Bonaire!

[phelana]

I find the dining choices on Bonaire are staggering..a few favs include Bobbijan's BBQ on the weekend, Capriccio's for the best wine and good Italian (dine for lunch outside..lovely..then a siesta), Bistro de Paris for everything (my clients love his lamb shanks), Wil's Grill for fresh fish and the Ginger Snap, my favorite drink, Plazita Limina for great Peruvian fare, Kontiki for lunch (views and windy) and Roomer for Roti and a chill atmosphere. Oh oh..I forgot Mona Lisa for the fish Bar Hap menu.

Check out my blog for some recent dining photos Caribbean Wind & Sun Vacations--Bonaire Blog

For diving my clients all love Red Slave when the winds are reversed or dead, Margate, Red Beryl and Andrea I and II.

 

[herman]

Here is a site you may find interesting. Virtual Bonaire - View BeHere Panorama - Panoramic and Regular Photos and Images of Bonaire This is a 360 view of a typical dive site, this one is north of Sand Dollar a few miles. If you pan to the the left you will see 4 or 5 large rocks in the edge of the water, pan back right so the last one is just on the left edge of your screen. There will be another rock about mid screen and if you look there is a small white bouy directly out to sea from that rock. If you look on a line between those 2 you will see a channel running out to sea, that is where you would enter and exit this site. It takes some practice but after a while you can begin to spot them. If you go left or right of that channel, you will be on top of coral and rocks.

I think this is Alice In Wonderland.
View attachment 113995

 

[diversteve]

Here's another example. The white wave behind the diver in yellow is breaking on the ironshore but just behind him to his left it's calm - that's the sand channel. I sat on those rocks, geared up and walked out through it. Harder to find from the water as you're lower - all you see is the ironshore. We just parked the truck behind it. This site is Vista Blue south by the Lighthouse. Current was ripping in the afternoon one day.


Dive site images/descriptions for many sites are here: Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands

 

[drrich2]

Anyway, my questions are:
What would be a go to easy dive site for getting the feet wet again?
What are your top 5 truly must see sites!? I'll take a tally...
I'll also take restaurant recommendations

Windsock (which is not the same place as Windsock Resort) is a good entry & exit dive, near the big wooden pier, and thus I also like it for night dives.

A top 5 with rationales:

1.) Karpata - more northern of the mainstream sites, mainly for the really lush reef. The reef itself is quite beautiful & worth seeing.

2.) 1,000 Steps - for the novelty, and you can take some nice photos here. Once you're down, entry & exit are pretty easy. Walking to steps in gear will make you feel the burn, though.

3.) Oil Slick Leap - probably a 6 foot drop to hit the water via giant stride, you're almost immediately at the reef, and it's a good reef dive site. Sort of a novelty.

4.) The Cliff for a shallow 'wall dive,' unique for the main west coast diving strip, I think. Not easy to spot from the road; it's a bit north of Captain Don's, if memory serves.

5.) Hilma Hooker - with a name like that, and being the main 'big' wreck in recreational depths here, how could you not do the Hilma Hooker? Actually a nice reef (double reef system I believe). I typically hit around 85 to 90 foot depth making a lap around it, though, so watch your air supply on this dive. I also don't recommend making it your first; give yourself time to get a feel for how far an AL 80 tank lasts you.

Other sites I like are Tolo/Ol'Blue, Andrea I (II had poorer viz when I was last here, and someone else posted about it, too), Alice in Wonderland, Angel City, and there are more but this would give you a representative sample.

Restaurants:

1.) Bon Appetit - decently priced Chinese food, they give you enough, good for lunch stops.

2.) City Cafe' - decent prices for the island, good food.

3.) Wil's Grill - I generally get Barracuda here. Kinda like the ambiance of the place.

4.) Pasa Bon Pizza - perhaps for the sheer novelty of 'Fish Pizza,' if that appeals to you.

I do like Cactus Blue (has a rep. for being pricy), Richard's & some other places.

Richard.

Warning: The road to some northern sites becomes one-way. I don't do the driving, but as I recall, not an issue with Oil Slick Leap, but for Karpata you will be definitely be taking the 'scenic' route home. And scenic it will be.

 

[Diver DennisP]

Here is a link to a thread we started, seems like forever ago...http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/abc-islands/268513-what-cant-miss-dive-sites-bonaire.html Its a bunch of pages of peoples fav/recommended sites.

Personally I LOVED Karpata. We found the entry to be a little challangeing but absolutely worth the effort. We went south on this dive and found it to be breath taking. Oil Slick and Red Slave we saw dolphins. Ol blue, Thousand Steps, Jeff Davis, Invisibles and the Lake are my other suggestions.

As far as dining... Pasa Bon Pizza was a pretty darn good pizza (call for reservations or take out), Patagonia had really good steak.

Have a great time
Dennis

 

[Cali_Alli]

Here is a site you may find interesting. Virtual Bonaire - View BeHere Panorama - Panoramic and Regular Photos and Images of Bonaire This is a 360 view of a typical dive site, this one is north of Sand Dollar a few miles. If you pan to the the left you will see 4 or 5 large rocks in the edge of the water, pan back right so the last one is just on the left edge of your screen. There will be another rock about mid screen and if you look there is a small white bouy directly out to sea from that rock. If you look on a line between those 2 you will see a channel running out to sea, that is where you would enter and exit this site. It takes some practice but after a while you can begin to spot them. If you go left or right of that channel, you will be on top of coral and rocks.

I think this is Alice In Wonderland.
View attachment 113996 View attachment 113995

That's pretty nifty... The buoys will be really helpful...are they usually set signaling the channel? or just that it is a dive site?

 

[Cali_Alli]

Dive site images/descriptions for many sites are here: Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands

That's where I've been getting most of my info, good stuff.

 

[redacted]

That's pretty nifty... The buoys will be really helpful...are they usually set signaling the channel? or just that it is a dive site?

Markers tend to be located in the 20 to 30 ft range just short of the drop-off. But they are missing at many sites. If you surface swim in and out, it is no problem but you will miss the things in the shallow sand flats. I carry an underwater marker (float on a 15' yellow plastic ribbon) which I place at the edge of the drop-off. Follow a compass heading out and reciprocal back in after you retrieve the marker. Or you can try to identify a unique looking feature (sponge) but they often have cousins.

 

[AZ_Zoner]

Allison,

Thanks for posting this thread. My wife and I are headed down to Bonaire in a little over two weeks and the info here is a great reminder of where We want to dive and then go for dinner.

I can't wait!

Craig

 

[herman]

That's pretty nifty... The buoys will be really helpful...are they usually set signaling the channel? or just that it is a dive site?

No,the bouys are for dive boats to tie up to, some times they make a good marker but mostly they don't. The best way I know of is to decide on your entry channel, go in and work your way out to maybe 6-10 ft deep then look back towards shore. Find 2 shore objects that line up like you would use a gun site and remember those. They will give you the line you need.

I encourage you to do some board searches on Bonaire over the last 4 to 6 years. There was a good discussion on how to enter a site a while back and over the years a lot of us have posted detailed hints, tricks and ideas, I have posted a long how to on Bonaire navigation several times.