ippy01
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Spent the week of 12/17 in Bonaire my first trip there. Some general impressions and advice for others considering Bonaire for the first time:
GETTING THERE:
We took the new Continental direct, red-eye flight out of Newark. In fact, we were on the inaugural flight. If you are the kind of person who can sleep on a plane, or can hit the ground running without sleep, this is a great option. For me, it took the better part of 2 days to get back to normal (yes, Im very wimpy when it comes to needing my sleep). Still, some people on the plane were raving about what an improvement this direct flight is over previously available options. So, if you havent looked at airline schedules in a while you might want to check this out.
One thing to note if you are a 1st timer and take this flight: you may find it challenging to find your way to your hotel given that it will be before 6AM and pitch dark. There is nothing intuitive about finding your way through the narrow, little streets in Kralendijk to some of the places on the west side of the island (i.e., Captain Dons, Sand Dollar, Buddy Dive, et al). Consider asking one of the taxis that will inevitably be taking some people on your flight if you can follow them.
ACCOMODATIONS:
I dont have a lot of good news here. We stayed at the Sand Dollar and while we found our unit very spacious (2 bedrooms, 2 ½ bath), frankly, it was a pit. The unit clearly hadnt been cleaned properly for months disgusting bathrooms, bugs everywhere, dirty floors, etc. It is important to note that Sand Dollar is a condo property, not a hotel. So, it may well be that some of the units are better maintained. You should look into this if you are planning on staying at the Sand Dollar. Also, the common areas of the property are dumpy.
A number of other places most notably Harbour Village looked much better than the Sand Dollar. But, nothing struck us as the equal of a decent American hotel chain (e.g., Westin, Marriott, Hyatt, etc.). Even the Plaza which gets some praise appeared to need a lot of maintenance.
I fully admit to being very picky when it comes to accommodations. And, I get it that no one goes to Bonaire for the Ritz/Four Seasons/St. Regis experience. But, if you have never been to Bonaire and you care about this subject, you may be disappointed.
Of course, your perspective on accommodations is just that your perspective. I suppose if I was going to Bonaire with a few buddies (guys) for a week of nothing but diving and post-diving beer drinking I wouldnt have been as disappointed. Still, my non-diving wife was more than a little skeeved out.
RESTAURANTS:
At the risk of sounding even more like a high-maintenance snob, I found most of the restaurants just OK not bad, but not very good either. Our favorites were Richards (beautiful view, good wine & food, probably the most pricey option on the island) and Pasa Bon Pizza (fun place, cold beer, decent pizza, good prices ..whats not to like).
Be prepared, many of the restaurants have very slow service (I know, I know .chill out, youre in the Caribbean), wandering stray dogs/cats, less than clean looking bathrooms/kitchens, limited selection, etc.
I dont want to be too critical on this count, but compared to Grand Cayman the restaurants on Bonaire arent very good.
DIVE LOGISTICS:
Undoubtedly, the convenience of diving in Bonaire contributes to its sterling reputation. Outside of a live-aboard, I cant imagine easier diving. The arrangement at Sand Dollar/Den Lamen (adjacent properties) seemed nearly perfect to me. Bonaire Dive & Adventure is the on-site dive shop and they were terrific in every way. They have a dive pier and dry room that constitutes the best layout Ive ever seen. You can basically fall off the pier and be right on Bari Reef which is a very good dive. Also, they have daily boat trips to the terrific sites around Klein Bonaire (as do others) that take about 2 minutes.
We ate at a number of other properties (Plaza, Captain Dons, etc.) and they all seem to have very well thought out dive arrangements. But, from what I saw, Bonaire Dive & Adventure has the best configuration of any location and the best access to Klein Bonaire.
Of course, when you go to Bonaire you want to shore dive. Like most people, we rented a pick-up truck. Again Bonaire Dive & Adventure really shines here they have a very convenient tank/weight pick-up & drop-off area (Captain Dons drive-through arrangement looked equally convenient).
After 5 days of shore-diving, I agree with the general consensus the ability to do so many quality dives from the back of a pick-up truck is unique and VERY fun.
DIVE QUALITY:
The diving is all its cracked up to be: first rate. I was particularly impressed by the coral and sponges the best Ive ever seen and better than what I have experienced in Grand Cayman, USVI, Cozumel, BVI, Puerto Rico, Turks & Caicos, and Curacao.
If you are making your first trip, I highly recommend diving Angel City (immediately became one of my most memorable dives ever), Andrea I, and Karpata. ALL of the dive sites offered something, but these 3 sites stood out for me.
Since Im being something of a critic here, I do have to note one observation: the fish life is a little less plentiful and generally smaller than what I have seen elsewhere. With the exception of a very large moray eel at Angel City and a lone Tarpon at Karpata, I never saw anything larger than 12. I recognize that this is the nature of the environment on Bonaires west coast and we didnt dive the Salt Pier which is noted for large marine life but, again, newbies should know to expect this. Of course, I may just have been unlucky.
OTHER STUFF:
There isnt a great deal to do other than dive. This became a little bit of a challenge for our family since we have an 8 year old, and my wife wants no part of diving.
