Bonaire - Where to go?

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Rirarianneke

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Messages
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Location
Amsterdam
# of dives
100 - 199
What better to do than decide on a sunday afternoon to go to Bonaire (late nov)....But then what?
Can anyone share their experience on where to go (resort, dive school, dive site)
in order for me to plan my trip.
Of course I am also interested in any cool diving story about bonaire.....
 
I just returned from Bonaire, NA 1 week ago and had the most unforgetable time diving there. I stayed at the Plaza Bonaire Resort which had very large spacious rooms and most importantly a very good outfit dive company, Toucan Diving.
Things to bring during Oct. - Nov....

Lots of water. I brought 5 1L bottles of water, froze them in the hotel and drank them all. The weather averages 85-95F and the water 84-86F. There was 81percent humidity I needed to adjust to but it improved during the week.

This time of the year is rainy season, best for diving since the ocean is more calm.
This means MOSQUITO season! I didn't know that and had over 80 bites to brag about on my return. Bring your repellant. Of course, don't forget sunblock. They are very close to the equator I believe.

Favorite places to eat: Dinner- Don Giorgio's (excellent Italian esp. the lasagna)
La Flamboyant (excellent French/Dutch)
the Mona Lisa (great French/Dutch)
The Lion's Den (all American, beautiful view of the bay)
Breakfast/Lunch- City Cafe (HUGE selection, cheap prices)
Old Inn Cafe (great sandwiches) very close to the resort

Entertainment: Find "Moogie" anywhere he plays, he's a must see! He goes to many venues on the island for live music performances. Don't miss it. (He plays at Plaza on the beach)

Ahhh diving.. It's really the best for me out of Cozumel, Jamaica, Kona, and the Dominican Republic. There's really so much to see you can't do it all unless you're there for 2 weeks or more.

Toucan Diving is really a great group. They're professional, alot of fun, and very knowledgeable. They have over 4 boats, unlimited tanks 24/7 for you to do your own thing day or night and I couldn't have dove with a better crew.. Ebby and Peiter.
Ebby was great because there wasn't anything under the water he didn't know. He's mind is like an encyclopedia. Some of the most obscure things he knew it. Peiter was great too in that he knew where all the hiding places were for frogfish, seahorses, and most transparent marine life. They're my pick for divemasters when I return.

Dive sites you must do-
First, when you get there, get your permit to do the Town Pier at night.
Bring your camera! My last night in Bonaire was the Pier and I got face to face with a turtle on a wall. I couldn't believe my stupid camera didn't work! I almost lost it.
You'll see octopus, tarpons, flounder, fireworms, the most colorful coral in orange and red flowers, tubes 4 feet long. Just unbelieveable

1,000 steps-
Look for the 6 foot green morray eel in the shallow dive. Unbelieveable!

Angel's City-
This is heaven. Make it your last dive. Rightfully called Angel's City. I want to be buried
here. Just beautiful. You won't want to surface.

Hilma Hooker-
One of my favorite wreck dives ever. Do this with Ebby. He'll make it very fun for you.
A massive wreck decended to 98 feet. Loved it!

Rappell-
Wow! The coral here is like an ocean of endless mountains. When you turnaround, take a moment to stop and see it at a distance. Breathtaking! Huge mountains of various coral that just breaks in the middle. Brain coral over 6 to 7 feet big. The best part is near the end seeing the stunning orange and yellow flower coral.

Other favorites: Captain Don's Reef, Bon Ventura, La Dona's reef, Carlos' Hill, North Belnam, the Blue Hole and Nearest Point.

It's truly the Diver's Paradise. A repeat trip for sure. There's not enough time to see it all. Take it slow and make it memorable.

RLB.

P.S. do the sunset cruise from downtown at Carl's Beach. I forgot the name of the couple that does it but ask anyone at City Cafe and they can tell you. It's a sailboat cruise you'll never forget!















Rirarianneke:
What better to do than decide on a sunday afternoon to go to Bonaire (late nov)....But then what?
Can anyone share their experience on where to go (resort, dive school, dive site)
in order for me to plan my trip.
Of course I am also interested in any cool diving story about bonaire.....
 
We have stayed at Buddy Dive twice and could not say enough good about them. For our Feb '05 trip they were booked soild that week so we opted to stay at Lions Dive (beside Buddy Dive). Now we have heard that Lions has been bought by Buddy so we are sure we will get the same good service.
If the conditions are calm, Red Slave is a nice site to photograph sponges.
Tim
 
Rirarianneke:
What better to do than decide on a sunday afternoon to go to Bonaire (late nov)....But then what?
Can anyone share their experience on where to go (resort, dive school, dive site)
in order for me to plan my trip.
Of course I am also interested in any cool diving story about bonaire.....
Everything RLB said...

Dive sites: Cliff - north of Capt. Don's and Rappel and Angel City. There's some huge purple sponges at Angel City. We also dove the Salt Pier, it's excellent for macro life. Vista Blue was one of the most prolific sites we dove, but the currents were severe, especially in the afternoon.

Plaza looked like a nice place, we didn't stay there but dove with Toucan there also. There's also Port Bonaire condos, next to the Plaza, you get use of their faciliities.

We stayed at BelMar condos in Belnem, it's a nice place south of town in a quiet area with it's own diveshop(run by Buddy's now) and decent diving on their house reef. The only downside is that if you dive with them, I think you'll have to drive up to Buddy's to get on their boats. When we were there, Toucan ran it so the boats were closer.

