BONAIRE: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (Trip Report, May 16 - 23)

[jimbeeler]

I thank you for your report (despite you knowing it would rub a lot of folks on SB the wrong way). It shows another perspective that a lot of folks around here don't understand. From my perspective, it's very easy to get a lot of dives in.

Here's how we did it:

We would evaluate the different sites before we left and pick two fairly close together, load up 2 tanks per person and get on the road (after breakfast at the resort) by 8AM-9AM. Very easy to get two dives in before lunch. Come back, turn in the tanks and get two more for each diver. Go back to the room and fix a sandwich or two for lunch and hang out for a couple of hours. Go back out about 2PM and get a couple more dives. Come back by 5PM-6PM, turn in the tanks, go back to the room and change clothes. We'd either eat in or go out for dinner. If we wanted a night dive, we'd do it after dinner.

We would always try to dive the locations close together thus minimizing travel time. The northern most sites could be a challenge because you have to drive through Rincon because of the one way road at that point. You just plan for it and adjust your schedule accordingly. Dive two northern sites first thing in the morning and save the afternoon for the easy and closer southern sites.

We had no problem with theft but we didn't leave anything in the truck other than a few 1/2 empty water bottles.

I agree with the insurance... It costs as much as a whole rental in the states. You must be prepared for that "gotcha".

We did no cooking and my dive partners did go out to eat several times. I preferred to relax in and eat a sandwich and plan the next day's diving. I ate enough at breakfast that eating light at lunch and dinner didn't hurt me at all. Personally, I spent under $100 for the week on food (but I'm a cheap date).

It just goes to show you that different people like different things and expect different things in a dive experience. I remember very well your original post about going to Bonaire and I recall you really felt you weren't going to like it. I do wonder if the experience would have been better if you had gone into it with an excited, positive attitude. Maybe not, but it's worth a try.


Again, I appreciate your informative review of your trip and the risk you took posting it despite the obvious flak you knew you were going to receive.

Jim

 

[RJP]

Food was a huge problem. I lift weights so I eat six meals a day. When I am on a vacation I only eat 3 meals but each meal is bigger than what most people eat. In the 7 days that we were in Bonaire I lost 10 lbs eating the way everyone else was on Bonaire was. On the last day I ordered two servings of food at a restaurant and each entre was 22 USD so my dinner was over 50 USD. The money that I saved with Bonaire’s famous “cheap diving” is what went into its world reknowned “expensive eating” so when all math was done, it was not the budget place that everyone makes it out to be. Unless you want to live on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches which a lot of people there do. Next time someone says Bonaire is about cheap diving ask them what they ate throughout the week just to get an over all idea of what that means.

C'mon, I think (hope?) you're just trying to be silly. To suggest that dining in Bonaire is problematic or inordinately expensive based on what you paid for twice as much food as the average person - including ordering two entrees in a restaurant - is more than a bit disingenuous.

---------- Post added June 23rd, 2015 at 12:48 PM ----------

So far the diving community is willing to take exaggerated precautions or blame the victim for not taking exaggerated precautions.

Not to defend the petty theft - which sucks - but to suggest that "don't leave anything in the car that you don't want stolen" is "an exaggerated precaution" is sort of silly. Beyond the Bonaire-specific concept of "and don't lock the doors" the idea of not leaving valuables in an unattended vehicle is common sense that applies to any and every location in the world. I wouldn't leave my wallet, camera, or dive light on the seat of my car at the Short Hills Mall here in NJ... why would I expect to do so on Bonaire or anywhere else?

---------- Post added June 23rd, 2015 at 12:54 PM ----------

I do wonder if the experience would have been better if you had gone into it with an excited, positive attitude. Maybe not, but it's worth a try.

My grandmother used to say "there are only two things in life that you're guaranteed to find anytime you look for them: disappointment and trouble."

 

[lmorin]

Enjoy it for what it is, not what it's not. A number of medium things; blue striped grunts, school masters, French & queen angelfish, lots of parrotfish or varied types, trumpet fish, small barracuda, and schools of French grunts & other things. Spotted morays here & there.

