Trip Report Bonaire trip report and "How to"

[mbwilliamn]

We just finished our second trip to Bonaire last week and we had a much more enjoyable experience mainly due to the learning curve. I'd like to share some tips and tricks and site specific info that will hopefully make your trip better.

Getting there. Where you are coming from makes a difference, but most of the big US airlines now fly direct at least one day a week. It’s still a little pricey, but the low cost of diving offsets it! If at all possible, book a flight that arrives before 330 pm. I’ll explain later, but that gives you another half day of diving.

Lodging. There are all kinds of options from all-inclusive dive resorts to VRBO properties from efficiency to 5 bedroom, 3500sf houses. We chose to stay at a VRBO property in Sabadeco (north of downtown) and booked our dives with Buddy Dive. We paid about $700 for a 2 BR apartment for the week.

Dive Shop. There are a ton of dive shops around. We chose Buddy dive for several reasons. 1. They have a great house reef and onsite lockers available 24/7. If you want to do a midnight dive, grab a tank and go. 2. Free nitrox – we dive a lot on dive vacations, so we really get the benefit of the NX. 3. Boat dives. While we don’t do a lot of boat dives (6), there are places you can’t get to from shore. They typically run one tank dives (2 in the a.m., 1 in the afternoon). Their system for signing up is easy and worked great. HINT – the boat usually goes where the first person recommends. Have ideas in mind when you get on. 4. Pull through tank/wash station - Covered station to drop off and pick up tanks and wash gear including dedicated tubs for regs and cameras. In ten minutes you can grab new tanks, rinse gear and be off again. 5. Staff - We were there last year as well and the staff has been exceptional across the board with Craig (DM and boat captain) being the stand out both times. 5. Flexible - If needed they will schedule extra boats and they will do drift dives. One of the best boat dives we had we drifted from Hands off, through Forrest to SW point. Awesome!

Dining. We chose to prepare most of our own meals. We did eat out for dinner 3 times and those three meals, while excellent, cost 50% more than all of the groceries, beer and liquor for the other 18 meals. I highly recommend using your kitchen to the maximum extent! Also remember, you are on island time so when you do go out, do not get in a hurry. “Fast” food is 45 minutes. Dinner starts at 1 ½ hours and goes up from there. The reviews below are also on trip advisor under mbwilliamn.

Eddy’s – Amazing appetizer list. We ordered many and I could have had more. All of the food was exceptional and the service was very friendly. At the end of the night they got a bit busy and our server lost track of dessert for a brief time, but overall a place to visit again! We had the following and highly recommend them all! Combination apps of Crab Croquetas, Fried Arepitas and Empanaditas. We also had Patacon con Camaron and a second order of Empanaditas. For dinner I had the app of Columbian style ceviche (my dinner…3/4 lb of meat and amazing flavor!) along with the Seafood Fiesta finally the local market platter.

Mezze – Middle Eastern food by the City Pier. Excellent food. Not one item was even mediocre. Service was friendly, engaging, but not overbearing. Did I mention the food was exceptional? Drinks were a little pricy, but prepared well and served quickly. We shared Muhammara, Twice cooked Eggplant and Hummus (plus a complementary app I can’t remember). All were amazing with the Muhammara having a pleasant bite. For dinner I had the fresh calamari….I’ve never had anything close before. Tender and delicious. We also ordered the Turkish Kebap and the Turkish Sucuk (app) for dinner. The flavors were all amazing.

Hangout Beach bar – Yes, you got that right. First off, a really cool place on Lac Bay. But they do table BBQ on Thursday night (reservations required). Just what it sounds like. They bring a hibachi with 500 degree coals to your table along with ribs, fish, a kabab patty, tenderloin and ribeye pieces. Served with baked potatoes, sauces, great bread, pasta and dessert this was a meal that took it’s time. The only downside is the location. Unless you are staying at Lac, it’s about a 20 minute drive, but well worth it!

Diving (the main event). This is why everyone comes to Bonaire and being our second time we definitely got the most of this visit compare to the first time around.

Preparation/packing – no matter what your luggage weight looks like, do not come to Bonaire with full foot fins. In fact, soft soled dive boots are barely acceptable. You really want full, hard-soled boots. Most of the shore entries require you to walk over “iron rock” and even step down off small ledges. With soft shoes, you will not have confident footing and risk a fall. Even a small slip can cause significant injury. I cannot say this enough…get the hard-soled boots.

