We just got back from our sixth trip to Bonaire, and our second trip this year. We had to go back to the island just to find summer weather, as July here in upstate New York was both the wetest (10+ inches) and coolest July on record.
This time we stayed in a Light House Beach condo south of the airport, and did shore packages threw Buddy Dive again. We liked the guys at Den Lamen, who are always very helpful, as are the folks we've met at Wanna Dive, but the 24 hr access to tanks and gear room at Buddy Dive seal the deal for me. I like night dives and pre dawn dives, so being able to grab a tank without planning way ahead, for a quick dive is a big selling point for me.
We did a lot of our dives on Bari Reef, day, night and predawn. My two nephews completed their PADI OW certification dives there at Buddy on Sun and Mon, so we hung with my brother's crew there a lot. Bari Reef is still one of the liveliest reefs, with so much to see, and I love diving one reef at all hours, to watch the changes (day to night and then night into day) that the reeflife goes through.
It was fun introducing my brother and his family to Bonaire for the first time, and my son, 16 and daughter, 20 had a lot of fun showing their cousins their favorite sites. The Hilma Hooker wreck is always fun to take new divers to see, and a great site to pose a diver on the prop for a photo. Then 10 to 12 Tarpon in the holds are always a surprise the first time too!
Thousand Steps is another Bonaire classic site, and this site was in MUCH better shape than I had expected, after seeing the devistation that Omar did to Oil Slick, just a bit further south. Didn't seem like one thousand step anymore, now that my son is grown and the gf is a more confident diver. Carrying tanks for 2 dives and three people my first time at the steps 5 years ago it did seem like there were one thousand steps.
One of our favorite site, for everyone, and for some of my dawm solo dives was Yellow Submarine, at Wanna Dive's shop on the waterfront near Something Special. Easy entry, sheltered form surge and lots to see. Still a bit of junk though, even after some recent clean ups, but way cleaner than this site was just this last Jan.
Another site we returned to repeatedly was Windsock, right by the airport, early mornings, before the locals hit the beach. I did one pre dawn solo, photo dive here too, as well as Bari Reef off Buddy and Yellow Sub.
Having 7 divers and one snorkeler we had a pretty large group, and 2 were brand new divers, while the gf is pretty new and nervious, so most of my diving was at other diver's paces, but I did slip away early mornings to do my own slow photo dives, where I could spend an hour at my own pace, watching the reef's "changing of the guard".
My son Morgan and his cousin both turned 16 while we were on Bonaire so we gave them windsurfing day passes. With no lessons, but just by watching they quickly picked up the basics and had a ball at this OTHER Bonaire favorite sport. The bay where they windsurf on the East side is windsurfer's paradise; shallow bay, sandy bottom and constant wind!
I only tried it a few times, but I'm not 16, or the athlete these two boys are, so my windsurfing attempts were mostly face planting and back flopping!
Got to run, but I'll post a couple of pics in a bit.
This time we stayed in a Light House Beach condo south of the airport, and did shore packages threw Buddy Dive again. We liked the guys at Den Lamen, who are always very helpful, as are the folks we've met at Wanna Dive, but the 24 hr access to tanks and gear room at Buddy Dive seal the deal for me. I like night dives and pre dawn dives, so being able to grab a tank without planning way ahead, for a quick dive is a big selling point for me.
We did a lot of our dives on Bari Reef, day, night and predawn. My two nephews completed their PADI OW certification dives there at Buddy on Sun and Mon, so we hung with my brother's crew there a lot. Bari Reef is still one of the liveliest reefs, with so much to see, and I love diving one reef at all hours, to watch the changes (day to night and then night into day) that the reeflife goes through.
It was fun introducing my brother and his family to Bonaire for the first time, and my son, 16 and daughter, 20 had a lot of fun showing their cousins their favorite sites. The Hilma Hooker wreck is always fun to take new divers to see, and a great site to pose a diver on the prop for a photo. Then 10 to 12 Tarpon in the holds are always a surprise the first time too!
Thousand Steps is another Bonaire classic site, and this site was in MUCH better shape than I had expected, after seeing the devistation that Omar did to Oil Slick, just a bit further south. Didn't seem like one thousand step anymore, now that my son is grown and the gf is a more confident diver. Carrying tanks for 2 dives and three people my first time at the steps 5 years ago it did seem like there were one thousand steps.
One of our favorite site, for everyone, and for some of my dawm solo dives was Yellow Submarine, at Wanna Dive's shop on the waterfront near Something Special. Easy entry, sheltered form surge and lots to see. Still a bit of junk though, even after some recent clean ups, but way cleaner than this site was just this last Jan.
Another site we returned to repeatedly was Windsock, right by the airport, early mornings, before the locals hit the beach. I did one pre dawn solo, photo dive here too, as well as Bari Reef off Buddy and Yellow Sub.
Having 7 divers and one snorkeler we had a pretty large group, and 2 were brand new divers, while the gf is pretty new and nervious, so most of my diving was at other diver's paces, but I did slip away early mornings to do my own slow photo dives, where I could spend an hour at my own pace, watching the reef's "changing of the guard".
My son Morgan and his cousin both turned 16 while we were on Bonaire so we gave them windsurfing day passes. With no lessons, but just by watching they quickly picked up the basics and had a ball at this OTHER Bonaire favorite sport. The bay where they windsurf on the East side is windsurfer's paradise; shallow bay, sandy bottom and constant wind!
I only tried it a few times, but I'm not 16, or the athlete these two boys are, so my windsurfing attempts were mostly face planting and back flopping!
Got to run, but I'll post a couple of pics in a bit.
