Bonaire June '20

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tkaelin

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Location
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Returning to Bonaire this June for our 4th trip to Bon. Last trip in Jan, 2016. Airfare ridiculous (and lets not go there) but bit the bullet as there will be just two of us this time and found a decent dive/lodging package deal. Always wanted to stay in the Oceanfront Jr. suites at Capt Dons and found a package through Maduro with the Jr. suite available. Kudos to Lori at Maduro. This is the first trip I used Maduro or any dive travel agent. Great to work with.

Package includes 10 boat dives each, free nitrox on the boat dives and unlimited shore diving. I used Capt Don's for diving on our last 3 trips and we should be able to share the boat dive so we have 20 boat dives between the two of us and I will likely use the lion share of them. Nitrox for the shore diving is an add'l $30.

The Jr. suite is oceanfront right next to the dive dock, tank and lockers. A perfect set up for easy access to a lot of diving and sunsets. Not a full kitchen, but I think we will manage with the small fridge, sink, coffee maker and microwave. Enough to handle breakfasts and left overs for lunch. Others here on SB who have stayed in these units give them high marks.

Will do plenty of shore diving at the house reefs and boat diving. I can dive Buddys, Capt Dons and Cliff every day without getting bored. I know many here are shore diving only devotees who dive by truck hitting shore dive sites throughout the island but while I like the shore diving truck thing I also like the boat diving set up at Capt Dons and have not seen anything like it anywhere else. Complete flexibility. Dives are single tank three times a day: early morning, late morning, early afternoon. Sign up starts the day before when the next day schedule is posted. This by itself is unique - that you know the day before where they are going and with rare exception that is where they go. You can also sign up or cancel a boat dive minutes before. Your call. I will likely get in 12-15 boat dives. My wife struggles with boat diving (sea sickness) but likes the Capt Don's set up as she can go on a later boat and has liked all the Klein dives. A 5 minute boat ride with a one tank works well for her. Also the afternoon boat tends to be to Klein and tends to only have a few divers. She also likes the flexibility. If she signs up the day before but doesn't feel up to it the next day for whatever reason or the weather looks iffy, she can just take her number off the board. No commitment or penalty.

We may rent a truck for week or just a couple days. Not planning on doing much in the way of shore diving beyond the house reefs but would like to hit Salt Pier one more time for a late afternoon dive with the sun behind the pilings. Would use the truck mostly for runs to the market up the street and some of our favorite food places. AB has a good rate on a single cab and we can also rent from Budget at Capt. Dons.

Will post a report. Up next though CUR later this month. Will also post a report. Only one dive trip in '19 but the family trip to Iceland in June that was amazing.

Happy 2020 all and happy diving. TK
 
Sounds great and hope it works out well for you guys. Couple of follow up thoughts:

Dives are single tank three times a day: early morning, late morning, early afternoon.

I'd find single tank trips irritating because of the need to get off the boat between dives, go get another tank...vs. just getting on that morning with 2 tanks, and coming back when done. Seems 2 1-tank trips would be more of a time killer. On Bonaire trips I tend to try for efficiency to pack a lot of dives in, which may skew my perspective.

Bonaire rocks for warm water, minimal current (mostly), excellent viz. and decent reefs and fish life...but if shore diving weren't a big deal to me, I think the larger grouper and other creatures of the outer atolls of Belize and the Caymans would win me over. Is your wife's issue with sea sickness a factor in choosing Bonaire? Sounds like she can find short boat rides (Klein Bonaire), and the seas are often not too rough.

Richard.
 
Actually on Bonaire with the 1 tanks at Capt Dons with short boat rides, I get more not less dives in. Will do a early am night dive before sunrise on the house reef, may jump on the 8 AM boat our do another shore dive and jump on the late morning. Same pattern in the PM. Easy to get 4-5 every day. On just shore diving by truck a lot of time is spent packing lugging and traveling , unpacking that is avoided by having a boat 20 ft from my locker and house reef. Not so much lugging and packing. There is some traveling by boat but I enjoy being out on the water and it can be quicker than driving.