Thermal protection. The first time we visited it was March and the water was 75 degrees. Needless to say, we were not expecting that and ended up renting wetsuits for the week. This is expensive…you are better off paying for another bag and packing to be warm than renting ($100/week for a full wetsuit). During the summer months a full skin is highly recommended, just to prevent sunburn. More on that later. Gloves – not allowed without a doctor’s note…just leave them at home.

Dive site planning – if you really want to get the most out of the trip, do some planning ahead of time and take your plan with you. If you are doing boat dives, I recommend you get them done early in the week so you have a couple of days to shore dive all day. Many of the sites are similar so I also recommend you make sure to do ones north of town as well as south. You can find many “top 10” reviews, but mine are: Karpata, Hilma Hooker, Salt Pier are the must do shore dives with Hands off/Forrest, Carl’s Hill (both on Klein) and Small Wall and Rappel as the best boat dives. Details on those later.

Doing the dives.

Check out dive – remember I said try to arrive before 330? A requirement of STINAPA is for every diver (even those who’ve been there before) to do a checkout dive on their shop’s house reef. Most of the dive shops close at 5pm, so if you want to get this done on your arrival day, you need to go directly to the shop and check in (get weights, locker and orientation). Then you can do your first dive at your leisure, maybe after dinner. This opens up your entire first day to your own diving.

Heading out. You’ll hear this 1000 times…don’t leave anything of value in your car/truck. We had a hat, cheap sunglasses, long sleeved shirt and towel each. Put $20 in a BC pocket and don’t open it. Put a COPY of your license and Passport in the glovebox. DO take water. A great trick is to buy a few 1L bottles when you arrive. Pour a small amount out and put 2 or 3 in your freezer. Take one bottle per person with you and when you come up from the first dive you have cold water with ice still in it. After the second dive it’s still very cold, especially if you put it under a towel. A real pro move is to put some fruit in a bag next to your ice bottle! Cold snacks! Another great tip is to take another 1L bottle and put it in the dash or bed of the truck. Warm water for desalting is awesome!

Getting to the sites – The sites are mostly marked very well and easy to get to. The ones south of Buddy dive and north of the airport, not so much. Everything else, yes. Be advised as you head north, once you pass 1000 steps, it becomes one way and you have a 30 minute loop through Rincon.

Entry planning – If there is a swell, most shore entries can be difficult with the exit even more so. Some tips to minimize a bad experience are below. In addition, I have included specific tips for each site we dove. 1. Anywhere you can get a handhold is better. Between any surge/waves and the uneven footing, you are better off stepping in next to a rock that sticks up where you can hold on than stepping down without that support. This is especially true of kids and anyone with weak knees or back. 2. Once you have picked out a potential location get in and out without your tank/gear on. You will be amazed at how much easier this makes entry/exit when you have that extra weight on your back. As you are walking do NOT step on the high points, step in the “bowls” or low spots. Foot traffic has made the high spots very slick in some areas. A slip here can cause you to fall and the “iron rock” and sea urchins are not forgiving. 3. If some of your group are more comfortable with the entries (and especially exits), they can also shuttle gear in and out. We did this for a friend’s daughter. Very easy for her and no big deal for us.

Dives – Remember, for shore dives you are on your own. The current in most sites is light, but can be moderate and some locations stronger. Do a good check before you pick a direction and be aware of changes. Manage your air so you have no issues getting back. HINT swim as far back to shore as possible before coming up. The predominant (almost constant) wind is offshore. Trying to do a 100 yard surface swim against it is a lot of work! Do some turtle navigation, get a heading and drop back down.

 

[mbwilliamn]

Dive Site details - Specific locations we dove with entry and exit tips and features description.

National Park – NW sites –We drove out the first trip. Be advised, this is a HORRIBLE drive. We did two dives, Playa Funchi and Wayaka. They entries were not bad and the dives were OK, but were NOT worth the drive. No matter what Google or anyone else tells you, this is a very rough one way loop that took us over 2 hours of just drive time.

Karpata – This is my number 1 dive. I’d go back here every day. ENTRY – there is a large block at the entry point. If the waves are continuously breaking over this block (washing one end to the other), probably not a good day to dive it. Entry is around the right side of the block. Use it for a handhold to step down, slide around and then push away into deeper water. This is a great feature for handing fins or large cameras down. FEATURES. Watch your depth on this one….most reefs bottom out near 100 ft, but not here. To the left of the entry is a great patch of Staghorn coral in 10-15 feet of water. To the right are massive Elkhorn corals that reach almost 10 feet up. Between 15-35 feed the gorgonians are massive and the marine life impressive. Buried in there are several 1800’s anchors. Past the shallows there are spectacular canyons dropping off to extreme depths (reminds me of some parts of Grand Cayman). EXIT. Much like the entry. Take your fins off on top of the small ledge, but short of the block. Walk up the side using the block and step out. I walked out on top of the block to collect cameras and fins from the group.

