If you could only do.....

[RJP]

8-5? You can get four dives in... easy.

Assuming you and your friend believe in doing surface intervals, I'm not really sure what posters above mean when they say "wasting time in a car." Even if you only did a 30min SI, you can still get from Cliff all the way to the south end of the island or all the way up to Karpata.

If I were only diving one day on Bonaire I'd want to cover the full island (main areas) and classic Bonaire sites. Your buddy wants to dive the Hilma Hooker? Let him. You're there for three weeks.

I'd suggest:

9:00am-10:00am - Cliff checkout dive
10:00am-11:00am - SI and drive to south end of island (Salt Pier and south)
11:00am-12:00pm - Dive
12:00pm-1:00pm - SI; grab lunch, drive to Oil Slick leap or 1,000 Steps
1:00pm-2:00pm - Dive
2:00pm-3:00pm - SI; drive to Hilma Hooker
3:00pm-4:00pm - Dive Hilma Hooker
4;00pm-4:10pm - Drive to Karels and have two beers
5:00pm - Friend re-boards boat, having had a genuine "I dove Bonaire" experience.

PS - Every fifteen minutes earlier than 9:00am that you can start the checkout dives means one more round of beers at the end of the day.

---------- Post added March 19th, 2015 at 09:58 AM ----------

With travel, check-in and the dive, you are probably looking at lunch now.

Diver, please!

They'd have to walk from the cruise ship to Cliff - stopping for brunch along the way - and do a two-hour rebreather dive to be butting up against lunch after only the checkout dive.

 

[uncfnp]

Diver, please!

Only if they walk from the cruise shipp to Cliff and do a two-hour rebreather dive.

You need a rebreather to do a 2 hour dive?

 

[RJP]

You need a rebreather to do a 2 hour dive?

I said "they" would.



PS - I was including the 30min of pissing and moaning that the electronics were not working, doing the dive anyway, and ending the last 20min of the dive on bailout.

 

[uncfnp]

Ok RJP, trust me. I get your approach. But another way to look at it is to maximize time underwater not breadth of dives sites.

I am assuming the 8 am time is disembarkation time. So the cruiser will have a very early breakfast, grab gear and join the queue line, find friend, navigate cruise traffic (and this can be significant) and drive at DF Hamlet. Paperwork (if not done ahead of time), pay park fees (remember 25 dollars CASH) and gear rental? Don kit (not everyone can do this at NASCAR pit times) and dive. Doff gear and I'm thinking early lunch (say about 11:30 to miss the lunch crowd) at this point then concentrate on afternoon dives.

So then hit Bari by say 11:30. I'm thinking two good dives here. South then north. Alternative with be a drive south for Invisibles. And while I love diving Bonaire, I would not risk missing that ship even for another dive!

 

[wwguy]

Hey Reid, is all this advice helping?

Cliff is a great place to start, but you already know that because it's your awesome house reef (again). I'm assuming that you probably mean you'd like to do at least 2 more dives in addition to the Cliff?

If I was going to show someone my version of Bonaire's best diving in 1 day, here's what I'd probably pick:

1) The Cliff. If your friend has good air consumption you can easily make it from the island communication cable at Dive Friends to the La Machaca wreck at Habitat. I'd immediately veer south from the comm cable as soon as I was deep enough and work my way down to 50' to 60' or so. This puts you in the sweet spot for the first reef and lines you up for diving the Cliff wall. You can go deeper at the base of the Cliff, but you'll still be seeing pretty much the same stuff as at 60'. La Machaca's stern sits at about 65' and you can loop around it up to 35' or so for your return trip. On the way back you can hug the top of the Cliff wall and enjoy the shallows too. Be sure to point towards your villa when you pass it so your friend knows how easy it is for you to dive this great reef!

2) Something Special. Yeah, I know folks claim Bari has the lock on bio-diversity, but I think that's mostly because that's where the poll-takers were diving (and maybe sleeping at Sand Dollar or Den Leman.) Personally I think Something Special is just as good and the underwater terrain is more interesting to me.

3) Any southern site between Aquarius and Tori's Reef. (IMHO the reef isn't as healthy further north from The Lake to Alice In Wonderland.) One bonus to diving Salt Pier is that the shallow depth will permit extending your bottom time if committed to only doing 3 dives for the day. If he really wants to see the Hooker you might consider doing a loop starting at Angel City, over the sand channel to the outer reef, north on the outer reef, then back over the sand channel and right over the Hooker to the inner reef, then south back to Angel City. This is a great way to experience the double reef and see the Hooker too. You just have to watch your depth over the sand channel and outer reef to manage your air. You might even want to take a practice run if you haven't done this before.

4) If you still have time you might be able to squeeze in another dive closer to the ship. Cha Cha Cha is a safe bet because it's withing walking (or running) distance of the ship and DFB's Dive Inn shop is there too. But time permitting, I'd probably look at DFB Yellow Sub or maybe Bari for more interesting reefs. If your friend is renting gear bear in mind that the DFB Hamlet shop is closed and staff gone promptly at 4:30 PM. I'd ask Robert if you can return the rental gear for your friend the next morning, or perhaps return it to their Dive Inn shop. Your BCV dive sherpa can probably help coordinate this too.

Just my two cents.

Enjoy your trip and say "hi" to your lovely wife and to Tim & Leanne from us. We'll be thinking about you having fun on Bonaire when we're in Cozumel next week!

 

[uncfnp]

So Reid, you're a fellow Beachcomber!? Then you know all this!

Have a great time.

Lisa

 

[Reidkon]

Lots of great advice here!
A couple of you pretty much nailed our dive plan for Cliff. We always stay around 60 feet going south, shallow back, and burn up any remaining air poking around the communications cable.
I was leaning towards doing one southern dive and doing Bari or Something Special for the third dive if time (and friends non-diving spouse) permits.
We will have over 8 hours of airplane time to digest all of these recommendations and make a plan.

---------- Post added March 19th, 2015 at 10:52 AM ----------

Great advice as usual Roger.
Enjoy Cozumel!

Hey Reid, is all this advice helping?

Enjoy your trip and say "hi" to your lovely wife and to Tim & Leanne from us. We'll be thinking about you having fun on Bonaire when we're in Cozumel next week!

 

[howswedeofme]

My two favorite dives that I wish I could do again were 1,000 steps and Salt Pier (even though the vis at Salt Pier was pretty terrible because of the wind/current).

 

[diversteve]

If I had a 2 dive limit with time constraints like this, I would go to Bari Reef and then head south to the Salt Pier.
There is no real traffic on Bonaire to worry about.

Exactly. Dive Friends has a shop at Sand Dollar so get fresh tanks there if needed. They also have a shop at Port Bonaire on the south side just past the airport.

 

[RJP]

Ok RJP, trust me. I get your approach. But another way to look at it is to maximize time underwater not breadth of dives sites.

Yeah, I was being a bit over-the-top pushing for four dives. But I'd still target THREE. Suggest Cliff, 1000 Steps, and Hilma Hooker. (If the guy wants to do Hilma Hooker... let him. Otherwise, go further south the Margate, Red Slave, etc.)

This way you've got something central, something north, and something south.

I would give serious consideration to helping the guy get in a full "Bonaire experience" and not just two "nice Bonaire dives." Part of the full Bonaire experience is driving all up and down the island and getting in multiple dives. I think people that have been there before forget/discount that when it comes to choosing Bonaire dive sites "quantity has a quality all it's own."