drrich2
Contributor
Hi:
Went with a group to Bonaire 3/3-3/10/07; stayed at Eden Beach Resort. Will post a few thoughts:
Dove 10 times; 2 Invisibles, 2 Oil Slick, 1 Ol Blue, 1 Eden's Rubble, 1 Windsock, 1 Andrea I, 1 Andrea II, 1 Hilma Hooker. Enjoyed them all, but Invisibles had a long swim out to where the reef drop-off starts (from what I saw, in Bonaire, at dive sites you have a stretch of sand to swim across before you hit the reef; shortly after the reef starts, there's a drop off where the reef gradually slopes downward at, oh, maybe a 30 degree angle?, & keeps on going).
Would've done more but my friend, used to second shift & after doing a great deal of driving in our pre-trip arrangements, was sleep-deprived & very sea-sick prone for 2 days, & my wife enjoys diving but not a lot of it.
We really had fun. A boat wreck in the Eden's Rubble site out from our resort was an enjoyable dive.
Our rental truck was stick shift; it's my understanding that's very common in rental vehicles. I can't drive stick, but my friend & wife could.
Eden Beach Resort was nice & we enjoyed it. The stove was gas, & the stove/oven temp. dials didn't have number temp.s so my wife had to 'wing it' cooking.
We learned to walk into the sea & get in about 4 feet of water, then put our fins on, & take them off the same way, rather than putting them on just before entering the ocean (or just after leaving it). Maybe we should've already known, & maybe someone told us that before, but if so, we'd forgotten.
Richard's, Papaya Moon & Wil's Grill were fine places to eat. I liked the fish sandwich at Bongo's at Eden Beach Resort. The people on this forum who warn you things there run on 'island time' & service is often, er, 'a tad slow' by U.S. standards are dead on; we knew to expect it, so we weren't totally surprised.
Be sure to hit the wildlife preserve in the Northern part of the island up during the day when there's great lighting, not the evening when lighting is low & you won't want to take pics (which is what we did). There are majestic natural splendor views that deserve photographing.
Take some apples in your car when you drive the island for the donkeys; if you stop, they come up hoping to be petted & free-load.
The post office isn't open on Saturday, so if you want to mail something home, don't wait till the Saturday you're due to fly out to drop by the post office.
Oil Slick is very nice for a giant-stride in ladder climb out, no swim out to find the reef, 'dive boat like' experience, & was a particularly splendid reef section from what I saw. People frustrated with entry & exit due to rocky, coral rubble beaches who fear slipping & falling (remember, get in before you put on fins!) & long for the ease of boat diving may love it. When you're climbing the ladder to get out, take a look at the rocky wall above the water; there's some sort of large 'bug' looking thing my friend likens to a potato bug, that clings to the rock & is very hard if not impossible to pull off. Also notice the crabs that hang out & scamper around. If you choose to enter by ladder, you can do a little snorkeling while holding onto the ladder; a big, gorgeous parrot fish (stop light, I think) & some other things were there when I did this.
It's easier to get good shots of a small wreck, like the boat off Eden's Rubble than a whopper like the Hilma Hooker. But there was a large green moray eel on the bottom under one end (? bow?) of the Hilma Hooker, & some tarpon around it. Shore Diving Bonaire Made Easy, 5'th Ed., rates the Hilma Hooker an intermediate dive with entry/exit & depth considerations; I concur. Entry was a bit more challenging than some places. I considered sitting on the rocks & trying to slide in; thing is, spiny black sea urchins can be seen hiding here & there along shore. When you hit the wreck, you'll be going deep if you want to be level with it; I lay on my belly in the sand (not on coral) beside it, & my dive computer read 99 feet deep). Nice thing about Hooker is that when it's time to head back to the surface, you can slowly ascend climbing the adjacent reef, giving a nice, gradual & enjoyable ascent.
You can find some interesting things walking the beach at night around the pier at Eden Beach Resort; where a flat rock is covered by incoming waves & there's a strip of water between the rock & shore, my buddy found small moral eels foraging, and over the rock we saw a small greenish octopus crawling around - these things at night, using our dive lights (we never did get around to a night dive).
Plan to hit a supermarket (i.e.: the one behind Lisa's Gas Station that you pass coming in from the air port) soon; eating out is fine but it gets expensive when you do it 3 times/day & often get change in guilders! Guilders make nice souvenirs, though.
Don't forget to put sunscreen on the back of your neck; I sported the classic red-neck look for awhile, & I saw somebody else with the same problem. On the other hand, I suspect sunscreen made my eyes burn much worse when sweat &/or water got in my eyes while diving; I thought it was salt water burning me, but when I started skipping my face with sunscreen, I didn't have as much trouble. My face sun-burned a bit, though.
Those are my late night musings. Been meaning to post.
Richard.
P.S.: While we were at Oil Slick, I believe it was, another diver has an air hose burst. Just goes to show how the unexpected sometimes happens, & buddies are important. If that had happened at substantial depth instead of early & shallow in a dive... Thankfully, those folks just had to abort that dive. Did make me think, though.
P.S. #2: There's more to enjoy in Bonaire than diving, if you enjoy walking around town, driving the island & taking in the natural beauty & taking photos. We had a great time & hope to return someday.
