bonaire lodging and misc. diving package questions

[Homunculus]

hi all,
i finally booked flights to Bonaire for November. it's going to be our very first diving trip. Since I have no prior experience with planning diving trips, I have a few general questions as well as few specific ones and would like your feedback. Two of us are divers + a 9 month old baby + 2 non-diving grandparents.
(1) what has your experience been with Belmar apartments? i'm thinking of getting a 2-bedroom / 2 bathroom suite. we would buy food in the grocery store and cook at home.
(2) when they say "free fills" or "unlimited fills" in the description of a lodging place - what exactly does it mean? do they fill provided tanks or do they give you filled tanks ad libitum?
(3) what are the most important things to consider when choosing a diving package?
(4) does it matter what type of car to rent in Bonaire (a truck vs. economy)?
(5) I have my own equipment that i'm planning to take with me on the trip (except tanks of course). Are tanks provided by the lodging place normally or I have to rent them for the duration of the trip?
(6) how many boad trips are worth taking and where while in Bonaire?
(7) are there any medical concerns that we should worry about (special immunization, any outbreaks of some tropical disease, etc)?
(8) what are the fees if any that are normally hidden from naive travellers until very end?
(9) my wife does not have any equipment (no mask, fins etc etc). Does she need to buy some items or everything is rentable?
Thanks a lot

 

[Maule]

hi all,
i finally booked flights to Bonaire for November. it's going to be our very first diving trip. Since I have no prior experience with planning diving trips, I have a few general questions as well as few specific ones and would like your feedback. Two of us are divers + a 9 month old baby + 2 non-diving grandparents.
(1) what has your experience been with Belmar apartments? i'm thinking of getting a 2-bedroom / 2 bathroom suite. we would buy food in the grocery store and cook at home.
(2) when they say "free fills" or "unlimited fills" in the description of a lodging place - what exactly does it mean? do they fill provided tanks or do they give you filled tanks ad libitum?
(3) what are the most important things to consider when choosing a diving package?
(4) does it matter what type of car to rent in Bonaire (a truck vs. economy)?
(5) I have my own equipment that i'm planning to take with me on the trip (except tanks of course). Are tanks provided by the lodging place normally or I have to rent them for the duration of the trip?
(6) how many boad trips are worth taking and where while in Bonaire?
(7) are there any medical concerns that we should worry about (special immunization, any outbreaks of some tropical disease, etc)?
(8) what are the fees if any that are normally hidden from naive travellers until very end?
(9) my wife does not have any equipment (no mask, fins etc etc). Does she need to buy some items or everything is rentable?
Thanks a lot

Can't answer all your questions but will answer the ones I have some knowledge on.

2. Have no direct knowledge of Belmar apts but typically, on Bonaire, the resorts have tanks that they fill and you come by and pick up. The 2 resorts I have been to had tanks on the dock or shore that you could just pick up and use. Leave the cap off the top when you done with it so they know to refill it. Pretty simple. If you use Nitrox again the resorts had tanks and an O2 sensor to verify fills with a log sheet that you filled out. Again just pick up a tank verify the Nitrox mix log it and be on your way. No you will not have to bring tanks. PLENTY of tanks to go around.

4. If you plan to do shore diving get the S-10 truck. Be aware that I filled up a tank, just last week, and it cost me $80.00....

5. again no direct knowledge of Belmar but I have yet to be at a resort that charged for tanks.

6. my 2 favorite sites are "thousand steps" and "forest". You can shore dive thousand steps, but you have to go up and down a long set of steps to get to and back up from. It can be done, but dont plan on doing it of you have kids, older individuals, etc. Forest can only be done from a boat.

7. None that I am aware of.

8. There is a $32.00 per person fee to leave the island that you must pay at the airport. Yes, even 1 month old babies.

9. easily rentable but no more that mask, fins cost I would recommend getting those before you leave.


Also, food is fairly expensive. If you have room I would recommend using one check luggage to pack dry food goods.

Also read this thread if you havent already. http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=195743

 

[undercbon]

Mikhail,
Let me see what I can do with your questions.

hi all,
i finally booked flights to Bonaire for November. it's going to be our very first diving trip. Since I have no prior experience with planning diving trips, I have a few general questions as well as few specific ones and would like your feedback. Two of us are divers + a 9 month old baby + 2 non-diving grandparents.
(1) what has your experience been with Belmar apartments? i'm thinking of getting a 2-bedroom / 2 bathroom suite. we would buy food in the grocery store and cook at home.

