Favorite Dive Sites/Restaurants/ Must Do's?

[divematt]

We're going to Bonaire in March and wondered if any of you have any favorite dive sites, restaurants, and must do's while we're there. I always like to hear that when there are 70 dive sites, which are some of the favorites so we don't miss them in our 20 or so few chances to dive in a week? We have no problem doing any advanced or deeper dives if they're not to be missed. We're doing one boat dive per day and all of the rest from shore. We have included breakfast so we'll need dinner ideas in moderate price ranges.

Thanks in advance for any help and opinions,
Matt

 

[reefdiva]

Our favorite restaurants include Pasa Bon Pizza (awesome fish pizza, yummy homemade sausage, great garden setting), Bobbe Jan's (ribs, chicken; open weekends only), Wils (favorite occasion restaurant, great garden, wonderful presentation, delicious food)also Bistro de Paris and El Fagoen. My favorite dive site on Bonaire is whatever one I am currently diving as they are all special. Try some in the north, "in town" and to the south as they are different. Do you have a copy of Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy by Susan Porter, available at www.bsdme.info???

 

[Mossman]

We're going to Bonaire in March and wondered if any of you have any favorite dive sites, restaurants, and must do's while we're there. I always like to hear that when there are 70 dive sites, which are some of the favorites so we don't miss them in our 20 or so few chances to dive in a week? We have no problem doing any advanced or deeper dives if they're not to be missed. We're doing one boat dive per day and all of the rest from shore. We have included breakfast so we'll need dinner ideas in moderate price ranges.

When in March? I arrive at Buddy's on 3/16 via Continental, for one week.

It's my second trip and I didn't get to sample many of the restaurants or shore dive sites on my first trip (don't ask) so I've been busy compiling my to-do list. For dive sites, the pier dives are highly recommended. I did a night dive at the Town Pier on my last trip and saw a frogfish, a sleeping baby turtle, and quite few other treats which I can't recall without digging out my log book. I'm looking forward to diving that and/or the Salt Pier in March. Both dives require a local DM guide, which you can probably arrange through your hotel's dive op. The popular wreck dive is the Hilma Hooker, and I'm definitely going to do that in March. Then there's Larry's Wild Side, diving the east side of the island. I had (more than) several beers with Larry on my last trip, but never made it out diving with him on my last trip since the seas were too rough. I'll doubt I'll do it this time, either, but it's a must-do for my future third visit. For the rest of the dives, I'll play it by ear from day to day. That's the nice thing about Bonaire.

As for food, I've narrowed my choices down to a manageable few. Mona Lisa and Richard's seem to make almost all the lists, with nary a complaint. So does Pasa Bon Pizza, for a more casual alternative. Capriccio is an older Italian favorite that still gets good reviews for the most part, but I've read a few negatives as well. Cactus Blue gets mixed reviews, though nothing too terrible, and the menu and drinks sound good. Patagonia and Casablanca get a few rants about service. It's hard to decide, and I'll likely eat at Buddy's one or two nights. Seafood tends to be overcooked on the island. Beef is a good choice since the Dutch love their steaks. Prices are very reasonable.

 

[CLEAR BLUE]

We had a great time in Bonaire in November. We only made one boat dive period. Just too much wonderful shore diving. The night dive at the town pier is a must! That's what my husband would say. I really liked Oil Slick Leap to the north and Pink Beach to the south. I also really liked Bachelor's Beach. Dinner at Casablanca was really nice. Also ate at Buddy's a few times. Really liked "lobster night" . I think that was a Tuesday. Have a great trip. Looking foward to reading a trip report!

 

[MarkUK]

Night dive – and a real night dive, at least 10pm onwards, so it is really dark – on the Hilma Hooker wreck.

Or

A night dive at a similar time off the wall at Karpata. Seriously cool, and anyone who reckons bigger stuff doesn't come round that side of Bonaire has obviously never done this dive!

Or

A night dive into several bottles of Amstel Bright. It doesn't even have to be dark for that one...

Mark

 

[Bosun]

We have been back for two weeks and really enjoyed our 18 night trip.