1000 Steps. No it’s not really that bad and I’m out of shape. You do want to do this first thing in the am and take a 10 min surface interval before climbing out to reduce your risk of DCS. ENTRY The entry here was actually one of the easier ones we did. At the bottom of the steps turn left and walk to about even with the top of the steps. There is a shallow entry with very few rocks all of which are very easy to spot. NOTE. The hardest part of this entry is between the bottom step and the beach. There is a 3 foot slope that can be very hazardous. I recommend team work and using the tree to the right and if needed de-gear. FEATURES – There are several VERY large patches of Staghorn to the left and straight out from this entry….easy to spend time here. Once to the main ledge you will find a robust gorgonians down to around 40 feet and then the slope drops off similar to those south of this point. There is quite a lot of life on the reef at levels down to 80 feet. One of the nicest features are the “mushroom” formations. EXIT. No special procedure here, just be careful just as you clear the water…there are small pebbles that can give way underfoot. Also take the recommended break before starting the climb and watch that slope now that you are wet.

Oil slick leap. This is a very easy night dive because of the entry/exit. There is sufficient parking and a wooden deck with a nice ladder. The underwater life at night is pretty good. During the day there are much better reefs. ENTRY. Two options for entry. You can giant stride off of one of two flat areas to the right of the deck. The water is 10 feet deep straight down, but it is about an 8 foot drop. Option 2 is to climb down the ladder. The ladder has wooden surfaced rungs except for the last one underwater (careful, it’s slick!). Careful of the walk to and from the platform and remember to step in the low spots! FEATURES. This is the typical 10-20 foot flat area with structure between 15-30 feet along the edge and a drop off to around 80-100 feet. EXIT. At night make sure your navigation is good or you have shore support for a light marker. NOTE. Frequently this site is used by people fishing. Just go down the ladder and out to the ledge.

Buddy Reef. This is the house reef for Buddy Dive. It has the 20-100 foot profile but has substantially more life than oil slick. This is a great day or night dive site. A major benefit of the location is you can go north and get to La Machaca (Capt Don’s house reef) and Cliff (Hamlet Villa’s house reef) and more importantly, you can go south to Bari Reef (highest number of fish species in the Caribbean). ENTRY. There are two docks and two ladders for entry at Buddy dive, but unless you have a locker there or renting tanks from them, you’ll need to pull yours about 100 yards from the parking area. Giant stride or climb down a ladder (always face the ladder). FEATURES. Great numbers of fish and other life. ALWAYS see tarpon, especially at night. There are floating coral farms just before the reef starts (near the boats). Past this there are nice gorgonians and sponges along the 25-40’ area and some pretty good structure at the deeper depths. As you go south the number of fish increase dramatically. EXIT. Once you find it, getting out up one of the two ladders is easy. Watch your navigation, especially at night when all the lights look the same.

Bari Reef. There is an entry for Bari at Sand Dollar, but we went in at Buddy. I can’t talk to the entry/exit, but the reef was great with the high numbers of fish and other sealife.

Hilma Hooker. This is the only wreck dive on the island and well worth the effort! This wreck sits in 100’ of water at the northern end of the double reef unique to ½ of the southern dive sites. ENTRY. There are two entry points about 50 feet apart. After turning between the marker rocks if you drive straight up the far bank, the first entry is just to your right. It is a series of small ledges down to about 2 feet of water. Take care of any waves and keep your eye out for the occasional one that can catch you off guard. The second entry is to the right and marked by a rock right on the edge of the water sticking up about 2 feet in a rough point. If you approach this rock you can use it for a hand hold and step down to the left on a small ledge and then into a hole. You can now walk out clear. FEATURES. There are three buoys about 100 yards to your right front (1 o’clock). The middle one is on the reef and the other two mark the bow (left) and stern (right) of the ship. Surface swim out to conserve air and drop down near the three markers. Since it is the deepest point, explore the wreck first. If you start your dive after the wreck to the south, do NOT go to the second reef. It stays very deep and you will burn your bottom time quickly. Stay on the main reef and you should be able to get to Angel City before turning around and heading back. If you start your dive to the North the second reef starts at 80 feet, but comes up to 60 feet on the top fairly quickly. If your air consumption is good, you can get to Lake before crossing over and turning back. Lake is marked by reef “bridges” connecting the two reef lines. Great life on this at all depths. Well worth doing more than once! EXIT. Make sure you are heading the right directly and swim in to at least 6 feet before surfacing. From there you can spot your pointed rock. Move in to about 3 feet, take off your fins and climb out using the handhold.

