Bonaire trip, 9/22-29.

[socaldiver]

The wife and I, another board member and his wife and a couple that our their friends were on Bonaiefrom 9/25 to 10/2.

We stayed at the Plaza Resort (just as we did last year) and we were very satisfied with the resort and our accomodations. We also did our dives with Toucan Diving, Luis and Erika in particular off the Purple Rain dive boat. Needless to say they were exceptional. The down side was I managed t catch a stoach virus which kept me from doing a lot of diving that I was hoping to do, but I did get in 14 dives (3 of them night dives) anyway.

We noticed the viz down from last year and assume it was the aftermath of Ivan, we noticed a lot of sand covering the coral a little higher than normal.

Our night dives were done at 18 Palms, Salt Pier and Something Special - we saw a spotted eagle ray at Salt Pier but I was saddened to see most of the coral that was on the pileons last year gone, again assuming that they were taken out by Ivan's wrath. We also did dives at Karpata, Ole Blue, Rock Pile (Klein Bonaire), Angel City, alice in wonderland, Small Wall, Hilma Hooker, The Lake, North Belnem. Every site was my favorite site. We saw seahorses, frog fish, filefish, octopus, turtles, crabs and lobsters along with the usual marine life.

No PBD here though, won't allow it, just put my shorttimers calendar together to start counting down next year's trip, geez 350 days and counting.

Oh, we also got bites from unknown critters, and that was something we didn't experience last year.

 

[OkieDivers]

My husband and I leave for Bonaire on October 12. We are very excited! It sounds like a favorite dive spot for many. Anything important we should know about? We are very new at this, so any info will be helpful.

7 days and counting....

Jennifer

 

[herman]

No PBD here though, won't allow it, just put my shorttimers calendar together to start counting down next year's trip, geez 350 days and counting.

Yea right, denial and staring at the calender, classic symptoms.

Jennifer,
Do a search on Bonaire on this board, others and myself have posted a lot of good info here over the years. If you have specific questions, fire away. Also, come over to the Bonaire board and search/ask there. Lots of good people there as well.

Bon Dia,
Herman

 

[H2Andy]

We are very excited! It sounds like a favorite dive spot for many. Anything important we should know about? We are very new at this, so any info will be helpful.

Jennifer

hey, Jennifer, you'll have a blast!

the thing to do is to pack your truck with enough tanks
to do two or three dives in the morning (depending on your
eagerness) and drive to one of the dozens of excellent
dive spots along the coast.

basically, you park your truck, go diving, come back, re-load,
go diving again.. etc. etc..

you can also do boat diving, and the Klein Bonaire dive sites
are accessible only by boat (it's a little island west of
Bonaire). however, you can certainly spend a week doing
just shore diving and have a blast.

here are some of my favorite dives in Bonaire. Get a (free)
map of the dive sites, look for the yellow stone markers
with the names on them, and have a blast!:

1. Tory's Reef (amazing fish life)
2. Hilma Hooker (the wreck is breath-taking)
3. Town Pier (only guided dives now)
4. 1000 steps
5. Jeff Davis
6. Buddy's Reef (best night dive!)

Here's a link with all the dive sites:

http://www.geographia.com/bonaire/bondiv03.htm

also, don't forget that the whole island is a Marine Park,
so you need to buy a medallion before you can dive,
and you have to wear the medallion on your BC every time
you enter the water.

 

[diversteve]

My husband and I leave for Bonaire on October 12. We are very excited! It sounds like a favorite dive spot for many. Anything important we should know about? We are very new at this, so any info will be helpful.

7 days and counting....

Jennifer

Jennifer,

Aside from divesites, here's some other info you might find useful. We were there in June for the Dive Festival so this is probably still current.

Inbound immigration/customs (for us anyway) was a two minute process. If you're arriving after 8pm or leaving b4 7am and renting a truck, advise the rental agency so they'll have someone there. The rental place will probably tell you this also, but do not leave ANYTHING in the vehicle you don't want taken while shorediving and ALWAYS leave the doors open and the windows down. It's mostly kids, they'll break the windows to get in if you don't. Exceptions are extra tanks, they're all diveshop marked so of little/no value to steal. When we were there, we just threw our gear in the backseat of the truck and left divebags, glasses etc. back at the condo. Most people just stash a little cash somewhere while diving, I wasn't the first person with a wet $20 buying drinks. It's not a big place and traffic is non-existent so anything you need is at most a 1/2 hr. ride away.

Having said all that, there was no time that I felt uneasy or that we were being watched - and we dove several isolated sites. But I wouldn't leave anything out overnite either, though most places do have night security.

And once you get your BMP tag, you'll never need to show your C-Card again, so leave it home. Your first dive will be a Marine Park orientation/buoyancy check dive.

I think the donkeys still run free on the island so watch for grey shadows off to the side of the road at night, especially around the airport, they're pretty wary, but one gets hit every once in a while. I did read about them being rounded up during Ivan so I don't know if this is still true.

