Bonaire trip, 9/22-29.

[diversteve]

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!

My buddy did even worse, he came up out front of the Belnem condos, they look just like Belmar from the water except the dock is different, and started swimming in. I yelled at him but the wind was to the south so he couldn't hear me. He swam most of the way in before he realized it. Funniest part was it was at 5pm in the afternoon.

Never saw any currents there, but we really caught one at Vista Blue to the south, the corals were bent over 90' flat up against the bottom and the vis was terrible. Lots of healthy life there though and a easy sandy cove entry between the ironshore, it's probably a great dive in the a.m..

 

[DiveKitty68]

I believe the airport departure tax is $20US. Have it in hand because the airport ATM is very unreliable, as is the 'bank' there.

 

[herman]

Yep, the tax went up to $20 a couple of years ago, be sure to get it before getting in the checkin line and they only take cash (USD or Guilders are fine). Most of the ATM on the island are fairly reliable, I have started using them for cash rather than carrying a lot along.
Take the suggeation of HARD soled booties seriously, the soft rubber kind are not strong enough for Bonaire.

 

[meca]

PBH Post Bonaire Humdrum! What a pit. The reefs are beat up from the storms and are strest to the max from divers. I would not go back if someone gave me a free ticket! Buddy's Dive Resort had no water between 6AM and 8PM. Stayed for two weeks and we bathed more in the pool than the shower. Some of our group even took some of their equipment to the pool with them. It rained mostly every morning and the vis was no more than 40ft at best. Reefs were several shades of brown and any schools of fish were scant to be found. Did see two Frog Fish and three Sea Horses. One Condor eel at Oil Slick Leap during a night dive.

 

[Jester]

PBH Post Bonaire Humdrum! What a pit. The reefs are beat up from the storms and are strest to the max from divers. I would not go back if someone gave me a free ticket! Buddy's Dive Resort had no water between 6AM and 8PM. Stayed for two weeks and we bathed more in the pool than the shower. Some of our group even took some of their equipment to the pool with them. It rained mostly every morning and the vis was no more than 40ft at best. Reefs were several shades of brown and any schools of fish were scant to be found. Did see two Frog Fish and three Sea Horses. One Condor eel at Oil Slick Leap during a night dive.

This almost sounds like some kind of Parallel Universe! I don't think I've ever heard anything this negative about Bonaire. I've been there twice and absolutely loved it both times. Oh well, to each his/her own.

 

[herman]

For what it's worth, the water plant was having some mechanical trouble last week,so it was not only BD but everyone on the island had water no water.

 

[Puck]

Obviously you shouldn't have the door open and the a/c on, but if there was a motion detector, you could use a nice toilet paper streamer attached to the ceiling fan chain to create the necessary movement...er, um motion. Just a thought.

 

[H2Andy]

This almost sounds like some kind of Parallel Universe! I don't think I've ever heard anything this negative about Bonaire. I've been there twice and absolutely loved it both times. Oh well, to each his/her own.

well, the guy did go there right after a bad storm year,
and in the rainy season. damage to the reefs and the
infrastructure, as well as rain, are to be expected.

you can't control the weather, but it helps to go
in the dry season (i.e. don't go October to January
and not expect it to rain)

i have been there once and loved it.

i am worried, though. they've taken two hurricane hits
lately; i just hope the damage to the reef is not serious.

 

[meca]

For what it's worth, the water plant was having some mechanical trouble last week,so it was not only BD but everyone on the island had water no water.

Sorry Herman,Buddy Dive had pump problems during our stay and they are still having problems. They even finally admitted it. I still would not go back to that island.

 

[herman]

Where would you go....let me rephrase that, where have you been that you would return to?