Bonaire, Shore diving capital of the Caribbean?

[Doctorfish]

I've been going to bonaire for 20 years and the OP is dead wrong. My family and I still love the island. Entry difficulty is a relative sort of thing and as I get older, some of the sites I used to dive regularly are no longer appealing, but there are still many easy entry sites as well as great hotel house reefs. The shallows on the west side have been damaged by some of the hurricanes including Matthew, but once you get out to the drop off the coral and marine life are very healthy. The shallows are still worth spending time on as you never know when you will see squid, flounders, etc. The biggest green moray I've ever seen was in an old pipe just off the dock at Buddy Dive in less than 10 feet of water. Frogfish are incredible hard to spot and some years we never find one. No big deal.The hunt is part of the fun and when you go slow, it's amazing what life you do find, both day and night.

As numerous people have pointed out, the dive shops all have leaflets with a map showing every named dive site on the island and there are several shore diving guides available for purchase.

The Green Parrot Restaurant, Richards and some of the other old favorites have disappeared as well, but there are many old and new good quality restaurants to enjoy.

 

[White Chocolate]

Everything about the original post is correct. Not sure why anyone would ever want to shore dive in Bonaire!

 

[hilljo88]

We dove Bonaire in May 2018. Loved it. Some shore entries required more focus than others, but lots of easy entries. Marine life was abundant. Wouldn’t hesitate to go back. If flights were easier and less expensive, we would go back annually.

 

[Jersey]

To the OP - thanks for your take. I always appreciate hearing what other people think, even when their experience does not mirror my own. I'd be interested to hear where you are diving, what makes it better and what other recommendations you have as I'm always looking to expand my horizon.

And please tell all your friends not to go to Bonaire. Write trip reports all over the internet about how it sucks. Maybe the airfare will come down

 

[Paleo]

Yep, so horrid that I've been coming back since1990. Oh! The horror of that sandy beach entry at Something Special (Slipper Lobsters and the strangest Ribbon Worms on night dives) or the invigorating giant step entry off the cliff edge at Oil Slick.

Yes, shore entries can sometimes be challenging, Red Slave comes to mind, but when my wife feels uncertain I happily carry her kit into the water so she has an easier time and we both can have a good time seeing both the usual suspects as well as looking for unusual critters.

 

[Paleo]

View attachment 490896

Everything about the original post is correct. Not sure why anyone would ever want to shore dive in Bonaire!

BRAVO

 

[coldwaterlloyd]

Bonaire is Shore Diving Capital of World hands down .
There are stupid easy sites and hard challenging sites , hurricanes have not changed them much .
I would say more than half the shore dives on Bonaire are of the stupid easy variety , then there is Candy Land and White Slave that are much more difficult .
The sheer number of sites , so close together , reef close to shore , by far the best on the planet , wish there were half dozen more destinations just like it

 

[howswedeofme]

I’m in the minority and didn’t love Bonaire. Most entries were easy, but quite a few take some work. The fish life was abundant but the same on almost every site and the topography was a bit boring to us. We may not have done the right dive sites for our interests. We did use the dive guide from the shop, which makes a nice souvenir. If you want to dive your face off and enjoy easy diving once you’re in, I can see the appeal of Bonaire.

We dove Cayman Brac this year and did a mix of shore and boat dives. They’re putting in a great effort on island to make shore diving more accessible and noticeable. It’s not the great number of sites like on Bonaire and a number of the sites aren’t accessible unless the water on that side of the island is quite calm, but for the shore diving enthusiasts, I recommend checking out The Brac.

 

[wgw04024]

Is this some sort of joke? Not even worthy of a response.

 

[a878bob]

I would have to agree with most here. The dive sites have never been numbered in the past 20 years. I think we have that part settled.

There are obviously different degrees of entry/exit ease. It has been that way for the last 20 years, Some are ridiculously easy, bachelors beach, windsock, invisibles. Even 1000 steps is easy once you get down the steps.
Karpata can be rough when the surf is up, Candy land is a rough one, especially when you don't get out at the same spot you went in. Red slave, so, so, I think thats somewhere in the middle.

I can't wait to get back. There is a little remnant of a shack down where the sail boarders go out, no roof, a bit of corrugated steel wall, an old hand wringing wash machine, i've always said that will be my retirement home. What else could i need.