D_O_H
Contributor
Just got back from our third trip to Bonaire and, in an attempt to avoid doing my work for a few more precious minutes, I thought I'd post a few of the high and low points from our trip. Overall, the trip was amazing and Bonaire remains one of my favorite places in the world to go diving.
Oh, and I'd post some photos, but I managed to flood my brand new D90 on my second dive (!) and don't have any. A special thank-you to Dee from the photo shop across from the Divi with the red tanks out front (I can't remember the name of the shop - anyone?). One of the Plaza divemasters called her when I came back with my flooded camera and she came right over to the Plaza to see whether my camera could be saved (it couldn't). Really nice of her to do that.
Hotel:
We returned to the Plaza after staying at Divi last time. They're undergoing what look like some pretty major renovations to the suites, though the ones we stayed in hadn't been done yet. Good timing on this, as our rooms and the grounds in general were looking pretty tired. Everything was clean and they're doing the best they can with what they've got, but the place was definitely a bit on the run down side (rusty pipes, peeling paint here and there and the like).
Hotel staff was super friendly (more so than last time and much more so than some of the front desk staff at the Divi). Food at the hotel was pretty marginal - we got the breakfast package for the convenience of it and pretty much tried to avoid eating at the hotel for anything else.
The dive shop staff was also super friendly, though I like the set up of the Divi better with the dive shop and lockers right on the water. It's a little bit of a pain to haul your gear down to the shore if you want to dive the house reef - it's almost more convenient to dive elsewhere (which is too bad, since I like the house reef). The $75 all-you-can-eat nitrox package was also a good deal (though not as good as the free nitrox upgrade they used to offer).
Overall, I probably prefer the Divi slightly for it's closer to town location, more convenient locker location and better food, though my wife and others in our group prefer the Plaza because the rooms and grounds are better maintained.
Food:
I never cease to be amazed at how great the food is on this tiny island. Besides the hotel breakfasts (which I'd rate as fair to poor), almost all of the meals we had were outstanding. I'm also always amazed at the apparent food safety on the island. Our whole group of 11 drank the tap water and ate whatever sounded good (including raw beef, raw fish and raw greens) with not so much as an upset stomach in the bunch.
Richards: thought this would be a good way to introduce the rest of our group to the island. Right next door to the plaza with a great setting right on the water. This was probably our 5th or so visit to Richards and I think I may drop it from our rotation on future trips. The food was good but nearly as good as some of the food we had later in the trip. Richard also seemed a little off - he was friendly as always, but seemed to be either really tired or a little tipsy and was off putting to some in our group.
Bambu: stumbled in here late after a night dive with a group of 11 and no reservations. Very friendly staff and excellent food. My favorites were the grouper and barracuda specials (I try to get a bite of everything everyone at the table orders) and the beef carpaccio. The wine list here was also outstanding and the wine was served at pleasant temperatures (something a bit too rare on the island - wine does not taste good at 80 degrees). One of our favorites.
Wil's: hands down our favorite for the trip in terms of food. The location is not as scenic as some of the others, but Wil more than makes up for it with his impressive skills in the kitchen. Favorites were the smoked marlin appetizer (one of the best things I have ever eaten anywhere), prosciutto wrapped shrimp (shrimp on the island in general was really excellent - not sure where they get them) and whatever the fish dish of the day might be. Another excellent wine list (and great cocktails) here as well. Put on some bug spray (there tend to be mosquitos in the courtyard) and go - you will not be disappointed.
La Guernica: another great meal here, with a pleasant table on the deck overlooking the water. I think we ordered almost everything on the menu (tapas and dinner plates) and everything was good if not great, though nothing really stood out for me. This is a sister restaurant to bambu and you get 10% off there with your receipt, so might make sense to visit La Guernica first if you're planning to do both.
Salsa: I absolutely loved this place last time, but found it a little lacking this time. Our waiter was fresh off the boat from Holland and, while nice, didn't know anything about the food, cocktails or wine they were serving. Food was good but not on par with some of the other places we ate and I probably won't return here. I understand they may be closing soon, which explains some of the issues we experienced and, if so, I look forward to trying whatever moves into their amazing location.
Paza bon Pizza: I have always meant to visit this place and never get around to it since we've always stayed south of town. We finally got up there on this trip and I am now a believer. Very good pizza, cold beer, friendly service and a weird but very pleasing 70s star trek lounge vibe. Favorites were the fish pizza and cheesy garlic bread with a little house made caesar dressing smeared on it. Open late (11:00) for after night dive dining. This place is now on my can't-miss list.
Patagonia: great location on the water overlooking the harbor village marina. Steaks (filet, prime rib and rib eye) were all excellent, as was the fish and shrimp. Very friendly family run business.
El Mundo: good place for lunch (something pretty hard to find on Bonaire). Excellent ceviche.
