Current Status of Bonaire

[TNEngineer]

Buddy Dive provides a threaded dry fob into which you put their truck key. Screw it closed, toss it in a BCD pocket, and no worries.

We often tucked slightly-more-valuable items behind/under the rear seat, then left a few things like messed up towels and such on the seats and floors. Basically made it look like random unimportant stuff was just tossed about which suggested that nothing of any value was available. Spare tanks and such are obviously openly accessible in the back but they're labeled and it's an island, so no value in stealing them.

As others have said, in today's world we unfortunately must use some judgement. Bonaire is no worse than other locations and a whole lot better than many.

 

[MidOH]

When was this? In a resort or elsewhere? Did it happen to you or is it hearsay?

Bonaire reviews right here on this forum.

 

[tursiops]

Bonaire reviews right here on this forum.

Right. I think you are referring to one report made several times, that was about an incident maybe 10 years ago. Nothing recent.
Like many others, I've been going to Bonaire once or twice a year, for 25 years, staying for up to a month per visit. I'm far more fearful of car and house breaking here in the US.

 

[ThatsAmore]

My husband and I are finishing an 8 day Bonaire trip today (staying at Buddy’s) and the only people who’ve made us feel unwelcome are the Dutch. Simple questions like “what time should be we be on the dock for the morning boat dives” (at the dive shop) or “may we have a lock for our room safe please” (at the reception desk) or “do you have a table for two” (at a restaurant in Kralendijk) have been met with annoyed reactions and /or weird looks or just dead silence. We enunciate pretty clearly and joked at first that they must all be stoned, but it got progressively more annoying over the course of the week. By contrast, we’ve been to Rincon three times and everyone there (not Dutch) was friendly. We’ve explored the entire island top to bottom and side to side and it’s clean and I never once felt unsafe.

As for the reefs though? Meh. Lots of grey and yellow. If they were once lush and colorful those days are gone, which makes me sad.

 

[Jasper]

Just back from a week in Bonaire and appreciated your and the other helpful posts so figure I’ll chime in with my experience too.

We did not experience the Dutch attitude you noted either at the Dive Friends operation or Buddy Dive restaurant where we ended up eating most nights. The young Dutch servers were friendly at the restaurant and we were always impressed that the prices there seemed reasonable with respect to US despite food being much more expensive in the supermarket.

Security-wise we never felt unsafe and the sites we visited normally had enough diver activity we felt items left in the truck were safe. That said we never left phones, sunglasses in the unlocked truck. It turned out the truck rented from Budget had no fob so my new Dryfob wasn’t really necessary.

We stayed at Diver’s Paradise apts for what we considered a great price for 2 twin bed apt with a nice kitchen. Shelley and Bobby made sure we had everything including a couple welcoming Coronas. She recommended what ended up being my favorite dive - La Dania's Leap to Karpata. Look for a yin/yang symbol on the road prior to Karpata, leave gear on the rocks, park at Karpata and walk back to gear. The giant stride entry off the marked rock leads to a gentle drift up to Karpata. But beware that its a one-way entry, and the road is also one-way and to get back we had to drive through Rincon so it takes more time.

They also recommended Dive Friends and had a discount with them. Very easy to swap out tanks and multiple locations meant flexibility of visiting different dive sites.

Maybe the only negative would be to echo comments about the coral. The disease is killing a depressing amount of the reef. And I don’t know if it is the dead / struggling coral or the slightly reduced water clarity but my perception was of more drab colors that what I remember of Cozumel last year.

 

[divesergeant]

We’re hoping to return this fall. The occasional report of theft from vehicles, while annoying, won’t deter us.

In three trips we’ve only ever had the truck gone through once. They took a pair of el-cheapo sunglasses we had. We’d gotten the cheap pair for just this reason.

We take truck key, money/credit card and cell phone in dry pouches during the dive.


Find creative spots to stash stuff you leave in the truck.

-attach a box with a magnet to some hard to reach body panel
-inside floor air vents
-up high under the seats in the foam
-make a ‘diaper bag’. Melt some chocolate onto a diaper or two and leave it in the truck with your items wrapped in the diaper

I can not take credit for any of these ideas. They are examples of where I have found drugs while searching cars at work!

 

[divesergeant]

On another note, anyone know why airfare seems so high to Bonaire lately? And why there seems to be fewer flights?

Any tips on airlines, connecting flights, etc will be welcome.