted of theory and a morning dive to clean the "Christmas trees" in the coral nursery located at Sebastian's Reef. The walk there took five minutes from the resort, and we walked there fully geared up. The afternoon dive consisted of coral handling and cutting fragments to grow in the nursery followed by more cleaning. The second day consisted of theory and a late morning dive to harvest coral fragments and outplanting them at a site close to Sebastian's Restaurant. The reef renewal class cost me a total of $290 USD. The class itself costs $250, but I was the lone student so paid a supplement of about $40 extra. I enjoyed the class and plan to volunteer to outplant coral on subsequent visits to Bonaire.
My friend arrived after my reef renewal class, and we spent the next six days doing the shore dives around the island. We saw firsthand the effects of the stony coral tissue loss disease. After two days diving the reef adjacent to the waterfront in town, we decided to find healthier reefs elsewhere. The reef health improved the further north and south of town. We enjoyed the reefs to the south particularly from White Slave to Vista Blue, with Vista Blue being our favorite. We enjoyed Salt Pier too especially during the day. I snapped a pic of mackerel scad (pic 1) swimming around the reefs at Vista Blue.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience on Bonaire. I now know what all the rave is about in regards to Bonaire diving. Tropical Divers Resort helped me plan a great first trip to the island. I plan to come back for more diving and also volunteer my time to help with Reef Renewal Foundation Bonaire as a way to give back.
Restaurants
For dining out and restaurants I visited several. I dined at Sebastian's Restaurant and had barracuda (pic 2). I also ordered the roasted bone marrow as a starter for all at the table. Not everyone liked the bone marrow, but I did. I also ate the beef birria tacos at The Fat Dog located at Isidel Beach Park. The owner and cook, Tim, was interesting to talk to. I dropped by Te Amo Beach one evening and ordered a crispy chicken wrap from the Stoked Foodtruck (an old double-decker bus). At Cuba Compagnie in town, I ordered the rope vieja. The tuna poke from the Daily Catch Fisherman's Market was a good lunch.
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