Went with a group to Bonaire 3/3-3/10/07; stayed at Eden Beach Resort. Will post a few thoughts:
Dove 10 times; 2 Invisibles, 2 Oil Slick, 1 Ol Blue, 1 Eden's Rubble, 1 Windsock, 1 Andrea I, 1 Andrea II, 1 Hilma Hooker. Enjoyed them all, but Invisibles had a long swim out to where the reef drop-off starts (from what I saw, in Bonaire, at dive sites you have a stretch of sand to swim across before you hit the reef; shortly after the reef starts, there's a drop off where the reef gradually slopes downward at, oh, maybe a 30 degree angle?, & keeps on going).
Would've done more but my friend, used to second shift & after doing a great deal of driving in our pre-trip arrangements, was sleep-deprived & very sea-sick prone for 2 days, & my wife enjoys diving but not a lot of it.
We really had fun. A boat wreck in the Eden's Rubble site out from our resort was an enjoyable dive.
Our rental truck was stick shift; it's my understanding that's very common in rental vehicles. I can't drive stick, but my friend & wife could.
Eden Beach Resort was nice & we enjoyed it. The stove was gas, & the stove/oven temp. dials didn't have number temp.s so my wife had to 'wing it' cooking.
We learned to walk into the sea & get in about 4 feet of water, then put our fins on, & take them off the same way, rather than putting them on just before entering the ocean (or just after leaving it). Maybe we should've already known, & maybe someone told us that before, but if so, we'd forgotten.
Richard's, Papaya Moon & Wil's Grill were fine places to eat. I liked the fish sandwich at Bongo's at Eden Beach Resort. The people on this forum who warn you things there run on 'island time' & service is often, er, 'a tad slow' by U.S. standards are dead on; we knew to expect it, so we weren't totally surprised.
Be sure to hit the wildlife preserve in the Northern part of the island up during the day when there's great lighting, not the evening when lighting is low & you won't want to take pics (which is what we did). There are majestic natural splendor views that deserve photographing.
Take some apples in your car when you drive the island for the donkeys; if you stop, they come up hoping to be petted & free-load.
The post office isn't open on Saturday, so if you want to mail something home, don't wait till the Saturday you're due to fly out to drop by the post office.
Oil Slick is very nice for a giant-stride in ladder climb out, no swim out to find the reef, 'dive boat like' experience, & was a particularly splendid reef section from what I saw. People frustrated with entry & exit due to rocky, coral rubble beaches who fear slipping & falling (remember, get in before you put on fins!) & long for the ease of boat diving may love it. When you're climbing the ladder to get out, take a look at the rocky wall above the water; there's some sort of large 'bug' looking thing my friend likens to a potato bug, that clings to the rock & is very hard if not impossible to pull off. Also notice the crabs that hang out & scamper around. If you choose to enter by ladder, you can do a little snorkeling while holding onto the ladder; a big, gorgeous parrot fish (stop light, I think) & some other things were there when I did this.
It's easier to get good shots of a small wreck, like the boat off Eden's Rubble than a whopper like the Hilma Hooker. But there was a large green moray eel on the bottom under one end (? bow?) of the Hilma Hooker, & some tarpon around it. Shore Diving Bonaire Made Easy, 5'th Ed., rates the Hilma Hooker an intermediate dive with entry/exit & depth considerations; I concur. Entry was a bit more challenging than some places. I considered sitting on the rocks & trying to slide in; thing is, spiny black sea urchins can be seen hiding here & there along shore. When you hit the wreck, you'll be going deep if you want to be level with it; I lay on my belly in the sand (not on coral) beside it, & my dive computer read 99 feet deep). Nice thing about Hooker is that when it's time to head back to the surface, you can slowly ascend climbing the adjacent reef, giving a nice, gradual & enjoyable ascent.
You can find some interesting things walking the beach at night around the pier at Eden Beach Resort; where a flat rock is covered by incoming waves & there's a strip of water between the rock & shore, my buddy found small moral eels foraging, and over the rock we saw a small greenish octopus crawling around - these things at night, using our dive lights (we never did get around to a night dive).
Plan to hit a supermarket (i.e.: the one behind Lisa's Gas Station that you pass coming in from the air port) soon; eating out is fine but it gets expensive when you do it 3 times/day & often get change in guilders! Guilders make nice souvenirs, though.
Don't forget to put sunscreen on the back of your neck; I sported the classic red-neck look for awhile, & I saw somebody else with the same problem. On the other hand, I suspect sunscreen made my eyes burn much worse when sweat &/or water got in my eyes while diving; I thought it was salt water burning me, but when I started skipping my face with sunscreen, I didn't have as much trouble. My face sun-burned a bit, though.
Those are my late night musings. Been meaning to post.
Richard.
P.S.: While we were at Oil Slick, I believe it was, another diver has an air hose burst. Just goes to show how the unexpected sometimes happens, & buddies are important. If that had happened at substantial depth instead of early & shallow in a dive... Thankfully, those folks just had to abort that dive. Did make me think, though.
P.S. #2: There's more to enjoy in Bonaire than diving, if you enjoy walking around town, driving the island & taking in the natural beauty & taking photos. We had a great time & hope to return someday.
