funkyspelunker:
Do you guys think its wise to go to bonaire right now with a lady friend who is a non-diver, is it safe with all these thugs around (you guys have spoken of in these posts)? I'd be doing a lot of diving, and she'd be hanging around topside while I am diving. I'm just starting to get second thoughts about this trip, I mean not because I think we have a high probability of getting stolen from, but just because it sucks to always have to watch your things incessantly, kind of like on oahu!
I'd go...
On one hand, in a week of shore diving, more than once when our truck was the only vehicle in sight for hours, we never had any problems. I think most of the "thugs" are young bored kids who've learned to act when they see divers disappear u/w. Frankly with your LF hanging around up top, I would not worry about leaving stuff in the truck. And I wouldn't be concerned at all for her safety there. Unless you go really far to the south or possibly some of the more obscure sites up north, there will typically be other divers within visual distance at another site, some of them are so close together that the yellow rock markers share the entrance. And to the south, it's really flat, so you can see a long way.
On the other hand, we did have a visible night watchman at our condo. We did the typical things you'd do at night, lock the doors and moved our gear from the truck to our locker nightly, we left tanks wherever they were all week as they don't get touched, no diveshop will fill someone else's tanks, so they're left alone. Nothing different than what I'd do at any other vacation location, diving or not.
I had the same feelings you do though, you're always conscious of not leaving valuables in the car, even for a few minutes. On the other hand, how often do you leave your scuba gear or anything valuable in your unlocked car at home?
It's such a quiet, peaceful place that I'm often surprised to read of others having problems, both here and on bonairetalk. I live in Phoenix and it's so routine to hear of assault, robbery and daily murder that you become immune to it.
If you read some of the threads on bonairetalk, there are descriptions of isolated robberies and theft, but there must be hundreds(thousands?) more in a place like Nassau or Honolulu, that don't get reported. I remember the first time we went to Maui, I was surprised when warned not to leave stuff in the car while diving either, even at busy public beach areas.
I felt a lot safer in Bonaire than I would in Phoenix at night. I never felt unsafe in Kralendijk, even at night, or that I was in any danger, most of the local people were very friendly, even one guy I saw several nights in a row that I'm sure was the closest thing to a homeless person they have on Bonaire.
my .02
Steve