Belmar is a great choice. Well kept, clean, equipped units. Solid on premise dive operation. Boat dives through Buddy dive if you wish but shore diving is their focus. Easy access to the sea with rinse tanks on the dock. Nice community area with pool.

(2) when they say "free fills" or "unlimited fills" in the description of a lodging place - what exactly does it mean? do they fill provided tanks or do they give you filled tanks ad libitum?

It means you have access to full tanks whenever you wish. There is a cage with tanks for shore diving near the parking area and a tank station near the pier.

(3) what are the most important things to consider when choosing a diving package?

Can't help you there. I think it depends on how much diving you plan to do.

(4) does it matter what type of car to rent in Bonaire (a truck vs. economy)?

I suggest renting a truck. They handle the terrain and are easier to dive from than a car. The Toyota Hilux double cab compact pick-up is the islands choice and will allow the entire group of you to travel together to restaurants etc in comfort.

(5) I have my own equipment that i'm planning to take with me on the trip (except tanks of course). Are tanks provided by the lodging place normally or I have to rent them for the duration of the trip?

See question 2. Weights will be issued at orientation.


(6) how many boad trips are worth taking and where while in Bonaire?

Depends on you. The majority of sites can be reached from shore except for Klein Bonaire ( a small island with some superb diving just off the coast) and some further north. Find out where the boats are scheduled to go and plan accordingly.

(7) are there any medical concerns that we should worry about (special immunization, any outbreaks of some tropical disease, etc)?

No special considerations are necessary. Read this board and www.bonairetalk.com trip reports about other issues folks have dealt with such as bug bites of various varieties. We do have a healthy mosquito population.

(8) what are the fees if any that are normally hidden from naive travellers until very end?

You will need to pay a $25 per diver or $10/water use fee to the Bonaire National Marine Park. They will tell you about this at orientation. Departure tax is $32/person. The rest of your costs should be itemized in the package price.


(9) my wife does not have any equipment (no mask, fins etc etc). Does she need to buy some items or everything is rentable?
Thanks a lot

Belmar has a complete dive shop on premise so they can rent you most everything. If you are going to shore dive it would be worth having her bring her own hard sole booties and open heel fins. The shop would most likely supply full foot which is not fun on coral rock. Not a bad idea to be fitted for a mask before she comes as well.

Have a great time! :14:

 

[diversteve]

my .02

I wouldn't buy any more than the 6 boat dive package. Imo the good sites that aren't shore accessible are Forest, Hands Off and maybe Jerry's Reef off Klein and Rappel off north Bonaire. We did about 6-7 boat dives last trip and twice dove a site off Bonaire that we could see shoredivers doing also. If you plan to dive the Hooker, I've heard mixed reviews about boat diving it. Some say that it gives you access to the second reef, others say that they often meet shoredivers at the wreck...

The other thing to consider is that all of the dive resorts were intentionally placed on good dive sites. In particular Bari Reef at Bonaire Dive & Adventure/Sand Dollar condos is worth a dive. It's the Caribbean reef with the most counted fish species. They do REEF fish surveys there, ask in the office. They have naturalists that will accompany you for a fee and point things out. Another site we liked was off the Habitat dock going north, you're on the La Machaca site and you can swim to the Cliff site, one of the few vertical walls in that area. Most of the resorts have good diving off their docks. And all have lockers, showers, rinse tanks etc. We actually spent a day just "resort diving".

The hard sole booties Susan mentioned are a must. Most shore entries are over coral rubble and ironshore. I tried doing it in surf-walkers and have a 4x1" permanent reminder of my stupidity on my right shin. We just dove similar conditions in Curacao and these TUSA boots worked really well for me.

Cultimara is the food store in town, there's also at least two warehouse food outlets slightly east of downtown. Cultimara had better looking fresh stuff and has a butcher shop, bakery and brands you'll recognize. We bought staples at the warehouse foods and everything else at Cultimara. As I recall there's no oven at BelMar, just a cooktop, toaster oven and maybe a microwave. If you do go out, Zee Zicht, City Cafe and Donna/Giorgio's are all pretty reasonable. It Rains Fishes is pricey but very good.
Also try Casablanca, it's more expensive but you'll likely end up taking some home. Excellent food.

One last thing I thought of, if you're flying AA through San Juan, the puddle jumper to Bonaire is really small. As in check your approved size carry-on small. They'll take it from you on the tarmac and return it on Bonaire. So you might want to carry the baby's things in a small duffel. I think the overhead size is like 15x10x8 or so. It's on the AA website.