For big, small to medium & occasionally large sea turtles (hawksbill & green are what I've seen), green morays, tarpon, occasional big barracuda, occasional tiger grouper (I've not seen goliath, Nassau or black grouper there; someone reported seeing a goliath once I know of), cubera snapper, rainbow parrotfish, midnight parrotfish, those are the main things off the top of my head.

I don't seen pork fish or gray angelfish for whatever reason, & don't see sharks there.

Lots of corals, gorgonians & sponges.

I hope to hit Morehead in August. You've got big stuff & all the sharks you can stand there. Try something different; you might like it. After all, that's the spirit I planned my Morehead trip in.

Richard.

Richard--we have now seen a single pork fish on three separate dives at Bachelors Beach over the last 3 yrs and we saw a nearly adult gray angel at Bari Reef in January and again in April of this year.

 

[howswedeofme]

I gotta say, we dove Bonaire differently than a lot of people, and still loved it. We didn't stay at a resort, but rented a house near Bobbejan's and are so glad we did. The outdoor patio and lizards running all over the property were fantastic for us. We did around 3 dives per day, including a couple days of boat diving Klein Bonaire that were incredible, and then for shore dives would do a longer, shallower dive at one site in the afternoon instead of a little shorter dives at two sites. We saw so many memorable things that I didn't feel as though we missed out by not trying to squeeze more dives in per day. We also went to a restaurant for lunch many of the days and loved Karel's on the pier. It was close to our dive shop, and we enjoyed sitting out over the water in the sun with nothing to do and nowhere we had to go. I loved driving to Rincon, visiting the distillery (on a day that a cruise tour wasn't there), stopping at the donkey sanctuary, and driving to the east end to see the salt flats, flamingos, and windmills. We loved Bonaire because there isn't as much to do top-side compared to other islands and it was our first vacation that we felt like we really were able to relax, largely in part due to the freedom of shore diving to be on our own schedule. We rented a truck from AB and had no issues with the truck or theft, but we also didn't leave anything but old flip flops and some ratty shorts/t-shirts in the truck.

We (by we, I mean me, as my husband hates cooking) made quite a few meals at the house, including trying some stir fry concoctoins which turned out to be a great find because we bought a bunch of packets of the sauce from VDT to bring back to the states (so much less sugar! love it!). We didn't mind going to the grocery store because I love seeing what is different than in the states. I also bought a couple pieces of nice bread, some cheese (Gouda, of course!), and some proteins to make sandwiches for when we were lazy. The meals we had out for dinner were pricey and not that great, but it was vacation so we decided not to get mad about it and ruin our time.

Honestly, anyone can find the bad if they want to. If you don't want to adjust expectation, most vacations will be disappointing.

 

[mmmbelows]

There is only one shore diving destination like Bonaire. Go there to enjoy that uniqueness as the diving experience boat diving in Roatan isn't too much different than boat diving the Florida Keys. As far as I know Bonaire is unique and that's the reason to go there, whether you do 2 dives a day or 5 you're still enjoying the unique shore diving lifestyle of Bonaire and hoepfully that's why you want to go there.

 

[Hintermann]

Where else can you dive like Bonaire? It's a unique experience..

Perfectly true but that does not mean that uniqueness appeals to everyone. I liked the fact that Bonaire was different, had brilliant guides who bent over backwards to make it as easy as possible but that's about the size of it.

In diving, each to his or her own like any other scenario. I love liveaboard diving but know that there are plenty of divers for whom liveabaord diving is not their cup of coffee....I respect their views. I might encourage someone skeptical to try it but if he/she does not want to, I won't go criticising their taste.

To me, a visit to Bonaire for a week certainly seemed a worthwhile experience of something that was different from what I was used to. But IMO ( and IMO only), I felt afterwards that one experience was enough and as I headed home, did not get the "I wish I can come back here" feeling that I got with some other dive destinations. That is plain truth and if it seems unpalatable to some, I cannot help it.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

The great thing about Bonaire is that, even within the same group, those who are "dive dive dive" can do 5 dives a day, while others can do a relaxed 3 dives a day.



