Bonaire, What did you wish you knew before you went?

[jewelofnile69]

what i noticed most was that the american divers would prefer diving in a group on a boat while every-one else was shore diving independantly.

American...only ever did 1 boat dive in my 3 trips. My other american buddies have never boat dove and they'll be going down for their 5th trip in Oct.

Oil slick used to be very spectacular until the top of the shelf there got wiped out pretty badly by Omar (I believe the tropical storm the did the damage was called Omar)

Coming slowly back. The giant stride there is fun, isn't it?!

Oil slick looked great this time around. Sea horses and tons of turtles on this dive as well back in February! The giant stride there rocks!

I wish I knew that I would have left part of my heart there. Love he diving, the people and hope to retire there too. Going back twice a year is just not enough.

+1 Have to agree on all counts!

x3!

 

[gypsyjim]

what i noticed most was that the american divers would prefer diving in a group on a boat while every-one else was shore diving independantly.

Must be the Americans that you know. I can't think of any American I have been on Bonaire with that prefers boats to the shore diving there. The resorts do draw a lot of newly certified divers, and those coming to the island for their first time, and quite a few of these folks do gravitate to the boat dives, at least until they become aware of the ease and freedom that shore diving allows.

Return visitors of all stripes seem to avoid the boats unless there is some site like Kline Bonaire or the park they wish to visit, where the boats serve well, or may be the only option.

 

[herbdb]

The package deal on our first trip included boat dives. After the first two boat dives, we elected to skip the rest and just shore dive. Boat dives can get you to inaccesible sites for shore diving, but my experience is they don't try to do that. Our first dive was on Windsock, one of the easiest entries on the island. There were little kids snorkeling around the dive boat? It was embarassing. Plus there is a lot of wasted time involved with a boat dive.

I just booked (today) another trip with my two son's and grandson for August. Can't wait to see my grandsons face. This is his first tropical dive trip.

 

[Sorrows]

what i noticed most was that the American divers would prefer diving in a group on a boat while every-one else was shore diving independantly.

Dude, those must have been from the cruise ships--they usually put them on boats and go over to Klein Boanire. Or perhaps they were Canadians. You guys can never tell the difference--and most of the time, we can't, either!

 

[diverrex]

Actually I'm 50-50 for my preference for boat or shore diving on Bonaire. I like the schedule freedom of shore diving but I still think boat diving is easier than lugging gear back and forth between sites and the truck. And I like the Klein Bonaire sites. I would be bugged though if I was on a boat and they took me to typical shore dive spots. And don't tell my wife but if I just did 16 or so dives all week long with just her that may get a little boring, I like interacting with other divers on the boat. As long as the group on the boat is small, which it always has been for me on Bonaire, I'm okay with boat dives. I look at it as being chauferred to dives sites.

 

[tracydr]

Never done a boat dive at Bonaire. We tend to stay away from the crowds. Love to day dive down at the Red Slave and White Slave hut sights. My favorite night site, favorite dive of all, is the night dive at Oil Slick Leap.
We've also had some great dives up north, but it's a long drive up there. Pack a lunch and make sure you know how to navigate.
Never dived the windward side but would like to take a boat out there. Did do some fishing on snorkel out in the bay on the other side. That was a kick, fly fishing for bonefish! Just catch and release, of course.
Live never had a bad dive on Bonaire. The Town Pier is worth paying for the night dive at least once. Biggest eels I've ever seen and guaranteed seahorse sightings.

 

[akirawut]

Dude, those must have been from the cruise ships--they usually put them on boats and go over to Klein Boanire. Or perhaps they were Canadians. You guys can never tell the difference--and most of the time, we can't, either!

Canadians don't bother with the boat. We know better.

We're ecstatic when we get a shore entry as easy as _any_ on Bonaire. For a normal dive around here we have to crawl under logs, in the surf, with 30 lbs of lead in a drysuit. Ironshore is nothing.

 

[mala]

We had a great week at Divi and this thread helped us out a lot. We came to dive and dive we did. 26 dives in 6 days. Stayed pretty much to the south of the island. Our 1 trip to the north brought us to "oil slick" and while we did 2 dives there, we were less than impressed with marine life there. Had much better luck on the south side, much to the dive shop's surprise. The fun thing about "oil slick" is the entry and we took full advantage of it! Two middle age guys jumping in over and over again like little kids. And we were NOT the only ones.
The other thing I wish I would have known about is to watch out for the draining of the "salt flats" just south of salt pier. swam right into this underwater "brine river" that was booking down the reef! Vis went from 40 to 3 in just a couple of feet. Sea fans were bent over by it and fish had a hard time swimming up the current. Quite the thing to witness and be part of

i dont think oil slick dive site is at the north of the island.

 

[vladimir]

i dont think oil slick dive site is at the north of the island.

Central would probably describe its location better, but if you divide the island latitudinally in half, it lies in the northern half.

 

[80cf]

Richard's is closed, as is Cactus Blue. The owner of Cactus Blue is looking into the Richard's location. The best of both worlds in my opinion....