Current Status of Bonaire

[gassed]

Hello and Happy Holidays!
I am looking for honest opinions from those with the history to reply. What is the current status of Bonaire?
We visited Bonaire 3 times in the late 90's and 2000's. As with all dive venues we saw typical changes. One year eels everywhere. The next there were Flamingo tongues on every Gorgoneia. The diving was typically fantastic. Would love to return to that diving freedom and life we had seen before.
What stopped us from returning was simply, the locals. We witnessed many locals discarding trash from moving cars, pulling over to dump a dirty diaper over the seawall, etc. Even a couple drunk workers doing burnouts on the main drag in front of City Cafe (is it still there?), hitting the curb and dumping a 5 gallon bucket of paint in the street.
Outside of servers looking for tips (and to be honest, Ditch nationals) we were treated with distain by the locals we met. Compared to Roatan, Cayman and other Carib venues we did not feel welcome when venturing outside the normal areas. I would say this held true for all three trips. Not to say we expect the locals to shower us in love. It's just that in other locations we have been able to bond with locals. Invited to home dinners. Created long term relationships. In Bonaire eye contact was rare and a smile near unheard of.
The third visit, 2008, theft in the form of home invasions (reports of) and vehicle theft (first hand experience) took the place off the map for us. That said I don't see the same posts anymore. It's been 15 years and things change.
For those of you that have been around, are things better now?

• Has the crime issue been neutralized?
• Is the local vibe a bit more relaxed/friendly?
• How are the reefs/life? (I'm aware of Stoney Coral TLD)

Not looking to stir a hornets nest. Just hoping we can add Bonaire back into the mix. Honest opinions based on personal experience welcomed!
Happy New Year!!
Erik

 

[ontdiver]

While it is natural and important to establish some personal interaction on dive trips, I can't say that I have ever set out to "bond" with anyone at a dive destination, perhaps with the exception of the boat crew/dive shop. As for those working in the service industry, we all know they are typically not well paid and rely heavily on tips. I do not begrudge them for this and many female servers put up with a great deal of inappropriate language and attention.

Yes - it is disheartening to see littering while on holiday. But I have also seen beaches and dive sites at home that are equally grim. And workers that are impaired....well...

All that aside, many friends dive in Bonaire regularly and have not mentioned anything but enjoyment....

 

[tursiops]

Since my experience in visiting Bonaire at least once a year for 25 years does not at all match your experience, I doubt you care what I think...you'll ignore it and stick with your biases.
I suggest you go somewhere else, you'll be happier.

 

[ADSLubec]

We've been going to Bonaire since the mid 90's, most recently this past July and going again in three weeks for a six week stay. Your experience and view does not match ours for the most part. We've found the locals to be friendly and welcoming. Once we were unhappy with a rude young Dutch server who was more interested in his Dutch customers, otherwise the waiters and waitresses have been wonderful.

Is the island the same as thirty years ago? No, it's far more crowded. It has too many cruise ship passengers and too much development. Nevertheless we still go time and time again for the dive freedom.

 

[scubadada]

Fast Moving Coral Disease Alert on Bonaire

Also in the same issue of the Bonaire Reporter is an editorial by Dee Scarr, noted environmentalist and conservationist. Reef Glimpses by Dee Scarr Covid v SCTLD Remember how nasty Covid-19 was at the beginning? Seriously, think back. Remember all those guidelines from reliable sources...

scubaboard.com

 

[Lorenzoid]

I'm not sure how to interpret "locals." Bonaire's residents are quite a mix, with many Venezuelans and Colombians having migrated there, and of course many people who moved from the Netherlands. My impression is that the friendliness of locals is related to their individual economic state. The economically well-off (that would be mainly the Dutch immigrants) seem friendly to me, and the poorer folks are wrapped up in their daily challenges. But that has been my experience everywhere I have traveled for diving. I can't say I have been invited into the homes of less well-off locals anywhere I have dived. It's great that you have--you're very fortunate.

My Bonaire trips date back to the late 2000s, and for a while I was visiting every couple of years or so. I did not notice a major change in the crime vibe. There has always been petty theft from the rental trucks, and I don't think it has increased or decreased noticeably. Our villa was burglarized once, and the perps took our truck for a joyride. The police caught them--some teens, it turned out. We got most of our stuff back. That incident alone would not dissuade us from returning. I perceive Bonaire as neither an idyllic island free of crime (is there such a place?) nor an especially crime-ridden one. I happen to live in a big US city with plenty of crime, and I understand that places with more poverty are likely to have more crime. Anyway, these are just my perceptions. You could research actual crime statistics.

My group adopted a wait-and-see attitude toward SCTLD. This year we chose Roatan over Bonaire. But SCTLD had ravaged Roatan, too. It's apparently all over the Caribbean. Maybe we need to face the reality that there is nowhere the reefs will look as healthy as they did decades ago, and if we want to continue in this pastime we'll need to adjust our expectations.

 

[tursiops]

My group adopted a wait-and-see attitude toward SCTLD. This year we chose Roatan over Bonaire. But SCTLD had ravaged Roatan, too. It's apparently all over the Caribbean. Maybe we need to face the reality that there is nowhere the reefs will look as healthy as they did decades ago, and if we want to continue in this pastime we'll need to adjust our expectations.

Exactly.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

 

[schuylerclark]

We were in Bonaire a couple weeks ago. We never felt unsafe in the least, and we went all over the island just the two of us. People were friendly, restaurant service was great, shopkeepers nice, etc. The reefs have suffered from bleaching and sctld this year, but they're in as good of shape as anywhere in the Caribbean. The few jerks I witnessed were tourists from the states. We left our lunch, sunglasses and change of clothes in the unlocked truck every day and no one messed with any of it. It's a modest island with a tourism focus. It's not Beverly Hills, obviously. But it's nicer and safer than quite a few places I've been in the US.

 

[MidOH]

If you got the chops to comfortably go to your resort in Roatan, I'm jealous.

No way I'm picking Bonaire over Roatan.

 

[Doc Harry]

....and stick with your biases.

I really despise when people refer to another person's life experience as a "bias."

Really despise that.