Bonaire or Dominica??

[pilot fish]

Pilot fish ............Would you please stop the Bonaire bashing? Fact is problem is no where near as bad as you make it out to be and most of the problem is with unthinking divers who leave stuff in unattended vehicles, you know.. just like NYC. And for the record, I have spent 8 weeks over 6 years on Bonaire, traveling,eating and diving all over the island day and night with no, zero, nada problem. I have been with groups ranging from 2 to 24 and no one has had any problems. If I remember correctly, you have spent 1 week there, barely left the resort and had no problems yourself. It's true, the island is not without it's problems but at least I can walk down any street on the island day or nigh, something I doubt you would do in NYC or here in Raleigh for that matter.

Herman, that was not a Bonairian Bash but a heads up for a fellow diver. I'd hate to see this diver go down to Bonaire, pack his family and all his gear in a rented car and have it robbed, broken into, while they were off in the water. I've seen some of your posts and think you are a fairly honest guy, so let me ask you, aside from me, have you heard that rental cars get broken into on Bonaire while divers are shore diving?

The question about crime in NYC and Raliegh, [irrelevant in this discussion since neither place is a dive destination], people know that and go to those places aware that things can happen, but not everybody knows that rental cars CAN be a target on the island of Bonaire. I just wanted to alert this diver to be cautious if he rented a car there.

 

[pilot fish]

Don't think anyone is bashing Bonaire, the car issue has been mentioned and as herman said just need to apply common sense. Am willing to pay the extra to be on the water also a "home reef" for some solo night diving would be great, any ideas?

You are correct, that was not bashing but a caution to not let your guard down, as we all do on vacation, and be aware that rental cars on Bonaire can be a problem.

I've been to both places, Dominica and Bonaire, and can tell you that both places have fine diving. Bonaire is a flat, dry island with not much topside things to see, while Dominica is more lush and has a rain forest and some neat hiking. Better hotels on Bonaire. I would not hesitate to go to a resort and boat dive on Bonaire, which is what I did. I would NOT rent a car to shore dive on Bonaire because of the problem I've stated. Of the two? I think you'd be fine with either one so let the price determine your destination, I guess. See which place offers the best deal.

 

[ddawson]

mjh

I saw your trip report on the Bay Island combo trip some time back
Nice Report

If you check out my signature page, you will see three recent trips to Bonaire
over the last two years or so.

I have toured a lot of the hotels on Bonaire that are on the water.
I cant tell you much about the hotels off the water.
I have also dived alot of the house reefs

You are going to a have tough time beating staying at the Belmar Apartments.
The Belmar has very nice facilities for diving on site and the Apartments are very nice.
I have to say that the Belmar house reef is not as good as some of the other house reefs.

But you can do your night house reef dives at Buddys since the Belmar uses Buddys for the boat dives. If I was going to do a lot of boat diving, staying at the Belmar would be a pain because you have to get in the truck to do the boat dives. You have to drive to Buddy's. We only do three two tankers during the whole week, so we dont consider this a big issue. BTW I have dived with Toucan and there are excellent too.

Personally, I think one of the best house reefs is at the Sand Dollar, but my wife would never stay there. So oh well. The house reef at Buddys and Captain Dons are both good as well.

I am going to Dominica on March 19, 2005. I have done alot of research on this if you are interested. Email me for more details if you want.

darren