Bonaire, which dive sites have I missed??

[DiverKKC]

Hello folks. Heading back to Bonaire in a few months and wanted to get fellow Bonaire divers opinions on which sites I have missed, and why they recommend them. Here are some of the sites I have dove;

-Ol' Blue- heard entrance was demolished
-1,000 Steps
-Oil Slick Leap (rung still missing ?)
-Andrea I and II
-Small Wall
-La Machaca (Don's)
-Buddy's
-Front Porch (cool night dive on sunken sail boat..biggest Cubrera Snapper I've ever seen )
-Hilma Hooker
-Angel City
-Alice In Wonderland
-Invisibles
-Tori's Reef
-several boat dives around Klein
-and a few I know i forgot

I haven't dove the far north and south sites b/c I was a pretty new diver myself at the time. How bad are the currents and surf on those sites? Which time of day is recommended? I've dove in some pretty heavy current (Adolphus Busch, USS Duane in the Keys...get off the down line and you might be found in Cuba) but my dive buddy has not (and will stick to the inland sites). Any recommendations on which of the north/south dives are reasonable or wicked, and what each has to offer would be appreciated. Could I, or should I, get a DM to try a site like Cai, or does it just depend on the day? Would checking the conditions prior be enough, or is it just too risky and unpredictable?

Can't wait to go back...love Bonaire!!:snorkel2:

 

[reefdiva]

Hello folks. Heading back to Bonaire in a few months and wanted to get fellow Bonaire divers opinions on which sites I have missed, and why they recommend them. Here are some of the sites I have dove;

-Ol' Blue- heard entrance was demolished
-1,000 Steps
-Oil Slick Leap (rung still missing ?)
-Andrea I and II
-Small Wall
-La Machaca (Don's)
-Buddy's
-Front Porch (cool night dive on sunken sail boat..biggest Cubrera Snapper I've ever seen )
-Hilma Hooker
-Angel City
-Alice In Wonderland
-Invisibles
-Tori's Reef
-several boat dives around Klein
-and a few I know i forgot

I haven't dove the far north and south sites b/c I was a pretty new diver myself at the time. How bad are the currents and surf on those sites? Which time of day is recommended? I've dove in some pretty heavy current (Adolphus Busch, USS Duane in the Keys...get off the down line and you might be found in Cuba) but my dive buddy has not (and will stick to the inland sites). Any recommendations on which of the north/south dives are reasonable or wicked, and what each has to offer would be appreciated. Could I, or should I, get a DM to try a site like Cai, or does it just depend on the day? Would checking the conditions prior be enough, or is it just too risky and unpredictable?

Can't wait to go back...love Bonaire!!:snorkel2:

I would add The Lake, Salt City, the Rock, Margate Bay, Red Beryl, Sweet Dreams, Soft Coral Gardens, ChoGoGo, Front Porch and Something Special. Watch for wind and wave action at Margate, Red Beryl, Sweet Dreams, Soft Coral Gardens, Vista Blue and ChoGoGo before deciding on the dive. All are easy when there is little wind. The Lake is a lovely part of the double reef and the Rock is a cool pinnacle. All are beautiful with something different at each. Some are not marked sites so you might want to consider purchasing Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy by Susan Porter at Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy, BSDME, Author Susan Porter.

I would not recommend diving Cai without a guide. It is a geat dive though so be sure to hook up with a guide and do it!

 

[seaducer]

All were very good sites. In the north I have also dived Witches Hut and Jeff Davis. They were very nice dives last year, I am not sure how they are now.

The first night dive I did on Bonaire was the Cliff, I remember it was also a very nice dive. It is in Hato, just north of Kralendijk, but before you get close to the northern sites.

I will second the Lake, that was a nice night dive, we entered there and exited at the Hooker. One of my favorite night dives, though next time I will enter at HH since we were low on air by the time we got there.

Salt City was an excellent dive capped off with two large octopi out in the middle of the day, in about 20 feet of water. I don't know if they were fighting or the other thing but it was awesome to watch. Of course it was the end of a dive and my camera battery was dead. So it always goes...

