Do not listen to AVIS!

[kelemvor]

Another "bash Bonaire" thread. Jeese - just don't go.

If it's not posted, those considering destinations won't know about the problem Therefore they wouldn't be able to make an informed decision to go or not. Also, since apparently this stuff has been reported to their police department repeatedly but not addressed. Maybe those benefiting from tourism dollars in Bonaire will decide these posts affect their income. Then they could put pressure on the Bonaire law enforcement to.. enforce the law.

I guess I'm assuming that breaking into cars is actually against the law there...

 

[DustyC]

Are the house reefs that good? When I went to coz they had a house "reef" but it sucked. A house reef worth diving would be a real selling point!

My second favorite dive on Bonaire was Cliff, the house reef for several places.

 

[DustyC]

If it's not posted, those considering destinations won't know about the problem Therefore they wouldn't be able to make an informed decision to go or not. Also, since apparently this stuff has been reported to their police department repeatedly but not addressed. Maybe those benefiting from tourism dollars in Bonaire will decide these posts affect their income. Then they could put pressure on the Bonaire law enforcement to.. enforce the law.

I guess I'm assuming that breaking into cars is actually against the law there...

You're assuming they can do something. Car break ins don't even warrant a response in most cities. Phone or Internet report, and that's it.

 

[kelemvor]

You're assuming they can do something. Car break ins don't even warrant a response in most cities. Phone or Internet report, and that's it.

That's a pity. In my area there's a special multi jurisdictional police task force to tackle the issue. A quick google search shows that we're not alone.

 

[uncfnp]

No place is perfect. They all have their problems, even here at home. No, I don't like the hassles that petty theft causes in Bonaire. But do I feel otherwise unsafe? No. Do I feel safe walking the streets of Bonaire at night? Yes. Do I feel safe walking the streets in WPB/Miami, Florida? Nope. Personally I prefer the risk of petty thief to the very real risk of violate crime in the states. Or even terrorism here and elsewhere.

Theft/vandalism at dives sites is unfortunate and it does seem to me, an outsider, that it is treated with too much of an " that's just the way it is" attitude. But will this stop me from visiting Bonaire? No. If it did then I might as well resign myself to never leaving the house.

 

[DustyC]

What I notice about these discussions is that the people seem to think it's locals doing it. And it might be. But anyone that discounts the idea of other divers is a fool.

A diver or 2 coming out of the water see another group coming in. Get to the vehicles, secluded, only the 2 trucks.

Break in and steal stuff, leave.

Other people come our, see glass, realize stuff is missing, call cops.

The absolute most information the cops will have is "well, there was a rental truck here". Well, that narrows it down.

Let's play fantasy world.

Full description of the rental truck, and the cops find it. "Wow, sorry about that officer. We did see this other truck pulling in as we left."

Cameras set up at the remote dive sites would help. If someone wants to pay to install them, the network, the massive amounts of data storage needed, and people to monitor it all and do IT on it.

Then the crying will start about people not wanting to be filmed while they change.

And of course, the people that'll assume it's so bad that they have to have cameras and therefore won't go is probably equal to, or greater than, the few people who won't go back because someone got their flip flops stolen.

Or people could just use common sense, learn from us Bonaire vets and not leave crap in the truck they want to keep

 

[mmmbelows]

What I notice about these discussions is that the people seem to think it's locals doing it. And it might be. But anyone that discounts the idea of other divers is a fool.

This nonsense gets posted about every other thread like this. Have you ever met any other divers? Have you ever met anyone diver or non-diver who spends thousands of dollars to travel to a far away place to steal car batteries and flip flops????? Risk / Reward a little out of wack there.

 

[mmmbelows]

You're assuming they can do something. Car break ins don't even warrant a response in most cities. Phone or Internet report, and that's it.

Car break-ins don't warrant a response in most BIG cities.

That's the issue, yes in Chicago a car break-in gets lost in the massive amount of more serious crimes committed every day in a LARGE city with a LARGE population, there are multiple car thefts, murders, shootings, rapes, break-ins, assaults... Now transfer your petty crime incident to a small community, smaller crimes take on more importance because they are not lost in a sea of massive amounts of serious crimes. In a small town a small crime gets attention. Bonaire is much more akin to a small town, that's the rub in all of this, it's a tiny place, tiny population, everybody knows everybody else, everybody knows who is doing what. Talking about petty crime in large cities has no relationship to crime on the tiny island of Bonaire.

 

[kelemvor]

Car break-ins don't warrant a response in most BIG cities.

That's the issue, yes in Chicago a car break-in gets lost in the massive amount of more serious crimes committed every day in a LARGE city with a LARGE population, there are multiple car thefts, murders, shootings, rapes, break-ins, assaults... Now transfer your petty crime incident to a small community, smaller crimes take on more importance because they are not lost in a sea of massive amounts of serious crimes. In a small town a small crime gets attention. Bonaire is much more akin to a small town, that's the rub in all of this, it's a tiny place, tiny population, everybody knows everybody else, everybody knows who is doing what. Talking about petty crime in large cities has no relationship to crime on the tiny island of Bonaire.

Well.. thankfully, at least one person gets where I'm coming from here.

I'll probably go to Bonaire when scubaboard has another invasion there. In that case there will likely be enough non divers in the group that watching vehicles while divers are down will be doable.

 

[DustyC]

This nonsense gets posted about every other thread like this. Have you ever met any other divers? Have you ever met anyone diver or non-diver who spends thousands of dollars to travel to a far away place to steal car batteries and flip flops????? Risk / Reward a little out of wack there.

Yes. And yes. I've had dive gear stolen only once. At a dive site at Lake Ouachita in Arkansas.