Rum Runners: stopped here for a couple lunches and really enjoyed it. Great location at Captain Don's overlooking the water. Favorite dishes were the quesadilla, local fish sandwich (can't remember what it's called) and the curried chicken sandwich (fondly referred to as the iguanaburger).
Place on the pier by the cruse ship dock and place across the street (can't remember the names): convenient lunch location and nice setting but pretty forgettable food and service.
Car Rental:
We used AB Car Rental. Our trucks were in decent shape (especially considering the abuse they take), their prices were more than fair and they were very friendly and helpful. Will definitely use them again. We paid extra for locking truck beds, which I probably would not do again. It was nice to keep our gear clean when driving down dusty roads, but they did not lock securely (which is what I was hoping they'd do).
Diving:
Overall the diving was outstanding as always. For anyone who hasn't been to Bonaire, the whole island is set up for easy shore diving. You grab a tank at your hotel, throw it and your gear in the back of your rental truck and back the truck up to the water at any one of the many conspicuously marked divesites on the island. You dive whenever you want, wherever you want and however you want. It could not be easier or more pleasant so long as you don't mind hauling your gear into the water. If shore diving is not your thing, you can do Bonaire by boat, but the shore diving is what makes it so special for me.
Not a ton of huge fish life (which is at least partially my fault for eating grouper and other fun to see under the sea critters), but macro and healthy coral paradise. As far as the big stuff goes, we had multiple spotted eagle ray sitings, including one in the shallows where I could have reached out and touched the ray - amazing! Also saw a few turtles, tons of big barracuda and lots of tarpon. Octopus and friendly squid also seemed to be everywhere - I think we saw one or more on almost every single dive during the second half of our trip. And my wife also spotted her first seahorses on this trip. Something very satisfying about finding those guys on your own without the help of a divemaster.
As far as actual dive sites go, I'll just say they were almost all great. 1,000 steps had a weird fungus or something (it looked like potato chips) growing on almost everything from 40 feet down to 130+. I probably would not do that site again and I hope the fungus or whatever it is doesn't continue to spread (we saw it at other sites, but not nearly as much of it). Some of the far northern sites in the park have taken heavy damage from the hurricane that passed by a couple years ago, though playa funchi was still in pretty nice shape.
Touch the Sea with Dee Scarr: the town pier is closed to diving so she moved a few blocks down the seashore, but is still offering the same great experience. I'm generally not a fan of feeding the sealife, but she seems to do it in a responsible way and offers some great education to go along with it.
All in all a great trip - we will definitely be back!
Oh, and I'd post some photos, but I managed to flood my brand new D90 on my second dive (!) and don't have any. A special thank-you to Dee from the photo shop across from the Divi with the red tanks out front (I can't remember the name of the shop - anyone?). One of the Plaza divemasters called her when I came back with my flooded camera and she came right over to the Plaza to see whether my camera could be saved (it couldn't). Really nice of her to do that.
Hotel:
We returned to the Plaza after staying at Divi last time. They're undergoing what look like some pretty major renovations to the suites, though the ones we stayed in hadn't been done yet. Good timing on this, as our rooms and the grounds in general were looking pretty tired. Everything was clean and they're doing the best they can with what they've got, but the place was definitely a bit on the run down side (rusty pipes, peeling paint here and there and the like).
Hotel staff was super friendly (more so than last time and much more so than some of the front desk staff at the Divi). Food at the hotel was pretty marginal - we got the breakfast package for the convenience of it and pretty much tried to avoid eating at the hotel for anything else.
The dive shop staff was also super friendly, though I like the set up of the Divi better with the dive shop and lockers right on the water. It's a little bit of a pain to haul your gear down to the shore if you want to dive the house reef - it's almost more convenient to dive elsewhere (which is too bad, since I like the house reef). The $75 all-you-can-eat nitrox package was also a good deal (though not as good as the free nitrox upgrade they used to offer).
Overall, I probably prefer the Divi slightly for it's closer to town location, more convenient locker location and better food, though my wife and others in our group prefer the Plaza because the rooms and grounds are better maintained.
Food:
I never cease to be amazed at how great the food is on this tiny island. Besides the hotel breakfasts (which I'd rate as fair to poor), almost all of the meals we had were outstanding. I'm also always amazed at the apparent food safety on the island. Our whole group of 11 drank the tap water and ate whatever sounded good (including raw beef, raw fish and raw greens) with not so much as an upset stomach in the bunch.
Richards: thought this would be a good way to introduce the rest of our group to the island. Right next door to the plaza with a great setting right on the water. This was probably our 5th or so visit to Richards and I think I may drop it from our rotation on future trips. The food was good but nearly as good as some of the food we had later in the trip. Richard also seemed a little off - he was friendly as always, but seemed to be either really tired or a little tipsy and was off putting to some in our group.