Deet or other good mosquito repellent is highly recommended. You can buy it there but it's pricey. As is food at the markets since it's all brought in.

Everything runs on "Island Time". It means 1/2 hr. meals can take 1-1/2 hrs. to be served. And you'll have to flag down your server when you want to leave to pay. They're not rude or indifferent, it's just the way things are. Some places even close down in the middle of the day for a couple of hours. Some good food though, my favorites - Casablanca, Donna/Giorgios, it rains fishes - pricey, also Karel's bar and the restaurant across the street - Zee Zicht - I think owned by Karel's. If you're arriving late, Zee Zicht serves food till about 10 as do a couple of other places in town. And it's downtown right on the waterfront.

Best shorediving is generally either north or south - Karpata, 1000Steps(only 67 actually) area to the north, Angel City, Invisibles, The Hooker wreck and 1/2 dozen others to the South. Town Pier is a famous night dive and Salt Pier is good anytime. Both of them are DM-accompanied dives only now since the new port regulations went into effect and there's no diving if ships are loading.

There's also some good diving off Klein, Boat dives only. My favorite sites over there were Forest and Jerry's reef for Turtles under the rocks in 20' of water. HandsOff was a good drift dive, but nothing spectacular underwater.

I also think two of the better dives are Cliff, just north of Capt. Don's and Bari Reef by the SandDollar resort. Kind of a mini-wall at Cliff. It's the northern of the two sites at the resort, to get there swim north from the dock past the memorial. $5.00 to use their facilities, but it's worth it, they have showers and lockers, an easy place to setup and a short walk to the dock.

Bari Reef is supposed to be the #1 site in the Caribbean for species of fish. And it's shallow too, good for a second dive. Not that anything in Bonaire is deep.

One last tip when leaving, you have to pay a $10 departure tax before you'll be allowed to check in for your flight. The fee is purchased at the window 50' to the right of the check-in (past the store) So get the receipt before standing in line to go through baggage/check-in. We had a really early departure Sunday morning(AA) so we stopped on one of our trips past the airport and bought it a couple days early.

If you haven't already seen it, there's a lot of good information on www.bonairetalk.com.

Steve

 

[OkieDivers]

To herman, H2Andy, and Steve
Thanks so much for all the great info. There were some things mentioned that I hadn't thought about.


We will be staying at the Sand Dollar Condos. Was glad to hear good stuff about their reef. Hope their condos and dive shop are good too.

About the bmp tag, where can I purchase this? I know we will have to have it before diving, so do we have to go to a particular place on the island to purchase it? And if so, what time will they open.

Another question. We are not night certified and have read about how wonderful the night dives are there. I have checked into getting our night certification while we are there and found out that it will be possible. With this being our first "dive trip" would this be too much for a newbie or is this something that is well worth the time and effort because it would be a shame to miss? (I know we are definately going to want to get our night certification in the near future anyway.)

Gear storage?? Does anyone know if it is safe to store your gear at the Sand Dollar dive shop? I guess I have been a little skeptical because of the crime I have read about.

Speaking of crime. I was glad to hear it wasn't an issue of feeling safe or unsafe. I was somewhat concerned about that. But if I understand correctly, the crime is more theft and not violent crime. Right???

Bouancy check. I am terrible concerned about accidentally brushing coral while getting our bouancy set. Do you know if there will be an area at our hotel or if there is an area at the check-out point that will be free of coral. I don't want to sound like we don't know how to control our bouancy. (This is the main thing that we have focused on while practicing locally.) But having not been diving in salt water since our certification, getting properly weighted may take a few minutes and I don't want to risk bumping or brushing up against anything and damaging it.

Sorry to throw so many questions out there. I am just excited about the trip and I guess my mind is racing in anticipation.

6 days and counting....

Jennifer

 

[diversteve]

To herman, H2Andy, and Steve
Thanks so much for all the great info. There were some things mentioned that I hadn't thought about.

We will be staying at the Sand Dollar Condos. Was glad to hear good stuff about their reef. Hope their condos and dive shop are good too.

About the bmp tag, where can I purchase this? I know we will have to have it before diving, so do we have to go to a particular place on the island to purchase it? And if so, what time will they open.

Another question. We are not night certified and have read about how wonderful the night dives are there. I have checked into getting our night certification while we are there and found out that it will be possible. With this being our first "dive trip" would this be too much for a newbie or is this something that is well worth the time and effort because it would be a shame to miss? (I know we are definately going to want to get our night certification in the near future anyway.)

Gear storage?? Does anyone know if it is safe to store your gear at the Sand Dollar dive shop? I guess I have been a little skeptical because of the crime I have read about.

Speaking of crime. I was glad to hear it wasn't an issue of feeling safe or unsafe. I was somewhat concerned about that. But if I understand correctly, the crime is more theft and not violent crime. Right???

Bouancy check. I am terrible concerned about accidentally brushing coral while getting our bouancy set. Do you know if there will be an area at our hotel or if there is an area at the check-out point that will be free of coral. I don't want to sound like we don't know how to control our bouancy. (This is the main thing that we have focused on while practicing locally.) But having not been diving in salt water since our certification, getting properly weighted may take a few minutes and I don't want to risk bumping or brushing up against anything and damaging it.

