Well, well...Only been back a few days and I am a little lost without my sleep, dive, SIT, eat, dive, SIT, dive routine. The reefs were in the best condition that I have had the pleasure of diving. The fish life was teeming in comparison to other Caribbean locations. We never saw a sea horse but that only gives me a reason to come back and try again, perhaps with a "local" guide.
The Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy guide is a MUST have. The best sites time and time again were the unmarked sites. Forget the yellow rock markers, go to "the path, between two tidal pools that has been worn by trucks" and don your gear, the BEST site on the Island...I can't give you the name, it would be wrong. Buy the book!! My dive buddies were skeptical as I carefully read off the sites directions but each time they came up from the dive happy we found the "secret" locations. Every dive held something new to see whether it be a fish I had never seen before, an eagle ray gracefully gliding by or just amazing gorgonian/tube sponge/hard coral combinations. The only downside were the Slaagbaai sites(North sites) While you can tell they were once beautiful and lush they are very silted in now, I assume from a hurricane along the way. I'm not saying don't dive them but for the time it takes to get there and the pristine reefs outside the park it wouldn't be worth it for me again. While we were VERY attentive to the rules of leaving your car open for looters we didn't have one problem. It seems a week or so before we got there several people were caught and given 36 months...I'm guessing that will make the "problem" lessen a great deal especially in the next few months. Overall the best dive trip I have taken and I am already planning a return for next year...as long as they don't clear the rocks away to make access easier
The Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy guide is a MUST have. The best sites time and time again were the unmarked sites. Forget the yellow rock markers, go to "the path, between two tidal pools that has been worn by trucks" and don your gear, the BEST site on the Island...I can't give you the name, it would be wrong. Buy the book!! My dive buddies were skeptical as I carefully read off the sites directions but each time they came up from the dive happy we found the "secret" locations. Every dive held something new to see whether it be a fish I had never seen before, an eagle ray gracefully gliding by or just amazing gorgonian/tube sponge/hard coral combinations. The only downside were the Slaagbaai sites(North sites) While you can tell they were once beautiful and lush they are very silted in now, I assume from a hurricane along the way. I'm not saying don't dive them but for the time it takes to get there and the pristine reefs outside the park it wouldn't be worth it for me again. While we were VERY attentive to the rules of leaving your car open for looters we didn't have one problem. It seems a week or so before we got there several people were caught and given 36 months...I'm guessing that will make the "problem" lessen a great deal especially in the next few months. Overall the best dive trip I have taken and I am already planning a return for next year...as long as they don't clear the rocks away to make access easier
