I have 1 day to dive Bonaire. Help!

[herman]

I was going to offer to pick him up and spend the day with us....unfortunately I arrive on the 16th so that is not going to work. If it were me, I would do go to Buddy and spend the day shore diving. The boat dives are nice but eat up a lot of valuable time and limit your UW time as opposed to shore diving where you can get in as much time as you can on a tank, exit, swap tanks and be back in the water in 15 minutes..... or better yet, do dive 2 or 3 dives at Buddy, grab a quick lunch and head up to Belmar (a buddy owned site) and do a dive or 2 there before heading back to the ship. Buddy does not open until 8 so you have time to get their easily......one thing you need to check into is the dive briefing. There is a mandatory dive briefing (not sure exactly what it is for cruise ship divers) so you need to figure that into your schedule.....

 

[DiverVince]

Why don't you just arrange a 2 tank boat dive with Buddy Dive over at Klein?

 

[darook]

Buddy does their orientation at 9:30 I am pretty sure so the first boat of the morning is out though plenty of time exists to do a couple of dives on the house reef then a boat dive in the afternoon. Should be back to the ship in time for cocktails and dinner on your way to your next port of call.

Another option is Wannadive or Dive Friends Bonaire. I believe they will cater to cruise ship schedules so you are not wasting time on an orientation that could be condensed to 5 minutes. Here is my version:

Tanks are over there and the boats are over here.
Don't touch the coral, sponges, or anything else under water.
No gloves, spears, or probes.
The tip jar is located by the desk.

 

[Satisfied]

Thanks for all of the input guys. I think I'm going to take diversteve's advice and shore dive at Habitat Bonaire. That way I can maximize my bottom time since I will have such a short time to enjoy Bonaire. I'm sure that small sample will motivate me to get back there.

I'll let you guys know how my trip goes. Here's my itinerary:

Before cruise:
Portobelo, Panama - get my PADI AOW

On cruise:
Stops that I will dive - Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire

 

[ronski101]

Do the two boat dives in the am and two in front of Buddys in the pm. That way you will see more of Bonaire than just infront of Buddys and Capt Dons' or Berri. You gotta buy the marine resrve pass too but you can do that at Buddys also.

 

[billmosel]

You have to remember that the main reason why Bonaire is so popular is because of the dive FREEDOM that you have. You can dive at your own timetable not somebody else's. You will not be able to appreciate what Bonaire has to offer from a cruise ship. With that said, Bonaire is a beautiful island and I'm sure you will have a fantastic time. Just make sure you make time go back and spend more time on the island to truly enjoy the people and what the island has to offer.

 

[Bas Noij]

It is not as easy as it sounds. With a 7AM till 4PM time frame you should not count on getting in more than 2 dives. You need to do paperwork, sit through a Marine Park orientation, do your checkdive...stuff takes time. Also getting to Capt Don will be an issue. Taxi drivers are not interested since they make more money taking people on island tours or driving a full van to one of the beaches. IMO your best best is to go with one of the organized dive tours. I work for a company that offers these tours but I am going to try and be as objective as I can. There are two types of tours. Boat dives and shore dives. The boat dive tour that is offered on the ship is operated by Dive Friends Bonaire. You can only book this tour on the ship, not directly. Buddy dive also offers boat dive tours and will probably pick you up at the pier if you pre book. There are a few companies (incl mine) offering shore dive tours. Prices are pretty similar, probably the cheapest option is boat dives with Buddy. What you need to know about Bonaire is that the out of the way reefs tend to be the best. Boat dive tours tend to take you to Klein Bonaire, Shore dive tours take you to the far South. Both excellent reefs. In front of the resorts the reefs are fine but by no means the best that Bonaire has to offer.

My personal experience is that even with a pre booked shore dive tour you really need about 5-6 hours to get in 2 dives with all the organization around it. So winging it on your is possible but will give you more stress and potentially less dive time.

Hope this helps!

 

[steve fox]

Taxi ride to Buddy Dive,Turn Right on the House Reef takes you to La Machaca,turn around at 100 bar and return to rope to exit Reef,2nd Dive turn left on House reef and follow Deep reef route and if time allows 3rd Dive enter reef and turn left and take Shallow reef dive all marked out on reef and simply follow rope in and out .
Fantastic place been 4 times and would live there tomorrow but wife won't allow it,still trying hard though to persuade her.