Jeannie’s Glory. This site is just before Salt Pier. Great sea life due to the change in reefline, pier and double reef. ENTRY. Park just past the yellow rocks. From there walk straight to the water. You will see a similar structure as Hilma Hooker with a rock sticking up 2 feet and a small pool to the left. Use the rock as a handhold and step in. STRUCTURE. You could easily enter at this site and do the site to the south including the entire Salt Pier. Because it is dove little (Salt Pier is much more popular) the reef is in great shape with much of the same life. If you swim all the way out, there is the primary and double reefs but those are similar to Lake, Hilma and Angel City. There is a really nice undercut ledge that goes from 6 feet to 4 feet along the shoreline. Definitely worth exploring at the end of your dive! EXIT. Use your car as a reference to get the right direction and swim back underwater to at least 5 feet. Find your rock (Triangle piles of rocks nearby help) and use the big rock to help step out.

 

[mbwilliamn]

Salt Pier. This is one of the iconic dives of Bonaire. An absolute must do! The significant structure attracts all kinds of life from large pelagics to cuttlefish and everything in between. ENTRY. There are two entry points we like. The most popular is to the North of the pier. At first glance there is a ledge across the entire area, but if you look closely in the middle there is a flat area with a series of 3-4 inch ledges down to 2-3 feet of water. If a wave clouds the bottom just stand for 20 seconds until you can see the edges again. The second entry is south of the pier just past the small building. There is a sand channel between two taller rocks. The sand flows right into the water, but don’t get complacent. The bottom is not all sand and the rocks are light colored and hard to see. Take your time and take small steps. STRUCTURE. The pier is not as simple as it appears from shore. Imagine a large “T”. The base is the conveyer and has several sets of pilings. The cross bar has 5 large sets of pilings spaced evenly from one end to the other (8-12 poles each). If you draw a “V” between pilings 1-2 and another between 4-5, the point is where another pier is on both sides. The top of the T sits right on the reef edge between 3-45 feet while the rest of the pier is between 14-25 feet. You can easily spend 2 hours at this site if you watch your air and depth. EXIT. The exit at the northerns point, just swim toward the mass of trucks. Once you can stand up find your “ramp” and carefully walk up. Keep an eye out for the “sneaker” wave that can kick you off balance. For the southern point, again, small steps so you don’t trip over the rocks. Your feet WILL be very sandy. Keep your regs out of the sand and put your boots in a pile so the sand doesn’t get on the other gear.


Invisibles. This is officially the last site that is part of the double reef system. However, what you will find is the second reef is very deep where it exists. It’s a long swim to the second reef and there are large sand channels between the reef sections. It’s very easy to end up in 110 feet with nothing but sand around. I think there are better sites to do the double reef. I don’t have specific entry info for this site. It seemed to be a relatively easy step down, but no hand hold areas. Not a dive I would do again.


I’m glad to answer questions and hope you have fun on your trip!

 

[gypsyjim]

I agree with Karpata as my favorite site.

I have a hunch that Buddy Dive will very soon stop letting you have a locker if you are staying off site, but doing their shore package.
Mid week, @Aug 1, the resort moved the key rack for the dive shop lockers out to the main resort registration desk at the resort entrence, and the locker keys will no longer be distributed at or by the dive operation.
I was able to get a locker from the main desk on Aug 1, after they made that move, but it required a bit of smooth talking, and left me pretty certain that they have decided to keep the dive lockers for guests rooming at the resort from now on.

I will note that Buddy Dive has made several improvements to both the property, and the tank filling operation since last fall, including paving parking areas, adding improved Nitrox testing, and they are currently expanding their tank filling facilities at the drive through.

 

[gypsyjim]

Last Nov when we last used Buddy's the drive-through at BD could not keep up with demand, and by midweek 5 or 6 trucks of divers at a time were sitting there waiting "patiently" as 1 or 2 very hot tanks of Nitrox became available.

After I posted comments on Trip Advisor midweek I got a personal visit from the resort and dive shop managers together, and the resort team started filling tanks overnight, rather than stopping in the evening, and so never catching up with the demand.

During our visit just over a week ago though I was very happy to see that there have been several improvements, and we never had to wait for tanks even one time.

