Going to bonaire in august, anyone there august 14 -21?I would enjoy meeting people on this board. Its my first trip i'm staying at buddys. If theres any advise for a newbie to bonaire i would love to hear from all of you. I also am looking at BT theres much info there. Thanks.
Bonaire
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diver1011
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Hi, I'll be leaving Bonaire on the 11th after a two week stay. Check out www.bonairetalk.com to have a lot of your questions answered. We go to Bonaire often and would be glad to offer any help that you might need.
You are going to love Bonaire. My first trip was last Thanksgiving for two weeks. You will soon find out how easy and wonderful diving on Bonaire is. You will also realize that one week is not long enough 
Buddy's is on the north side of town so you will be closer to sites such as Andrea I and II along with Karpta, 1000 steps and Ol Blue.
I highly recommend that you purchase "Bonaire Diving Made Easy" by Jessie Armacost. It has a detailed discription of the entry, exit, average depth, and information on what you would see on a "typical" dive. The book has information on all the marked sites and several of the unmarked sites.
As you probably know: You should not leave ANYTHING in your vehicle and, leave the windows down and the door unlocked.
Have a wonderful time!! I won't be there until Christmas :-(
Buddy's is on the north side of town so you will be closer to sites such as Andrea I and II along with Karpta, 1000 steps and Ol Blue.
I highly recommend that you purchase "Bonaire Diving Made Easy" by Jessie Armacost. It has a detailed discription of the entry, exit, average depth, and information on what you would see on a "typical" dive. The book has information on all the marked sites and several of the unmarked sites.
As you probably know: You should not leave ANYTHING in your vehicle and, leave the windows down and the door unlocked.
Have a wonderful time!! I won't be there until Christmas :-(
Diver Kat
Contributor
We just did our first trip to Bonaire in May - and it was WONDERFUL!! You will have the best time .....
one odd thing that I don't remember anyone mentioning in all the advise was - they don't bag you groceries at the Cultimara ... so bring a couple canvas sacks or a few bags with you .... we were unprepared, so they sold us a paperbag finally ....
one odd thing that I don't remember anyone mentioning in all the advise was - they don't bag you groceries at the Cultimara ... so bring a couple canvas sacks or a few bags with you .... we were unprepared, so they sold us a paperbag finally ....
You will enjoy Buddy's and Bonaire. Let's see, tips.
Don't take large bills. Lots of places don't take anything bigger then $20. US$s are accepted at most places and major credit cards are accepted at most of the larger restuarants, the small local placed don't take CC's. There is a ATM located in frount of the Sand Dollar resort, which is next door to BD. It will give you USD or Guilders. The last time I used it (March 04) my bank charged me a $2 fee. The exchange rate is 1.77 to 1 (give or take a litte ).This works out to about 1 guilder (aka Floran or NFL) =$0.56 or 2 guilders= $1.12. I just use 1 NFL= $0.50 as a rough guide. Lately I go by the bank at SD, get guilders and just use them. While you can use USD, EXPECT your change in NFL. Also, pay close attention to the coins. 1 ($0.56) and 5 ($2.80) guilder coins add up real quick and give you the impression you are being cheated if you don't realize what the coins value is.....lets just say it can cause some unnecessary embarrassment.
The food and water are safe to eat/drink. Drink lots of the water as you dehydrate very quickly. We buy a bottle of water or Coke at the market and refill the bottle from the tap all week. Don't avoid the local places. The food is really good at some of them and the prices are better than the larger places. Gibi's is a local place that is worth going to. The food at the restuarants is cooked to order. Because of this expect it to take longer that you do here in the states. Most places are happy to modify the dish to suit you ..more garlic, no garlic, that kind of thing. It is common in a lot of the restaurants that you have to ask for the bill. It is considered rude to give the bill to the customer before it is ask for. This causes a lot of misunderstanding and claims of "poor service" by Americans. To ask for the bill, just make eye contact with the waitstaff and "write" on your hand, they will then bring you the bill.
There is a $10 marine park tag you have to buy before you dive. You will have to take an orientation class and do a "checkout" dive when you buy the pass. The orientation at BD is held every morning at 9am. The "checkout" dive is nothing more than doing a dive in frount of the resort to get your bouyancy and trim tweeked. There is also at $20pp exit tax that you must pay to leave the island. You MUST have it with you when you go to check in at the airline soooo, be sure to purchase it before getting in the check-in line. The tax is cash only, USD or NFL is OK.
Do come join us on the Bonairetalk board. There are a lot of nice folks there and anything about Bonaire you want to know can be found there.
Don't take large bills. Lots of places don't take anything bigger then $20. US$s are accepted at most places and major credit cards are accepted at most of the larger restuarants, the small local placed don't take CC's. There is a ATM located in frount of the Sand Dollar resort, which is next door to BD. It will give you USD or Guilders. The last time I used it (March 04) my bank charged me a $2 fee. The exchange rate is 1.77 to 1 (give or take a litte ).This works out to about 1 guilder (aka Floran or NFL) =$0.56 or 2 guilders= $1.12. I just use 1 NFL= $0.50 as a rough guide. Lately I go by the bank at SD, get guilders and just use them. While you can use USD, EXPECT your change in NFL. Also, pay close attention to the coins. 1 ($0.56) and 5 ($2.80) guilder coins add up real quick and give you the impression you are being cheated if you don't realize what the coins value is.....lets just say it can cause some unnecessary embarrassment.
The food and water are safe to eat/drink. Drink lots of the water as you dehydrate very quickly. We buy a bottle of water or Coke at the market and refill the bottle from the tap all week. Don't avoid the local places. The food is really good at some of them and the prices are better than the larger places. Gibi's is a local place that is worth going to. The food at the restuarants is cooked to order. Because of this expect it to take longer that you do here in the states. Most places are happy to modify the dish to suit you ..more garlic, no garlic, that kind of thing. It is common in a lot of the restaurants that you have to ask for the bill. It is considered rude to give the bill to the customer before it is ask for. This causes a lot of misunderstanding and claims of "poor service" by Americans. To ask for the bill, just make eye contact with the waitstaff and "write" on your hand, they will then bring you the bill.
There is a $10 marine park tag you have to buy before you dive. You will have to take an orientation class and do a "checkout" dive when you buy the pass. The orientation at BD is held every morning at 9am. The "checkout" dive is nothing more than doing a dive in frount of the resort to get your bouyancy and trim tweeked. There is also at $20pp exit tax that you must pay to leave the island. You MUST have it with you when you go to check in at the airline soooo, be sure to purchase it before getting in the check-in line. The tax is cash only, USD or NFL is OK.
Do come join us on the Bonairetalk board. There are a lot of nice folks there and anything about Bonaire you want to know can be found there.
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