Bonaire, Trip Report: Buddy Dive and more, Oct 3 - 10

[Tom Kreider]

It was my first time to Bonaire and it was great. The diving is wonderful. The skeeters were not that bad. So, what else...

I want to thank Walt Stark, for great TDI classes. He is a super instructor and made getting through Adv Nitrox and Deco Procedures, both easy and fun. Also thanks to Suse for the awesome videography of our last dive to Cooper's Barge.

More thanks for Bas Noij for an out-of-this world UV night dive. Everyone who is comfortable with a Bonaire night dive, should do the UV night dive with Bas. Imagine if Walt Disney got the chance to repaint the underwater life, and that is close to what you will see.

Everyone at Buddy Dive was extremely helpful, the truck was like new, and everything was uber convenient. This place is super. The house reef alone is worth the price of admission. We looked forward to their breakfast each morning.

It was a pleasure meeting Michael at Chat-n-Browse, he treated me like an old friend. Don't miss a visit to him. It's a good excuse to get more ice cream from Lover's. He also introduced me to Nubia and her day spa, right next to Lover's. She made me melt like butter on the last day before leaving for the airport.

So, I got in 25 dives, without even trying. The diving is so easy, the water is clear, and warm. I wore the 1 mil and the water was about 82-84 each day. It rained a little each day from a few minutes to about 6 hours on the last day.

On a final note, please, please, please, don't leave ANYTHING of value in the truck while you are out diving. At Oil Slick we had one diver staying on shore and didn't want to take the camera on the jump off the rocks. Sooo, at some point during our dive the non-diver walked the 50 ft from the trucks to the shore, sat down for a few minutes, and when returned to the truck, after about 5 minutes, three cameras were gone from two trucks. I'll be shopping for a new G10. Unfortunately, I have no pictures or videos to share. Sorry.

Tom

 

[Paul Lenharr]

Excellent description Tom!

I will have to echo the praises for Bas, Suz, and Walt. We had an absolutely amazing trip. So much that we have booked 2 weeks for next year!

As far as the thief's that think they can get away with stealing from the visitors and tourists that support this islands economy...... heheh... snicker, snicker.... I have something special in mind for them when we return in May... Muwahahahahaha..... Let's just say they won't be stealing for a few weeks while they recover..... =)

Loved Buddy dive, couldn't have asked for anything more. Anyone wanting to visit, be prepared to pay somewhere in the range of $8 /gallon for fuel.... I didn't know this and was surprised when I went to pay. The best way to spend your money would be to exchange some USD for the local currency and pay that way. IF you pay with USD, they will give you change in the local currency which is worth LESS than the USD, so keep that in mind. (Yes, I'm cheap).

The diving was absolutely amazing. Nowhere else have I seen a frogfish and a seahorse. The diving was so easy, it's hard not to get 2 dozen dives in a week visit.....

Stay safe....

 

[ZoSo]

Would love to know your crime solution, Paul. I'd love to help put a stop to these thefts.

 

[SubMariner]

Would love to know your crime solution, Paul. I'd love to help put a stop to these thefts.

On a final note, please, please, please, don't leave ANYTHING of value in the truck while you are out diving. At Oil Slick we had one diver staying on shore and didn't want to take the camera on the jump off the rocks. Sooo, at some point during our dive the non-diver walked the 50 ft from the trucks to the shore, sat down for a few minutes, and when returned to the truck, after about 5 minutes, three cameras were gone from two trucks.

That about sums it up.

It's the same advice you'll hear from anyone who's been to Bonaire: leave nothing of value in the truck or unsupervised at the dive site.

 

[DiverVince]

Paul..I really don't think it's $8 per gallon..The prices are posted in ANG per liter. So, work the math..If it was 2.00 NAF per liter; that approx $4.50 per gallon.

 

[Papa_Bear]

If you plan it right one tank should be enough for the week! It is just the best shore diving I have seen in the Caribbean! It would still be worth it at the higher price, but the locals would have to steal twice as much to keep up They should put up Web Cams at the parking areas and it would cut down on this behavior or even some patrols would be nice! If it continues they will be killing the goose that lays the only egg!

 

[ZoSo]

If you plan it right one tank should be enough for the week! It is just the best shore diving I have seen in the Caribbean! It would still be worth it at the higher price, but the locals would have to steal twice as much to keep up They should put up Web Cams at the parking areas and it would cut down on this behavior or even some patrols would be nice! If it continues they will be killing the goose that lays the only egg!

then they would steal the web cams.

 

[Paul Lenharr]

Would love to know your crime solution, Paul. I'd love to help put a stop to these thefts.

Actually, I have about a dozen ideas.... After doing some more reading, it seams that the top idea isn't going to work. From my reading, it appears that the local "authorities" have more important work to do than to chase these thieves. I can see how it would be a large job to track all the serial numbers, models, etc.....

Anyway, I was going to bring along one or two of my deer "trail cams". They are triggered by body heat and can take either still photos or video. They both have "night vision" which uses Infared to illuminate the picture / video. I was going to setup 2 of these on a site such as oil slick, park the truck with good view, and then leave a "dummy" camera inside, then provide the video / pictures to the authorities. The trail cams are super small and very hard to see if properly positioned so I wasn't worried about them being stolen as well.....

Another thought I had was to plant a dummy camera inside the truck and plant one of the bank "die packs" inside the housing. When they open the housing to steal the camera.... "poof" they are now covered with a die that takes almost 2 weeks to scrub off... but again, if the local authorities won't do anything about it, then we are back to square one......

My original reaction was to hide in the weeds and when they show up, use a tazer and zap the crap out of them..... but I don't feel like sitting in a third world countries jail cell while I could be diving :cool2:

If they only knew how much the visitors (divers like us), contribute to the economy of their small island..... Oh well...

 

[Paul Lenharr]

Paul..I really don't think it's $8 per gallon..The prices are posted in ANG per liter. So, work the math..If it was 2.00 NAF per liter; that approx $4.50 per gallon.

It is very possible that my math was off..... It was posted as 2.73 NAF per liter. I know it took $44 USD to fill that small trucks tank which wasn't even 1/2 empty! I was pretty shocked, but it's part of the experience. I complain about our gas prices back home too :blinking:

I can't complain too much, no matter how I work the numbers, the price per dive still can't be beat.

 

[dukeh20]

We just got back from our 5th trip to Bonaire on Saturday. Our rental truck was from Total rental at the airport. There was a "bumper sticker" on the glove box that could not be missed that reminded you not to lock up the truck, roll up the windows or leave anything of value in the vehicle.

We did a "double dip" at Karpata on Thursday morning. When we arrived we were the only ones there. Between dives when we went up to swap tanks, a second truck was parked next to us. It was the only other vehicle parked at the dive site. The windows were rolled up and there were large suitcase/dive bags on both the front and back seats. I did not bother to check the locks since it really wasn't my place to do so.

A young couple was just getting out of the water as we went back down for our second dive. I wanted to smack them both, but just kept my mouth shut. It was so frustrating. We saw the remnants of shattered car windows at several dive sites last week and knew right away what probably happened.

I have been a criminal prosecutor for over 20 years so I am not so naive to think that crime ever goes away. But damn, at the same time I can not think of a situation where more care has been taken to try to keep people from putting themselves in a position to be victimized than on Bonaire.

As far as the dive gear that gets stolen, it was probably insured, so other than the inconvenience, they got new stuff when they got home. But we all pay the price for the damaged rental vehicles because people are unwilling to think that they won't be a victim or just dont care.

Sorry for the rant, but after Thursday at Karpata, I needed to vent.

Duke