Something Special I did, but do not really remember. Also Pink Beach and White Slave were good dives.

On the east coast I did a shore dive at Lac Cai, that was a really fun dive. Maybe I will see about getting over there this week, have to see what my buddy thinks.

I have not done the far north or south sites either. I have read that they are very weather dependent, and perhaps a morning dive when the winds are lightest? I don't think they are that bad once you are in, but the transition from wet to dry is pretty hairy.

 

[diversteve]

A couple that I thought were better not on your list:

Forest (Klein)
Rappel (boat dive)
Vista Blue - current was ripping in the afternoon though - bending the soft corals over flat. Easy drift dive back to our starting point though...lol. And it appeared calm on the surface.
We also dove Witches Hut and Jeff Davis. From a boat although when we drove by Witches Hut I saw that was a mistake - easy shore entry.
I also liked fish spotting at Bari Reef - the house reef for BD&A. You can do a REEF fishcount there if you dive with the naturalist, Jerry Ligon.

 

[Rynomar]

I would also recommend diving the double reefs from the Lake down to Invisibles. The Lake and Angel City are great dives in the afternoon with a shallow double reef.

We were down in Bonaire in early January and really enjoyed diving the southern dives from Red Slave up to Margate Bay. It was pretty windy when we were there and the water was pretty choppy, but once we were in the water, the dives were great. We did notice some current on several of the dives, but it was manageable.

Also, there is a short cut that you can take from just outside Karpata back to the main road near the Oil Slick. The short cut will get you back to town a lot faster than going through Rincon.


Once you depart Karpata heading toward Rincon, take the first dirt road on the right. It is a bit rough, and you have to go slow but it will save a lot of time.

Enjoy the trip!

Ryan

 

[DiverKKC]

Rynomar, thanks for the map, a shortcut there would be nice. Also, nice pics...the "bicycle ride" on the wreck was classic.

 

[Diveralan]

Karpata is one of my favorite sites. The entry and exit can get rough so do it in the morning. Overall the dive itself is easy. Look for the anchors in the coral. If I remember correctly they are at about 40 ft.

Most of the double reef sites are good. Red and White slave are good but the further south you get the stronger the currents get.

Now that I think about it all of the sites in Bonaire are GREAT. Out of about 120 dives in Bonaire I have only had 2 bad dives . One I flooded my video camera and the other we aborted because of the currents.

Enjoy your trip, I wish I was going this year.

 

[Rescue Diver68]

Karpata, Red Beryl, Bari

Have fun!

 

[b1gcountry]

Rung was fine on Oil Slick in November 2 weeks after Omar. Ol' Blue also looked fine, although we didn't dive it.

I really liked White Slave for something different. Red Slave was okay. I liked The Lake quite a bit, and also Bloodlet, but that is boat only. Most of my other favorites you have done. Bari is a lot like Front Porch. I really like the shallow pier wreckage between Bari and Front Porch. I've never been able to find the wreck there.

Tom

 

[DiverKKC]

Hi B1gcountry. I'm 95% sure the sunken tugboat we dove was at Front Porch. I didn't know it was there, but some more experienced Bonaire divers pointed it out and we did it as a night dive. They said something about a hotel used to be there (Front Porch, right?) Anyway, it's a simple shore entry, and it drops off pretty quickly. You can find a rope attached to a block at around 35-40 ft that will lead you down to the boat. It sits upside down at around 90 feet. My max depth was 95 feet, just checked my log book.

You can ask around and probably find more out. This was only my 3rd night dive and significantly deeper than my previous two so I was actually paying more attention to what I was doing than the specifics. However, it was a sweet dive and I saw, by far, the biggest snapper of my life resting next to the boat. I guess it must have been a Cubrera, I don't think any others get that big (several feet long, bronze in color w/ some barely noticeable vertical barring). I'm going to try and make another night dive there next time...have fond memories of it.

If I recall, we had a little trouble initially finding the down line/rope (a little more difficult at night), and there may have been two there, one of which led to nothing. As soon as you are around 25-30 feet, slow down and search about for the rope, it descends down to the left and will take you there.

It's been several years, but that's the best I can recall.