Bonaire Trip Report April 17-24

[Doctorfish]

My family and I were back to Bonaire for at least the 10th time last week and stayed at Buddy
Dive.

We were on the Lion Dive (north) end of the resort and had a 2 bedroom unit. The unit had been recently updated and everything worked. The bathrooms are quite nice now the AC is no longer limited to just the bedrooms. Breakfast menu remains unchanged from prior and is more than adequate in terms of choices. There was good quality fresh fruit every day and a made to order egg/omelet/waffle station as well as pre prepared hot selections. Eating breakfast with a view of the ocean is always a high lite of staying at Buddy Dive.
The Pool Bar menu is improved and there is a good selection of sandwiches, wraps and salads for lunch. We had dinner there once as well and the fish of the day and rotisserie chicken were tasty and inexpensive.

The dive op was ok but not great. There are now lockers in the gear room which certainly increases the security. It was always a struggle to get on the board for boat dives when and where we wanted and some of the DMs seemed less enthusiastic than in the past. Murphin is not back in the water as yet but he was there to visit and hopefully will be back at work soon. He is by far the best DM I have ever had the privilege to dive with.
On boat dives, we were pressured to play follow the leader even though my wife and I are very experienced divers. I guess if you want to dive Klein, you have to put up with it. Shore diving, as always was great. There seemed to be a recovery of the reef from prior trips, minimal coral bleaching and more fish present than I remembered.



Buddy's Reef
Something Special
Karpata
La Dania's Leap
Bloodlet
Salt Pier
Were all excellent. We saw the usual array of Bonaire creatures including one daytime octopus, squid, eels of all varieties including numerous Chain Link..

We had no issues with theft from the truck but then again, never left anything of value when parked.

We dined at Blennie's, Mi Banana, Rumba Grill, Joe's Grill and Bobbe Jan's.

Joe's Grill was new for us and had a great selection of Belgian Beers as well as interesting dinner selections. The fresh Wahoo and Chicken Satay were both excellent.

The pizza at Rumba was IMO, much better than Pasa Bon in the past.

Overall, Bonaire for us, continues to be a great Caribbean dive destination.

Dive photos to follow once I get them organized.

 

[tkaelin]

Thanks for the report. Too bad about the "follow the leader" experience on the Buddy Boat dives. We dive thru Capt Don's and they have always made it clear that following the DM is optional but to just let them know if you are going on your own.

 

[oly5050user]

Will be back to buddy dive on Saturday..never had a issue about being pressured to "follow the leader"..usually it's a time given that you are expected to return to boat..those that wish to follow the guide can and those that wish to do their own thing are free to do so...will see if happens next week..

 

[staggsSevin]

What kinda water temps were you seeing last week?

 

[kerrycorcoran]

I need to tag along with others making this trip. The wife and I have only performed boat dives, approximately 60+ plus each, however I cannot seem to convince my wife that we could shore dive. She is convinced we'd get lost at sea. I think if we headed there with a group she'd feel more comfortable.

 

[AdivingBel]

Kerry, going with a group might be optimal, but if you and your wife are comfortable boat divers and are reasonably fit, Bonaire is very doable on your own. My wife and I were in a similar situation (we maybe had a few more dives, if your info is up to date). We wanted to do the trip with a group for the obvious reasons, but we just couldn't make the timing work out. We tend to travel and have a lot of fun on our own, so the group idea was just to get over the "shore dive" insecurities. We decided to go it alone and we're so happy we did. Part of the "Bonaire shore diving" mystique for us "boat divers" is not to be on anyone else's schedule. That also applies to not having to hassle with a group if you don't want to. I don't want to sound anti-social because we have a great time diving with groups (we enjoy Invasions ), but Bonaire with my wife on our own doing our own thing...it worked out just fine. Get a nice vrbo over looking the water (we like Hamlet), a tank package, and a truck and have at it. There are plenty of easy entry/exit dive sites until you get the hang of it. It's pretty special. Good luck.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Kerry, my wife and I were in the same situation before our first trip to Bonaire (our honeymoon). We had only dived from boats and were intimidated by the idea of just walking out into the water by ourselves. But we read up on it here on the SB Bonaire forum, bought the book "Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy," and after our first shore dive on Bonaire realized it really IS easy. There's no current to speak of. You dive by swimming parallel to the shore. No way to get lost or swept out to sea.

 

[Doctorfish]

Water temp about 78-9
3 mm full suit conditions for me. Would have been even happier if I had brought my 5.

Shore diving Bonaire is easy as Lorenzoid said. The diving is miniwall parallel to the shoreline and its hard to get lost. There is a mooring at most sites so you can take a bearing from shore and then go out to the mooring, check the depth and head into current if there is any; on the way back, when you hit the mooring, just do a reciprocal to find your way back right to entry point. Doesn't get much better. Alternatively, if you dive at Buddy Dive from shore, there will be a rope marker on the reef that will take you right back to the dock. Particularly handy at night. Don't know about other dive lodge house reefs. but would guess they probably have similar arrangements.

Bonaire is one of the easiest places to shore dive and not get lost.

 

[DiveMaven]

Kerry, I'll echo what Lorenzoid said. We had never done any shore diving prior to our first trip to Bonaire and it literally took 1 dive to realize how easy it is. We won't waste our time and money on boat diving in Bonaire anymore. Navigation is too easy on shore dives.

You literally swim straight out to the reef (either on the surface or underwater), pick a direction to go (left or right) look for a landmark or the boat buoy line, pick a depth, and start exploring. Turn around at about 1800psi, ascend to 30-40' and swim back to the landmark or buoy, then swim underwater to shore. If you aren't sure that you're in line with your truck, "prairie dog" up when you're about 12-15' deep and adjust your direction accordingly.

Do a 60 min surface interval and either drive to a new site or head back into the water and head down the wall the other direction, pick a different depth, or check out the double reef (southern sites), or all of them!

I recommend Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy before you go. You can also strike up conversations with other folks and ask to tag along on a couple of shore dives. Divers are typically a friendly group and people asking to buddy up isn't uncommon.

You can also post your dates of travel and try to find someone else who is going at the same time and wants to meet up.

 

[tkaelin]

We won't waste our time and money on boat diving

Okay, I agree shore diving is easy and you should give it a try but boat diving a waste of money and time? There are some folks that just seem to really dislike and put down boat diving in Bon. Not sure why. I love both on Bon. Where else do you get a boat dive for around $30 bucks or so. Just walk to the boat, gear up and jump in. You get to sites you can't get to by truck. Both are fun. Don't be talked out of doing some boat dives. You will be missing out