Bambu: stumbled in here late after a night dive with a group of 11 and no reservations. Very friendly staff and excellent food. My favorites were the grouper and barracuda specials (I try to get a bite of everything everyone at the table orders) and the beef carpaccio. The wine list here was also outstanding and the wine was served at pleasant temperatures (something a bit too rare on the island - wine does not taste good at 80 degrees). One of our favorites.
Wil's: hands down our favorite for the trip in terms of food. The location is not as scenic as some of the others, but Wil more than makes up for it with his impressive skills in the kitchen. Favorites were the smoked marlin appetizer (one of the best things I have ever eaten anywhere), prosciutto wrapped shrimp (shrimp on the island in general was really excellent - not sure where they get them) and whatever the fish dish of the day might be. Another excellent wine list (and great cocktails) here as well. Put on some bug spray (there tend to be mosquitos in the courtyard) and go - you will not be disappointed.
La Guernica: another great meal here, with a pleasant table on the deck overlooking the water. I think we ordered almost everything on the menu (tapas and dinner plates) and everything was good if not great, though nothing really stood out for me. This is a sister restaurant to bambu and you get 10% off there with your receipt, so might make sense to visit La Guernica first if you're planning to do both.
Salsa: I absolutely loved this place last time, but found it a little lacking this time. Our waiter was fresh off the boat from Holland and, while nice, didn't know anything about the food, cocktails or wine they were serving. Food was good but not on par with some of the other places we ate and I probably won't return here. I understand they may be closing soon, which explains some of the issues we experienced and, if so, I look forward to trying whatever moves into their amazing location.
Paza bon Pizza: I have always meant to visit this place and never get around to it since we've always stayed south of town. We finally got up there on this trip and I am now a believer. Very good pizza, cold beer, friendly service and a weird but very pleasing 70s star trek lounge vibe. Favorites were the fish pizza and cheesy garlic bread with a little house made caesar dressing smeared on it. Open late (11:00) for after night dive dining. This place is now on my can't-miss list.
Patagonia: great location on the water overlooking the harbor village marina. Steaks (filet, prime rib and rib eye) were all excellent, as was the fish and shrimp. Very friendly family run business.
El Mundo: good place for lunch (something pretty hard to find on Bonaire). Excellent ceviche.
Rum Runners: stopped here for a couple lunches and really enjoyed it. Great location at Captain Don's overlooking the water. Favorite dishes were the quesadilla, local fish sandwich (can't remember what it's called) and the curried chicken sandwich (fondly referred to as the iguanaburger).
Place on the pier by the cruse ship dock and place across the street (can't remember the names): convenient lunch location and nice setting but pretty forgettable food and service.
Car Rental:
We used AB Car Rental. Our trucks were in decent shape (especially considering the abuse they take), their prices were more than fair and they were very friendly and helpful. Will definitely use them again. We paid extra for locking truck beds, which I probably would not do again. It was nice to keep our gear clean when driving down dusty roads, but they did not lock securely (which is what I was hoping they'd do).
Diving:
Overall the diving was outstanding as always. For anyone who hasn't been to Bonaire, the whole island is set up for easy shore diving. You grab a tank at your hotel, throw it and your gear in the back of your rental truck and back the truck up to the water at any one of the many conspicuously marked divesites on the island. You dive whenever you want, wherever you want and however you want. It could not be easier or more pleasant so long as you don't mind hauling your gear into the water. If shore diving is not your thing, you can do Bonaire by boat, but the shore diving is what makes it so special for me.
Not a ton of huge fish life (which is at least partially my fault for eating grouper and other fun to see under the sea critters), but macro and healthy coral paradise. As far as the big stuff goes, we had multiple spotted eagle ray sitings, including one in the shallows where I could have reached out and touched the ray - amazing! Also saw a few turtles, tons of big barracuda and lots of tarpon. Octopus and friendly squid also seemed to be everywhere - I think we saw one or more on almost every single dive during the second half of our trip. And my wife also spotted her first seahorses on this trip. Something very satisfying about finding those guys on your own without the help of a divemaster.
As far as actual dive sites go, I'll just say they were almost all great. 1,000 steps had a weird fungus or something (it looked like potato chips) growing on almost everything from 40 feet down to 130+. I probably would not do that site again and I hope the fungus or whatever it is doesn't continue to spread (we saw it at other sites, but not nearly as much of it). Some of the far northern sites in the park have taken heavy damage from the hurricane that passed by a couple years ago, though playa funchi was still in pretty nice shape.
Touch the Sea with Dee Scarr: the town pier is closed to diving so she moved a few blocks down the seashore, but is still offering the same great experience. I'm generally not a fan of feeding the sealife, but she seems to do it in a responsible way and offers some great education to go along with it.
All in all a great trip - we will definitely be back!
