Bonaire trip, 9/22-29.

[SeaFlea]

Hello all,

Just returned from a week in Bonaire and thought I would give some feedback.

We stayed at Belmar Apt's. (first time) and dove with Toucan Divers. Managed to get in 16 dives including two night dives. All the diving was great and the weather was fine. We saw some evidence of the Ivan wavesurge but all in all everything was looking fine. Visibility was a bit less than our last trip but still quite nice. Managed to do Salt Pier (as we missed it last time) and saw quite a fish show under one of the support sections. I would have been happy to kick back and watch the show for my BT but our guide/group moved along. I'm happy to say the diving was great and Bonaire looks just like we left it. I hope it remains the laid-back, quiet place that it is.

Belmar was for the most part a decent place to stay. We did have problems with bedroom only AC and some killer biting no-see-ums. Several in our group were really eaten-up badly. Bring some strong insect repellant and plenty of it. Not sure if it was our location or what. Be prepared. The room AC had a motion/IR sensor and a door sensor to turn it off after the room was vacated. This was a big irratant as it stayed very hot upstairs and took awhile to cool it down once you were in there. The rest of the place, living rm / kitchen / bathrooms were just hot all the time. No windows to open upstairs for relief. There were ceiling fans in the living / kitchen and they were on high all the time. I'm from Memphis Tn and am used to hot, humid weather and I can say this was a hot apt. Aside from the apt temp all else was very nice. Monique and Erica at Toucan Divers were great and helped us with whatever we asked for. The hotel staff was pleasant and helpful.

We enjoyed some great meals, It Rains Fishes / City Cafe / Pas Bon Pizza / Casablanca. Also bought some fresh Wahu and cooked in one night. The fish was excellent. Our evening meals were a real treat. Not to forget many nice evenings at Karel's. Great setting.

A good week of diving and enjoyment. Can't wait for our next trip. I've said it twice now, 7 days isn't enough on Bonaire, 10 days next time.

 

[Diver Kat]

Sea Flea ... nice review .... made me want to go back to Bonaire right now ....we were there in May - 1st trip, 9 days - and I hope to go longer next time as well .... what other sites did you dive? Good to know that Ivan didn't do too much damage. We stayed at Deep Blue View B&B up the hill (in Santa Barbara area) and realized real quick that the constant breeze up there kept away all the bugs! I saw more people staying down by the water or in town eaten alive ....

 

[herman]

Now prepare for the biggest problem with going to Bonaire...PBD
(Post Bonaire Depression)

I have got to stop reading these reports....PBD symptoms flaring up...guess I will have to drag out the last trip CD. Glad you had a good time

 

[SeaFlea]

Let's see... this time we did Karpata, Ole' Blu, 1000 steps, Oil Slick Leap, Bach. Beach, Punt Verikant, Angel city, Hilma Hooker, The Lake, Salt Pier, Invisibles, Pink Beach, and Vista Blue. We did some of these twice. I really enjoyed Vista Blue. The reef was just full of life, I mean every square inch. It was one of the best dives of the week.

We really needed more time.

 

[DiveKitty68]

I have PBS!!! Post-Bonaire Syndrome. This includes depression and the uncontrollable desire to book another flight there as soon as possible.
Just got back from a week there. We stayed at the BelMar, too.
The best part was the night diving right off the pier there...big tarpon that are very diver friendly...a little too friendly sometimes. There are some BIG green morays out there too. We did the Hilma Hooker at night...great fun. Red Slave and Invisibles were nice spots.
Beware of the iguanas since toes seem to be a preferred food. One chased me halfway back to my condo. I agree the no-see-ums were horrible. As was the car rental company - AB Carrental. We went through 3 trucks before we got one that had a fuel gauge that worked and a seat that could adjust. Lower your expectations regarding vehicles, friends. How these people stay in business is a mystery to me.
But we were there for the diving and the diving was wonderful. Toucan did a good job and, except for a few days where Nitrox got in short supply (all the air you wanted, though), kept us diving day and night. I needed another week. It was heaven.

 

[Diver Kat]

Let's see... this time we did Karpata, Ole' Blu, 1000 steps, Oil Slick Leap, Bach. Beach, Punt Verikant, Angel city, Hilma Hooker, The Lake, Salt Pier, Invisibles, Pink Beach, and Vista Blue. We did some of these twice. I really enjoyed Vista Blue. The reef was just full of life, I mean every square inch. It was one of the best dives of the week.

