Bonaire Recommendation?

[Laurie S.]

My boyfriend and I will be in Bonaire for one day while on a cruise and I'm looking for a good shop for us where we can do some shore diving. We don't need a guide. Russ is an MSDT and has been shore diving for almost 40 years. I'm a newbie at it (three shore dives). We'll have our own equipment and need a place that would have some security for our bags and stuff. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[DeputyDan]

contact Bart at Wannadive.
He posts on this board.

Wannadive Bonaire - Courses, shore and boat diving

 

[Laurie S.]

Thanks!

 

[herman]

Barts great guy and will treat you well. I would suggest that if they suggest Eden Beach, ask about going to a different site. The rubble pile in front of EB is my least favorite dive on the island, instead, go to their Windsock Location. EB has better facilities but WS is a much better dive.

 

[drrich2]

I'd like to follow up what Herman said.

Eden's Rubble features a rocky shelf; you giant stride past it from their wooden pier (or use the ladder). Then there's some rubble on a mostly sandy bottom. Swim out aways and you find sort of a 'big bowl', which you head down & see the wreck of the Bakanal a bit to the north, and you might swing around it hitting 70 or 80 feet deep or so. It's a boat wreck, not a ship. You don't get much coral reef on the dive, though.

The Windsock Resort location (which has a nice reef dive site easily accessible by ladder & I like because I've been shown a couple of sea horses there) is NOT the same as the Windsock dive site (which I also like, but it's not the same place). So, if you want Windsock Resort's dive site, ask for that, rather than just 'Windsock.'

Windsock itself is a nice site with pretty easy entry & exit near a large wooden pier; I like it for night dives because with that pier it's easy to tell where to return for exit, and it's a good site for people who like easier entry/exit.

Richard.

 

[RTee]

...Glad I will be there for two weeks instead on only one day. So many great sites to dive.

 

[Laurie S.]

We'll also be diving in Aruba, Curacao, Samana, and Grand Turk.

 

[akirawut]

Check out BDA - Bonaire Dive and Adventure - Bonaire Dive and Adventure. They have a great site right off their dock. And a nice restaurant on site for beer afterwards!

 

[diversteve]

my .02

I was going to suggest BD&A also ^. They're located at Den Laman condos among the north dive resorts. Unless things have changed, they have lockers right on the dock (bring a lock). The dive is Bari Reef, it's the divesite with the most counted species of fish in the Caribbean.

Just north of there is Capt' Don's Habitat, they have lockers just off their dock and both the Cliff and LaMachaca dive sites are accessible from their dive dock. We dove Cliff to the north and drifted back over the LaMachaca - it depends which way the current is running. They also have Rum Runners restaurant and the Pizza Temple onsite.

Either one is about a 5-10 min. cab ride and will get you out of the crowds downtown - Kralendijk isn't very big and your ship docks at Town Pier right in the middle of everything. Nice thing about diving a resort is that cabs will be accessible when you need one to return. From Kralendijk to Habitat is $9. Info Bonaire - Government Taxi Rates

If I had to choose between them I'd pick Cliff for the diversity of the reef structure but Bari for the fish life. My buddy did a REEF fishcount there with their naturalist, they saw 185 different species.

 

[DiverVince]

Well unfortunately there's really no way to get a taste of what Bonaire diving is really about in one day. So my advice would be to try a couple of shore dives during your 1 day visit & then book a stay on the island of a minimum of 1 week. Next month we're down for 3 weeks and as usual can't wait to return.