Dining: Casablanca, Donna/Giorgio's, Zeezicht and it rains fishes(pricey) We also liked Rumrunners at Capt. Don's, although typical American, the tarpon feeding in the lights at night was interesting.

check www.bonairetalk.com for more info.
 
Rirarianneke:
What better to do than decide on a sunday afternoon to go to Bonaire (late nov)....But then what?
Can anyone share their experience on where to go (resort, dive school, dive site)
in order for me to plan my trip.
Of course I am also interested in any cool diving story about bonaire.....

Do a search & you will probably find a hundred or more threads on this very popular subject, as there are many of us who enjoy Bonaire so much we go back year after year.

In fact, we've just arranged a trip for Feb that will probably be our 7th or 8th.

Frankly, we love the Drive N Dive package through Buddy's, because it epitomizes the Bonaire dive experience: drive around until you find a yellow rock (dive site) then go for it! :D

Really... do the search; you won't be disappointed. :thumb:
 
I have my 3rd Bonaire trip of the year planned of early Dec, we love the island. There are no really bad places to stay or dive operators on the island. If you can give us some idea of what you are looking for , lowest cost, must be beach frount, need kitchen, that kind of thing, we can provide better help. I will agree with Submariner on Buddy Dive. They are not the cheapest but their resort and dive staff are first rate. They are a great choice for a first time visit and if you have several people who can share a condo, the cost diff is not too much. The dive and drive plan is perfect for first timers because it has everything you need in one package and it's all handled by BD rather than having to deal with different companys for vehicle rental and room. Where ever you decide to stay, you will need a vehicle of some sort. We perfer the small pickup trucks, they are perfect for shore diving and seat 4 adults comfortably. Here are a couple of sites that will help.
www.bonairetalk.com
www.infobonaire.com
 
RLB named most of my favorite sites ... I'll add Hands Off and Sampler (both on Klein Bonaire) to that list.

We stayed at Capt. Don's Habitat, and were very satisfied. The restaurant service is phenomenally slow ... which isn't great when you are trying to get in five or six dives a day ... but that was my only knock on the place. Can't beat it for convenience ... giant-stride off their dock and go left for La Machaca (aka Capt. Don's Reef) or go right for The Cliffs ... both awesome dive sites.

Do a night dive at either and be prepared to swim with the tarpon ... :11:

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
What everyone else said, plus this:
Do not pay for boat dives to sites you can access from shore. I saw this all too often during my stay two weeks ago. Get a vehicle(truck or van) and drive to those sites. Boat dives should be to Klien or sites NOT listed as shore dives such as Rappel or the east side(wild side). Anything else is a waste of money and time. Do not neglect the southern sites, especially Invisibles and Red Slave. These two are on my top five list. Know that resorts and dive operators on Bonaire don't stay in business long if they are not reliable and accommodating. As herman suggested, decide what you want to spend and then compare that with the prices each resort has and the facilities they offer. Do some homework, make a selection, then go enjoy! And heade the others advice on posessions and what not to do with them. Have a great trip! I did!

Jet
 
NWGratefulDiver:
RLB named most of my favorite sites ... I'll add Hands Off and Sampler (both on Klein Bonaire) to that list.

We stayed at Capt. Don's Habitat, and were very satisfied. The restaurant service is phenomenally slow ... which isn't great when you are trying to get in five or six dives a day ... but that was my only knock on the place. Can't beat it for convenience ... giant-stride off their dock and go left for La Machaca (aka Capt. Don's Reef) or go right for The Cliffs ... both awesome dive sites.

Do a night dive at either and be prepared to swim with the tarpon ... :11:

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Thanks guys for your quick response. Tomorrow I will make my reservations. Through the Dutch travel agency they recommended me Eden Beach resort (not too fancy, but in a good area?).
Anyway, what I was wondering: if I want to see big stuff (sharks) do I even make a chance in Bonaire or should I just focus on the big aquarium (not that that's not good, however I really started to appreciate the occasional adrenaline rush and want to know whether I should count on this during this trip) ? I already found some websites that do say you can see sharks, but is this not just a fancy PR story?
Sorry, but I find it just more believable coming from first hand....(so, if yes...what dive sites should I go to)
 
Rirarianneke:
Anyway, what I was wondering: if I want to see big stuff (sharks) do I even make a chance in Bonaire or should I just focus on the big aquarium (not that that's not good, however I really started to appreciate the occasional adrenaline rush and want to know whether I should count on this during this trip) ? I already found some websites that do say you can see sharks, but is this not just a fancy PR story?
Sorry, but I find it just more believable coming from first hand....(so, if yes...what dive sites should I go to)
In 16 dives over a week we never saw one. And we dove the South side, North side, Klein, the resort piers, just about everywhere except Eastside. I also spoke to probably 20 other divers on boat rides to Klein and they never mentioned seeing any either. We did see some small rays, not Stingrays, maybe Eagle Rays - and Turtles off Klein Bonaire. We were talking to some people just off a boat from Jerry's Reef at Klein one day and they'd been swimming for an hour with a pod of friendly Dolphins, up close and personal. Bonaire is more small animals than anything else, you'll mostly see Seahorses, small invertebrates, turtles and lots of reef fish.

Closest thing to an adrenalin rush is the 6' Tarpon who on night dives zip into your divelight beam, grab a small fish blinded by the light and go ripping past your face a foot away. Happens often at Town Pier and Capt. Don's dock among other places.

Want to see/dive/feed(maybe) sharks? Go to the Bahamas - www.stuartcove.com
 

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