On my shore dives I like to take it slow and explore and find tons of interesting stuff. Not so concerned about big stuff. Big is just a size. :). A couple frog fish and seahorse can more than make up for not seeing something big although seeing another manta or whaleshark would be pretty darn cool.

The sea sickness thing dictates mostly shore diving which we find plenty of on Bon, CUR and GC.

Happy diving.
 
Thanks for posting @tkaelin - I think your approach is one that a lot of people need to know more about and consider. There is this mentality or perspective out there that Bonaire is a "shore diving only" destination and don't give it enough consideration if they are not into shore diving. When in reality, it is probably one of the most economic and easy boat diving locations in the Caribbean, if you know how to go about it. l look forward to your report. Hmm.. has me thinking-- maybe I should post a thread called "Bonaire- Boat Diving Made Easy."
 
Got a great deal thru Maduro at Capt Dons about 10 years ago, half price and included boat dives. Spoiled us, our next 6 trips were Capt Dons and Buddy Dive doing boat dives and house reef, no truck. Groceries and restaurants within walking distance. If you sign up for the same boat all day you can leave your gear on it.

Sometimes we would rent a truck on our day off and make the loop.

But we missed seeing the southern sites so the last two trips we did the truck thing. Now we're back looking at Buddy Dive and no truck, the money we save on truck rental, insurance and gas pays for the boat dives.
 
DFB does 2 tank dives every morning from the Sand Dollar/Den Laman pier. They do Klein Bonaire and northern sites , not accessible from shore. Their boats, with the exception of Pelican are quite fast. Two dives are very efficient, leaving plenty of the for 3 or 4 more dives especially with a night dive. Some of these dives are excellent, in my opinion, not to be missed.
 
I too do a mix of shore and boat when on Bonaire as well as a mix of house reef and truck. There are indeed many ways to dive this island and the older I get, the more boat and house reef diving seems to appeal in comparison to having to get in the truck.

Buddy Dive has a similar boat dive scheduling system to Habitat and has a mix of one tank, two tank, options as well as some specific designated sites such as Hilma.
 
Bonaire rocks for warm water, minimal current (mostly), excellent viz. and decent reefs and fish life...but if shore diving weren't a big deal to me, I think the larger grouper and other creatures of the outer atolls of Belize and the Caymans would win me over.
Richard.
While definitely not the norm (Bonaire isn't known for the bigger stuff as you know), last week I saw (and later classified) a 100+ pound, 4 to 5-foot long Cubera Snapper over the sand at Invisibles. It shocked me because I hadn't ever seen a fish that large in Bonaire, but apparently they do come out every once in awhile. :)

This trip was my son's first to Bonaire (well, anywhere for that matter), and he said at the end that he actually liked the boat diving better because the dive sites were "closer." I think he meant you didn't have to walk from the truck to the water and back at the end. Kids today...:banghead::rofl3:
 
While definitely not the norm (Bonaire isn't known for the bigger stuff as you know), last week I saw (and later classified) a 100+ pound, 4 to 5-foot long Cubera Snapper over the sand at Invisibles. It shocked me because I hadn't ever seen a fish that large in Bonaire, but apparently they do come out every once in awhile. :)

This trip was my son's first to Bonaire (well, anywhere for that matter), and he said at the end that he actually liked the boat diving better because the dive sites were "closer." I think he meant you didn't have to walk from the truck to the water and back at the end. Kids today...:banghead::rofl3:
Wow that would be huge, not so much below the record size
 
DFB does 2 tank dives every morning from the Sand Dollar/Den Laman pier. They do Klein Bonaire and northern sites , not accessible from shore. Their boats, with the exception of Pelican are quite fast. Two dives are very efficient, leaving plenty of the for 3 or 4 more dives especially with a night dive. Some of these dives are excellent, in my opinion, not to be missed.
What does DFB stand for? Where are they located? Thanks
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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