Bonaire recommendations

[mattporco]

My wife and I are thinking about spending our 10th wedding anniversary diving in Bonaire and are looking for recommendations/answers for the following:

1) Looking for a nice condo/villa to stay in (full kitchen, plenty of room to clean gear, nice TV, etc.) right on the water

2) Recommendation for good dive op

3) Recommendation for best shore dives

4) Looking for recommendation on grocery store(s) on the island that would have supplies for vegans/vegetarians (tofu, good veggies, bakery, etc.)

5) Looking for a very nice restaurant where we can have our anniversary dinner (upscale, nice atmosphere, good wine list, chef willing to do a custom menu)

Thanks in advanced for all your opinions!

Matt

 

[Biodiversity_guy]

for dinner, make a reservation IN ADVANCE for Richard's Pier table. Isolated over the water, a great place for a romantic dinner as the sun sets. Not sure about the custom menu.

My wife and I did our 20th in Bonaire, we stayed at Buddy Dive and have nothing but good things to say about it. Great diving right at the resort, and the shore diving with their pickup trucks and drive thru air / nitrox is very convenient.

 

[reefdiva]

Nice condo on the water: BelMar
Best shore dives: check out www.bsdme.info
Grocery stores for vegans/vegetarians: Warehouse, More for Less, La Portugesa. Shopping on Bonaire usually means hitting more than one store so don't limit yourself to these three -- just use them as a starting point!
Special Dinner: Wil's Tropical Grill. Wil is a fabulous chef with amazing presentations. With advance notice he will make you a customized dinner. Last July he made a special dessert for my husband's birthday and in December he did a FABULOUS dinner from apps through dessert for our anniversary.

 

[Phacops]

I'd recommend checking out shorediving.com for good shore diving reviews. I have favorites probably because of good dives I've had, but have never been disappointed at any site. Some nice sites?

• I always enjoy Red Slave. The entry can be rough at times (I was just reading another thread where somebody comments - and you will see why - that you want to walk out, and then put your fins on). Swim out to the reef edge to conserve air because the reef starts deep here. Very colorful, steep, reef where I've always been surprised at finding something new to me. Another tip I learned from an instructor that I've found helps me on the shore dives - when I want a relaxing swim out I inflate my BC a bit, lie back on my tank and seem to be able to get up a bit of power and speed that makes the swims out easy.
• Angel City is a nice dive to see the double reef. Again, I'd recommend swimming out a ways to drop onto the outer reef, exploring it and then returning at shallower depth on the inner reef. Last time we were surprised by some of our finds, fringed filefish hiding among the soft coral, decorator crabs.
• Witch's Hut that seems to have a lot of nooks and crannies that support a nice variety of eels where we have spotted Chain Moray, Sharptailed and Goldspotted eels among the other usual fauna.

I could go on, but what's the point - try a lot of different sites and you will probably find your own favorites. Some observations. Don't disregard the sand or rubble flats between the shore and reef. Especially if there is coral rubble with resident blennies, or jawfish in the sand, and on Bari Reef what seems like a resident batfish. Try different times of day. On an early morning dive at Witch's Hut a lot of the Corkscrew Anemones were out and all of them were populated by one or more Pedersons Cleaner Shrimp. Watch the fish behavior whether its a Graysby watching an eel hunt, masses of tangs and surgeonfish mobbing the territories of damsels, or the sneaky way trumpetfish swim above larger fish, waiting to snatch prey. And, please try the night diving!

I can't remember the last time I did a boat dive on Bonaire. I'm probably missing out on some great reefs on Klien Bonaire, but I'm still learning about the other reefs.

Enjoy your time!

 

[CLEAR BLUE]

You will have a wonderful time in Bonaire! My husband and I were there in November. One of our best dinners was at Buddy's on lobster night and we were at a table right on the water. The Casablanca was a good restaurant also - Argentinean Grill. Grocery wise we used a store I think was called the Calamara. Had a big variety . All the dive sites were good. We did one boat dive to Klein Bonaire and didn't see anything too different. Husband HIGHLY recommends the night dive at town pier. I really like Oil Slick Leap Pink Beach The Andreas.....They were all great! Have a wonderful anniversary!

 

[reefdiva]

Grocery store that Clear Blue mentions is Cultimara. Large store but I think that the fruits and veggies are better at others. Clear Blue also mentions Casablanca which is a great restaurant for meat and fish eaters but as vegetarians/vegans it probably would not work for mattporco (original poster)!

 

[rsilva708]

Buddys was great. They have apartments with full kitchens. Thats what we had when we went.

Oil Slick is a fun dive. It gives new meaning to the "giant Stride"

 

[padi1029]

Divi Flamingo was great, within easy walk to town, lots of places to eat or drink along the way. Dive op, Divi Dive is top notch. Easy boat and shore diving on their house reef. Didn't do much drive & dive,but from what others have told me and what I have read on scuba board most sites are easily accessible. Some however have been closed and are now located on private property. Had a great meal at Casablanca and got supplies for the room from Cultimara (also within walking distance). If you go to shop @ Cutlimara bring a large canvas sack or 2 for your goods, makes the trek back to resort much easier. I don't know about vegan eateries but I am sure you will find something just about anywhere you go. Enjoy your trip

 

[undercbon]

My wife and I are thinking about spending our 10th wedding anniversary diving in Bonaire and are looking for recommendations/answers for the following:


5) Looking for a very nice restaurant where we can have our anniversary dinner (upscale, nice atmosphere, good wine list, chef willing to do a custom menu)

Thanks in advanced for all your opinions!

Matt

Matt,
My choice for a stand above the others restaurant would be Wil's Tropical Grill downtown. Wil is a superb chef and if given 24 hours notice can create a special menu (ask about the "box") from appetizers through to unbelievable deserts! If you have a vegetarian along with there is enough, even on the regular menu, to keep them happy. I do not drink but have not heard any complaints about the wine list. 717-6616

Happy anniversary in advance!

 

[frogoutofwater]

I've just started doing some research on Bonaire and was comparing recommendations on this site for accommodation to those on tripadvisor. I've seen several recommendations on Scubaboard for Buddy Dive, but I just noticed a very recent tripadvisor review (Feb 2007) where the reviewers said they and other members of their group had a huge problem with bed bugs. I don't believe everything I read on tripadvisor - but this sounds like something any prospective visitor might want to check out.