This is an extract from our trip report that we posted on Bonairetalk

As far as eating out is concerned, we tried several of the restaurants on Bonaire, some old favourites as well as a few which were new to us:

• Mona Lisa – outstanding - tuna cooked to mouth-watering perfection. Good service and pleasant dining room.
• Richards – amazing location right on the water, excellent food especially the Bonarian Fish Soup. Great service with a smile – we liked the chalk board menus!
• Rum Runners – the ocean side location is fantastic, and we enjoyed two of our best meals of the trip here; Floris cooked a delicious fish and sea food platter which we shared one evening, and on another occasion he created - tuna cooked three ways with an Asian twist - which was wonderful. Consistently very good service from friendly and helpful staff.
• Den Laman – another wonderful location, only 10 feet away from the ocean. The food was delicious, particularly the parmesan crusted catch-of-the-day. They weren’t that busy and we can’t understand why – the quality of the food and service was excellent as is the ambience/setting. Seeing the empty tables we really recommend a visit here.
• Bistro De Paris – nice chowder.
• La Flamboyant – pleasant courtyard setting and tasty fish soup, good service and nice wines.
• Patagonia – we hadn’t booked and they were very busy, but quickly showed us to a lovely table with a great view of the harbour. The food was delicious, particularly the shrimp cocktail and garlic shrimp main course. Good service - an excellent addition to the Bonarian dining scene.
• Cactus Blue – Very nice rare tuna and efficient service. Pleasant table outside on the deck and a refreshing (and potent!) strawberry margarita.
• City Cafe (for lunch) – one of our favourite spots for lunch. Very tasty tuna salad baguette and grilled fresh fish Caesar salad, both washed down with ice-cold Brights.
• Brasserie Bonaire (for lunch) – enjoyable freshly grilled tuna salad.

our favourite dive sites

Town Pier at night (you will need a local DM who will need your passport details)
Lots of life and plenty of colour for macro photography

Salt Pier Noon or as a night dive (Also needs to be guided as above)
Noon - great light through the pillars, often Tarpon, schools of bait fish, sometimes EagleRays etc.
Night - not as colourful as Town Pier but lots of small things to find

Karpata - great dive site.
Kallis Reef saw two Seahorses
Do some boat dives to Klein - good chance for Turtles
Red Slave nice dive site
Andreas
Invisibles

Have a great trip

Brian

 

[Art Vandalay]

I was there in January and had a great time. All of the dive sights we did were great. You should definitely check out the Town Pier if you have a chance. It's not available to dive if there is a cruise ship docked there. You have to schedule a dive with a local dive master who coordinates with the harbor master. The colors are spectacular.

I had good surf-n-turf at Patagonia. Bobby Jan's is great for lunch. Cappricio's was really good Italian food. It Rains Fishes was also excellent. Just don't plan to spend less than 2 hours eating at most places for dinner. Bobby Jan's was really fast but everywhere else we went took at least that long.

Have a good time!

 

[Art Vandalay]

Oh yeah, I forgot to say...

We heard awesome things about Pasa Bon Pizza and planned to go there one night at 9pm. We were going late because we dove the Town Pier at 7 and had to change and take care of our equipment. When we got there they were out of pizza dough! arggg!

We had lasagna instead and it was good, but if you're planning to go there maybe try a little earlier than we did!

 

[gangrel441]

Night dive – and a real night dive, at least 10pm onwards, so it is really dark – on the Hilma Hooker wreck.

Or

A night dive at a similar time off the wall at Karpata. Seriously cool, and anyone who reckons bigger stuff doesn't come round that side of Bonaire has obviously never done this dive!

Or

A night dive into several bottles of Amstel Bright. It doesn't even have to be dark for that one...

Mark

Just out of curiousity, Mark...what kind of big stuff were you seeing on the Hooker night dive? Wife and I are going in October, and while I appreciate macro, a little bit of big stuff would be just the thing to make this a nice, well-rounded trip...

 

[MarkUK]

Just out of curiousity, Mark...what kind of big stuff were you seeing on the Hooker night dive? Wife and I are going in October, and while I appreciate macro, a little bit of big stuff would be just the thing to make this a nice, well-rounded trip...

Well, on the Hooker dive we saw a massive Goliath grouper and several very large tarpon, and as we were the only two divers on the wreck, they came real close.

It was Karpata where we saw the real big stuff. Several large tarpon, big jack and snapper, and a couple of passes from a big shark. Couldn't make out exactly what it was, but it sure didn't look like a Caribbean reef shark! This was all down around 30-40m.

Karpata is well worth doing in the day, to get a feel for the site, then go and hit it at night and go over the wall. Very cool. And no one ever seems to do it at night.

Mark