We really needed more time.

Too many sites, not enough days!! I'm with Herman ... the PBD is a killer .... I think Oil Slick Leap was my favorite, and luckily we did 1000 steps on an overcast day .... Vista Blue doen't ring a bell ... may have to look it up next trip!! Dang! Reading this stuff really does make me homesick for Bonaire!

 

[Jetwrench]

Pre Bonaire Excitement!

PBD is gone cause it's 6 days and counting to Bonaire! After the first two trips I learned 7 days or 10 days isn't enough either. Two weeks this time and I'll bet my dive gear it still won't cut it. I gotta figure out how I can do a month. Enjoyed the report and have Salt Pier and Casablancas on my list.

Jet

 

[diversteve]

Pre Bonaire Excitement!

PBD is gone cause it's 6 days and counting to Bonaire! After the first two trips I learned 7 days or 10 days isn't enough either. Two weeks this time and I'll bet my dive gear it still won't cut it. I gotta figure out how I can do a month. Enjoyed the report and have Salt Pier and Casablancas on my list.

Jet

I'm sure you're aware that the pier is now a DM accompanied dive only. It's great dive for photography, the pilings are coated with Macro stuff. And there's usually some big Angels hanging around by the second piling on the right. Also if you've never dove it, I agree with the previous comments about Vista Blue, the life there was about the best we saw and there's a really easy entry off a little sand cove between the ironshore. Strong currents usually though.

Casablanca takes "Island Time" to a whole new level. Not that that's a bad thing, necessarily. it rains fishes was great too, but probably the priciest meal we had there.

 

[diversteve]

Let's see... this time we did Karpata, Ole' Blu, 1000 steps, Oil Slick Leap, Bach. Beach, Punt Verikant, Angel city, Hilma Hooker, The Lake, Salt Pier, Invisibles, Pink Beach, and Vista Blue. We did some of these twice. I really enjoyed Vista Blue. The reef was just full of life, I mean every square inch. It was one of the best dives of the week.

We really needed more time.

We did almost the same trip in June during Dive Festival, stayed at Belmar - gotta love Butchie - although we never could get the truck far enough off the road and into the bushes to please him - as well as Monique and Erica at Toucan. Similar hassles with the A/C although if I remember right, once we turned it on at night and stayed in the room long enough to fool the I/R sensor then you could leave the room and it would stay on as long as the door was closed. No problems with "biters" but the ants were permanent residents in the kitchen. Also being on the ground floor, we had a mouse who 2 nights in a row took the shortcut from the back to the pool through our condo with both doors open. Seemed like something he did often...Was the big iguana still in the bushes by the divestore or did he get blown away by Ivan?

We dove a lot of the same dives too, Angel City, Salt Pier(pre-rules change, we dove by ourselves) and Vista Blue. Managed to do 14 dives including up north(Rappel, Witches Hut) and two trips to Klein - HandsOff and Forest were the better ones there. I even liked the Belmar reef for the BMP orientation.

I agree with your comments about Vista Blue, it was the last dive of our last day and although the current was really up, the marinelife was excellent. We kicked our brains out for about 20 minutes north and then just drifted back to the entry. Shot some video of the sea fans/soft corals being bent over 90' and also this really friendly 18" puffer in about 30'. I think that was one of the easiest entries all week, we just sat on the rocks, suited up and walked in at the little sandy cove. Did you hit the second reef past the Hooker? A DM told me it's one of the best dives there.

 

[SeaFlea]

You must have gotten our white truck we turned in from AB Rental as the gas gauge died mid week while we had it.

I failed to mention, the Belmar dock was Out-of-Commision the first two days of our week but was useable by 9/25. We did one night dive on the Belmar Reef, very strong current(to the south) on the swim out, not so bad at 40-50'. We tied a flashing red LED light at the end of the rope the have run out from the dock. Good thing as if we would have missed the rope we would have had a less than fun time swimming or walking back. Finding your way back to your entry point at night can be a challenge.

JETWRENCH: Don't forget to take some bug repellant with you. A small can at Cultimara is about 6 or 7 dollars, like 18 NF.