The replacement of the Nitrox anylizers with new, easier to disconnect and use models was also helping keep the traffic from backing up like it has often done in the past.

 

[darook]

Salt Pier. This is one of the iconic dives of Bonaire. An absolute must do! The significant structure attracts all kinds of life from large pelagics to cuttlefish and everything in between. ENTRY. There are two entry points we like. The most popular is to the North of the pier. At first glance there is a ledge across the entire area, but if you look closely in the middle there is a flat area with a series of 3-4 inch ledges down to 2-3 feet of water. If a wave clouds the bottom just stand for 20 seconds until you can see the edges again. The second entry is south of the pier just past the small building. There is a sand channel between two taller rocks. The sand flows right into the water, but don’t get complacent. The bottom is not all sand and the rocks are light colored and hard to see. Take your time and take small steps. STRUCTURE. The pier is not as simple as it appears from shore. Imagine a large “T”. The base is the conveyer and has several sets of pilings. The cross bar has 5 large sets of pilings spaced evenly from one end to the other (8-12 poles each). If you draw a “V” between pilings 1-2 and another between 4-5, the point is where another pier is on both sides. The top of the T sits right on the reef edge between 3-45 feet while the rest of the pier is between 14-25 feet. You can easily spend 2 hours at this site if you watch your air and depth. EXIT. The exit at the northerns point, just swim toward the mass of trucks. Once you can stand up find your “ramp” and carefully walk up. Keep an eye out for the “sneaker” wave that can kick you off balance. For the southern point, again, small steps so you don’t trip over the rocks. Your feet WILL be very sandy. Keep your regs out of the sand and put your boots in a pile so the sand doesn’t get on the other gear.


Invisibles. This is officially the last site that is part of the double reef system. However, what you will find is the second reef is very deep where it exists. It’s a long swim to the second reef and there are large sand channels between the reef sections. It’s very easy to end up in 110 feet with nothing but sand around. I think there are better sites to do the double reef. I don’t have specific entry info for this site. It seemed to be a relatively easy step down, but no hand hold areas. Not a dive I would do again.


I’m glad to answer questions and hope you have fun on your trip!

Great trip report and information on the entries. Invisibles is an acquired taste but one I love. I like the garden eels in 20' of water and all of the life on the terrace. It is a long trek over to the second reef and you need to go over at a direction you know will land you on one of the reef "islands." I usually do that at about 60' to save air. Red Beryl and Vista Blue are sites worth doing on your next visit. Really pretty and usually lots of turtles at VB.

 

[mbwilliamn]

Hey, same week we were there! We did boat dives with them, so no issues with the lockers to start, but we didn't get a replacement after the changeover....with our dive schedule didn't make sense. Good info and I'll check with them to be sure. The first dive we did their house reef 4 or 5 times including night dives, so the locker was VERY nice.

Love the new analyzers!

 

[mbwilliamn]

Great trip report and information on the entries. Invisibles is an acquired taste but one I love. I like the garden eels in 20' of water and all of the life on the terrace. It is a long trek over to the second reef and you need to go over at a direction you know will land you on one of the reef "islands." I usually do that at about 60' to save air. Red Beryl and Vista Blue are sites worth doing on your next visit. Really pretty and usually lots of turtles at VB.

I'd love to have specific entry/exit tips for those sites as well as any that other people would like to post. We definitely didn't spend enough time in the shallows....my wife usually takes her camera but did not on this dive....when she does, last 15-20 min are less than 20 feet!

 

[Kharon]

I'd love to have specific entry/exit tips for those sites as well as any that other people would like to post. We definitely didn't spend enough time in the shallows....my wife usually takes her camera but did not on this dive....when she does, last 15-20 min are less than 20 feet!

Get "Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy" It tells you the best way to get into the water and what to expect at each site.

My 2 cents - get to southern sites early before the wind picks up.

Check the wind on Wind Guru Windguru - Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba - Lac Cai - dive Red Slave and Red Beryl on days with little to no wind = no current.

A trick I learned my first time on Bonaire (after flubbing around on severtal shore entries). Watch the waves and count. Usually there will be a pattern of increasing wave height with several much smaller waves following the largest. Once you figure out the pattern you wait for the largest and then enter as it's receeding. Quickly go out far enough to float (chest high) and put your fins on.

 

[gbf]

Another reason to go early if you're gonna dive Vista Blue and Red Beryl - both are in range of the kite boarders from the fish hut, but they are not early risers. I do love VB. If you like soft corals try Margate Bay.

I'm not much for Hilma Hooker, but when we dive it I wanna be first in the morning, before the hordes descend on it.