So you have something against house reefs and a compulsion to drive far out of your way just so you can feel that you covered the entire island? So you can write it down in your log book? Some of us don't care about ticking off the boxes. The animals are not all in one area--you could dive a house reef every morning and see different things every day. Face it, you tried to dive Bonaire in a way that is not conducive to diving Bonaire. You tried fighting the current instead of going with the flow, and you didn't have a good time. That's hardly surprising.



Yes, that IS a nice area and yes it is relatively remote. We often will do two dives up in that area in the morning, eat our sandwiches, and then return to do two closer dives in the afternoon. Morning in the north, afternoon in the south. Easy!




So now you reveal you have special dietary requirements and a lack of corresponding knowledge of how to meet your nutritional needs. You said you dislike doing your own cooking. Sounds like an insoluble dilemma to me. My only suggestion is what you probably don't want/need to hear: do your own cooking. A guy I know packs a bag with frozen steaks from Costco. You said you spent time on Utila and liked it--what did you eat there, since there are no McDonalds, Wendy's, etc.? Even though the restaurants on Utila are more humble, eating big portions out on Utila every night could get expensive, too. I once spent a month there and cooked my meals like I do on Bonaire. By the way, you're the only weightlifter I know who complains of a lack of fast food--yeah, a burger would really help your nutritional deficit. Surely as a weightlifter you know you can bring protein powder or energy bars or something to supplement your diet if you want to eat six meals a day. You buy a double portion for yourself and complain about the cost of dining out?

What a complainer! I'm done listening.

You are not that important to me. I do not know you, we have not met and we have never dived together. At this point you are only an internet post to me and nothing more. I am not going to change my views so that the money that you previously spent going to Bonaire gets its second validation from an online poster. I have no problem ticking you off with my trip report.

 

[mbs]

"food was a huge problem..."

If you go back you may want to look into the Plaza Resort... It is AI and you will be able to get your fill and not waste time hunting for restaurants. You may also want to do some boat dives. We do a 2 tank morning boat dive, clean up and have lunch, load up 2 tanks each and head ether north or south to easily do 2 afternoon dives.

 

[tkaelin]

Thanks for your report. Everyone seems to have their preference on shore diving vs. boat diving in Bon. While I enjoy being able to load up the rental truck and hit sites of my choosing at the time of my choosing, for me it is too much work and not worth the effort if that is all I did in a week. The perfect Bon trip for me is staying at or within a short walk to a good house reef (we like the house reefs from Buddys to Capt Don on to Cliff and Small Wall) and boat diving maybe six single tank trips and a couple shore dive trips with the truck. Bon terrain is not so varied that you are getting to terrain that you can't see at the house reefs or by boat. In Bon for me it is the abundance of marine life. . I can and do dive the house reefs multiple times per day and almost always see something new and different. I think I must have posted on the boat diving at Capt Don's a dozen times but there is nothing easier and more flexible than their procedure. They have three boat dive trips per day, early am, late am and pm. They post where they are going the afternoon before. If you want to go, write in your diver number on the board. Change your mind, erase your number. No commitment and extremely flexible. We have signed up minutes before a trip when we saw the boat empty and conversely cancelled when we saw it fill up or the weather change. While it is fun to go out and pick our own site with the truck it is not as easy as walking up to your locker on the dock, gearing up and stepping in. On the boat, it is grabbing your gear from the locker, walking to the dock and stepping in and then eventually stepping out of a boat. That is just darn easy.

 

[mmmbelows]

"food was a huge problem..."

If you go back you may want to look into the Plaza Resort... It is AI and you will be able to get your fill and not waste time hunting for restaurants. You may also want to do some boat dives. We do a 2 tank morning boat dive, clean up and have lunch, load up 2 tanks each and head ether north or south to easily do 2 afternoon dives.

Also that brazilian meat restaurant, you can eat 50 lbs of meat if you want.

---------- Post added June 23rd, 2015 at 02:24 PM ----------

The perfect Bon trip for me is staying at or within a short walk to a good house reef

I also think staying at a place with a house reef can really make a difference. It was so easy to do a night dive after dinner and tip toe back to the room and to bed at the Plaza.