My wife and I will be diving with Buddy Dive for a week, our first time in Bonaire. Can I get some pointers on must do's topside and dive sites we shouldn't miss?
Thanks in advance!
Thanks in advance!
Headed to Bonaire
- Thread starter DM Gary
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My wife and I just got back a couple weeks ago from our 5th trip (4 with Buddy Dive). You will love it. The storms a few years ago changed the dive sites, some more than others. It seemed to me that the more southern sites and the more northern sites suffered the least damage. So, unless the wave action is a problem (the centeral sites are least effected by seas) I suggest you look look at the extremes for the best sites UW. We did 3 days (6 morning dives) at Karpata. It is a great site. You can stay above 40 feet and have great dives (true of all the Bonaire sites) but if you do drop down to 80 to 100 feet you will find plentiful undamaged corals and can still get 1 hour dives by spending most of the dive shallow. Go slow and look close. But also look up - we had a manta come by at 15 ft this trip and ran into blacktip reef sharks last year at Karpata. The southern sites (Margate Bay to Red Slave) don't have the UW ridges and valleys of Karpata but do have a lot more soft corals. In past trips we ran into a fair number of turtles and the occasional eagle ray in the 25 to 30 ft depth "flats". Little reason to go below 40 ft unless you just need to take a look. Entries and exits at all those sites are not too difficult but will take some care.
Buddy Reef is really quite good and they just don't get much easier in terms of entry & exit (stairs) and navigation (rope from dock to well down the reef). Really easy at night. It is also easy to reach the neighboring reefs, Bari to the south and Scientifico (Capt Don's) to the north. Either one can be sampled with an UW out and back or by a longish surface swim and slow trip back to the Buddy rope marker. For close afternoon dives, we favored going south to the southern end of Bari or Front Porch just south of that. Something Special is another close. easy dive for an afternoon dive, but nothing special since the storms. We did the Hilma Hooker on our first couple trips and decided not to waste any more dives there - not really into wrecks. Another good easy afternoon spot is Windsock which has some fairly nice sandy beach areas and entries.
There are a few sites north of the oil plant and also in the park but current can be a problem there. As far as other activities...we don't much bother. We do always do a dinner at Capriccio's (unbelievable taramisu) and then lunch there on the last day. You will see Rincon and the east coast as you drive back from Karpata. Lunch at Rose Inn in Rincon is good and authentic. You can stop and look at the surf on the east side and see why there is no diving there. The bay down south is worth a ride, maybe on the last day or if you just need a break but don't expect much.
BTW, if you are doing the midnight flight out of Houston, you just need to get 3 or 4 hours sleep on the plane and you can do 3 dives that first day in addition to going down town to stock up at the market. Food is expensive but their breads are delicious. This last trip we did 2 fairly conservative dives on the morning of the last full day (on nitrox), the first at 0600 before breakfast and were clear of nitrogen by 0430 with a flight time of 0830. Next time I will probably do a third dive before noon before gear cleaning and lunch.
Enjoy
drrich2
Contributor
Get nitrox certified.
Keep the paper receipt you get when you buy your marine park pass, since it'll save you $10 getting into Washington-Slagbaii Park for a driving tour part of one day. Do that up in the day when the light's good, because you can get good natural scenic photos. Hit the Donkey Sanctuary one day; it's sort of a 'Bonaire to-do.' Keep an eye out for the Bonaire Parrots. Photograph the iguanas and the Bonaire whip-tail lizards. At night keep an eye out for small geckos near lights. By day, watch for goats, donkeys and flamingos.
When a friend & I were showing a young married couple some of the 'signature' dive sites that seem to be quite popular, or at least often done, these are the ones I set out to hit, running roughly north to south:
1.) Karpata.
2.) 1,000 Steps.
3.) Oil Slick Leap (do the giant stride entry in; maybe a 6+ foot drop, but fun).
4.) Tolo/Ol'Blue.
5.) Andrea I.
6.) Andrea II.
7.) The Cliff (closest to a shallow wall dive I've seen there).
8.) Windsock (different from Windsock Resort, though I like both). Good for night dives, because entry/exit is easy and there's a big wooden pier you can come out near at night.
9.) The Invisibles (long swim out).
10.) Hilma Hooker (you can see tarpon around the wreck; Bonaire isn't famous for big animals, so this is a chance to make sure you see some).
11.) Alice in Wonderland.
12.) Angel City.
From what I understand the farther southern sites can be more weather dependent as to whether there's current.
Boat trips to Kline Bonaire are popular, but I haven't been yet; all I did was shore dive on our 4 trips.
There are a lot more sites to hit of course; I've dove Red Slave, Aquarius, Eden's Rubble (where the Wreck of the Bakanal is, and south of there to the badly decayed wreck of the Our Confidence, both small), The Lake and more (but certainly not all), but the 12 I named for you seem to be ones most people get to.
Richard.
Keep the paper receipt you get when you buy your marine park pass, since it'll save you $10 getting into Washington-Slagbaii Park for a driving tour part of one day. Do that up in the day when the light's good, because you can get good natural scenic photos. Hit the Donkey Sanctuary one day; it's sort of a 'Bonaire to-do.' Keep an eye out for the Bonaire Parrots. Photograph the iguanas and the Bonaire whip-tail lizards. At night keep an eye out for small geckos near lights. By day, watch for goats, donkeys and flamingos.
When a friend & I were showing a young married couple some of the 'signature' dive sites that seem to be quite popular, or at least often done, these are the ones I set out to hit, running roughly north to south:
1.) Karpata.
2.) 1,000 Steps.
3.) Oil Slick Leap (do the giant stride entry in; maybe a 6+ foot drop, but fun).
4.) Tolo/Ol'Blue.
5.) Andrea I.
6.) Andrea II.
7.) The Cliff (closest to a shallow wall dive I've seen there).
8.) Windsock (different from Windsock Resort, though I like both). Good for night dives, because entry/exit is easy and there's a big wooden pier you can come out near at night.
9.) The Invisibles (long swim out).
10.) Hilma Hooker (you can see tarpon around the wreck; Bonaire isn't famous for big animals, so this is a chance to make sure you see some).
11.) Alice in Wonderland.
12.) Angel City.
From what I understand the farther southern sites can be more weather dependent as to whether there's current.
Boat trips to Kline Bonaire are popular, but I haven't been yet; all I did was shore dive on our 4 trips.
There are a lot more sites to hit of course; I've dove Red Slave, Aquarius, Eden's Rubble (where the Wreck of the Bakanal is, and south of there to the badly decayed wreck of the Our Confidence, both small), The Lake and more (but certainly not all), but the 12 I named for you seem to be ones most people get to.
Richard.
drrich2
Contributor
Oh, and some places I like to eat:
1.) Wil's Grill.
2.) Bon Appetit (Chinese, not buffet, but good and not too expensive).
3.) City Cafe.
4.) Pasa Bon Pizza and Bar (mainly to try fish pizza; I wasn't floored by it, but the novelty factor was an issue).
5.) Cactus Blue (has a rep. for being expensive, I believe).
There is kite boarding on the west coast, and if you go to Jibe City on the east coast, there's wind surfing. I'm not into either, but you may be.
Richard.
1.) Wil's Grill.
2.) Bon Appetit (Chinese, not buffet, but good and not too expensive).
3.) City Cafe.
4.) Pasa Bon Pizza and Bar (mainly to try fish pizza; I wasn't floored by it, but the novelty factor was an issue).
5.) Cactus Blue (has a rep. for being expensive, I believe).
There is kite boarding on the west coast, and if you go to Jibe City on the east coast, there's wind surfing. I'm not into either, but you may be.
Richard.