Sorry to throw so many questions out there. I am just excited about the trip and I guess my mind is racing in anticipation.

6 days and counting....

Jennifer

Jennifer,

The Sand Dollar diveshop is Bonaire Dive & Adventure. I've never seen the Sand Dollar Condos except from the outside so I don't know what they're like. I've seen them discussed on bonairetalk.com though. They were rebuilding the resort next door when we were there, probably still are, it was completely gutted in the last big storm, so there was some construction noise during the morning. I'd ask for a condo on the north side of the complex when you check in.

If you don't want to have to carry your gear over to the diveshop, just drive out the gate from Sand Dollar, take the next right turn, then go past the construction site on the north side - it looks like you shouldn't be on the road but it's the right one, it leads right to the BD&A parking lot. It's convenient for loading tanks too.

BD&A is adjacent to SandDollar on the south, they have a dock with easy stair access into the water, rinse tanks and a setup area. There are also wood lockers along the dock for gear storage, I don't know if people store their gear there overnight, I assume they do, it's a quiet area, and they were solid looking lockers. My buddy left his fins in their rinse tank by mistake, 3 hours later they were still there when he went back.

If I remember right there's a little sand beach to the north of the dock, which on Bonaire is a special commodity. Wonder if it's still there after Ivan.

Bari Reef is straight out from the dock, it's a good dive as described in my previous posting, shallow with the most fish life of any reef in the Caribbean. Great for your checkout dive.

You get your BMP tag from Bonaire Dive/Adventure along with the orientation. They are held every morning - usually around 9am. Then they'll turn you loose to do your buoyancy check dive off the dock. Plan on needing a third more weight than you do in fresh water, that's a good starting point.

Near the stairs and to the whole left side is nothing but sand flats with a little coral rubble so you'll have an area of 100' or more about 1/4 of a mile wide before you get to the coral. So you can't damage anything during your buoyancy check. One thing to note, it's really shallow to the left side of the dock, so if you're going to giant stride off the dock, make it a wide one, otherwise you'll hit the bottom.

There's also a naturalist on their staff, Jerry Ligon, if he's around ask him about the reef, he'll tell you what's currently out there and where to find it. We went looking for a batfish the day I was there. Didn't see it, but I was able to tape a family of squid for about 30 seconds before they tired of me and took off. You can also do a REEF fish survey there - ask Jerry or Michael for details.

My brother-in-law dove the Town pier, he's only done one other night dive before and isn't certified either. He had no problems doing it. Tell the DM you're new to it and they'll accompany you the whole time - they have to dive it also and will point out all the sights. Bring a light per person if you've got them, otherwise rent them unless they're provided for you. The Orange Corals at Town Pier are only out at night. And the lights from the pier/boardwalk provide some illumination in the area to get ready.

Salt Pier is 3-4 miles south of town and it's pretty dark there except for the lights on the pier. Since you've never done either, I'd suggest Town Pier, it's shallower and an easier dive. There's more nasty things to run into at Salt Pier, fire coral all over the pilings and sharp pieces of scrap metal that have been cut or fallen off the pier.

Except for theft, I don't think there's any crime on the island. Never saw the police the whole time we were there. I think there's only 3 or 4 of them anyway. We felt totally safe anywhere on the island day or night, the people are friendly and polite.

One other thing, you'll need a pair of treaded boots since a lot of the dive sites require crawling over ironshore and most also require wading through coral rubble in the surfline. I wore a pair of surf shoes and fell down at least 3 or 4 times wading in or out, they weren't treaded enough - and I'm clumsy.

Steve

 

[chuck e]

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.

Experienced the exact same conditions as you during a night dive there 2 years ago. Three of us went out along the rope, then north along the reef. On the way back, we stayed at the same depth as the end of the rope in order to intercept. Two divers missed it and kept going but eventually picked up another rope ( may have been old and cast off?) which took us past the dock. After not getting closer to the dock and kicking in a very strong current and noticing one of us was missing, we surfaced to find ourselves about 50 yds south of Belmar. Getting back to the dock was certainly not fun, but I was relieved to find our 3rd diver caught the right rope and got back OK. This was our 3rd trip to Bonaire and we never experienced current like this. Also everone uses ropes as navigation aids, but beware of extraneous ones particularly on night dives!

 

[OkieDivers]

Thanks again Steve for all the great info. You have been a tremendous help. Just 4 more days to go. Suddenly the days seem to be getting very long. Look forward to being able to give my first "trip report" soon.

Jennifer

 

[Drewpy]

I was just there in July-you guys are going to love it!!!
Lots of great info already..Ill just add one thing-make sure you get to the Rose Inn in Rincon-Great food (try the goat stew or whatever the fresh fish is) and a real local kinda place-The coldiest beer in town(really, thats what the sign in front says)
Have a great trip! Im jealous..already planning the next trip!