We did do a lot of driving through the Washington Park which is interesting but will only kill a half-day or so. Also, we did Blo-Karting on the islands east side very cool -- I recommend this to anyone for their dry day.
Generally, I would rate Bonaire as poor in terms of non-diving activities.
GENERAL CONCLUSION:
Bonaire is a unique destination and based on the quality and convenience of the diving I recommend everyone give it a shot (budget permitting, of course). But, I think the island is going to have to accept a bit more development of the high-end variety if it is ever going to appeal to more than the hard-core diving market. I do not accept that development necessarily and inevitably means environmental degradation. Too many other locations (Turks & Caicos and Costa Rica come to mind) are proving that (intelligent) development and environmental protection are not mutually exclusive.
So, our familys final conclusion: we probably wont be going back considering that there are other places that offer nearly comparable diving with much better amenities and activities.
GETTING THERE:
We took the new Continental direct, red-eye flight out of Newark. In fact, we were on the inaugural flight. If you are the kind of person who can sleep on a plane, or can hit the ground running without sleep, this is a great option. For me, it took the better part of 2 days to get back to normal (yes, Im very wimpy when it comes to needing my sleep). Still, some people on the plane were raving about what an improvement this direct flight is over previously available options. So, if you havent looked at airline schedules in a while you might want to check this out.
One thing to note if you are a 1st timer and take this flight: you may find it challenging to find your way to your hotel given that it will be before 6AM and pitch dark. There is nothing intuitive about finding your way through the narrow, little streets in Kralendijk to some of the places on the west side of the island (i.e., Captain Dons, Sand Dollar, Buddy Dive, et al). Consider asking one of the taxis that will inevitably be taking some people on your flight if you can follow them.
ACCOMODATIONS:
I dont have a lot of good news here. We stayed at the Sand Dollar and while we found our unit very spacious (2 bedrooms, 2 ½ bath), frankly, it was a pit. The unit clearly hadnt been cleaned properly for months disgusting bathrooms, bugs everywhere, dirty floors, etc. It is important to note that Sand Dollar is a condo property, not a hotel. So, it may well be that some of the units are better maintained. You should look into this if you are planning on staying at the Sand Dollar. Also, the common areas of the property are dumpy.
A number of other places most notably Harbour Village looked much better than the Sand Dollar. But, nothing struck us as the equal of a decent American hotel chain (e.g., Westin, Marriott, Hyatt, etc.). Even the Plaza which gets some praise appeared to need a lot of maintenance.
I fully admit to being very picky when it comes to accommodations. And, I get it that no one goes to Bonaire for the Ritz/Four Seasons/St. Regis experience. But, if you have never been to Bonaire and you care about this subject, you may be disappointed.
Of course, your perspective on accommodations is just that your perspective. I suppose if I was going to Bonaire with a few buddies (guys) for a week of nothing but diving and post-diving beer drinking I wouldnt have been as disappointed. Still, my non-diving wife was more than a little skeeved out.
RESTAURANTS:
At the risk of sounding even more like a high-maintenance snob, I found most of the restaurants just OK not bad, but not very good either. Our favorites were Richards (beautiful view, good wine & food, probably the most pricey option on the island) and Pasa Bon Pizza (fun place, cold beer, decent pizza, good prices ..whats not to like).
Be prepared, many of the restaurants have very slow service (I know, I know .chill out, youre in the Caribbean), wandering stray dogs/cats, less than clean looking bathrooms/kitchens, limited selection, etc.
I dont want to be too critical on this count, but compared to Grand Cayman the restaurants on Bonaire arent very good.
DIVE LOGISTICS:
Undoubtedly, the convenience of diving in Bonaire contributes to its sterling reputation. Outside of a live-aboard, I cant imagine easier diving. The arrangement at Sand Dollar/Den Lamen (adjacent properties) seemed nearly perfect to me. Bonaire Dive & Adventure is the on-site dive shop and they were terrific in every way. They have a dive pier and dry room that constitutes the best layout Ive ever seen. You can basically fall off the pier and be right on Bari Reef which is a very good dive. Also, they have daily boat trips to the terrific sites around Klein Bonaire (as do others) that take about 2 minutes.
We ate at a number of other properties (Plaza, Captain Dons, etc.) and they all seem to have very well thought out dive arrangements. But, from what I saw, Bonaire Dive & Adventure has the best configuration of any location and the best access to Klein Bonaire.
Of course, when you go to Bonaire you want to shore dive. Like most people, we rented a pick-up truck. Again Bonaire Dive & Adventure really shines here they have a very convenient tank/weight pick-up & drop-off area (Captain Dons drive-through arrangement looked equally convenient).
After 5 days of shore-diving, I agree with the general consensus the ability to do so many quality dives from the back of a pick-up truck is unique and VERY fun.
DIVE QUALITY:
The diving is all its cracked up to be: first rate. I was particularly impressed by the coral and sponges the best Ive ever seen and better than what I have experienced in Grand Cayman, USVI, Cozumel, BVI, Puerto Rico, Turks & Caicos, and Curacao.
If you are making your first trip, I highly recommend diving Angel City (immediately became one of my most memorable dives ever), Andrea I, and Karpata. ALL of the dive sites offered something, but these 3 sites stood out for me.
Since Im being something of a critic here, I do have to note one observation: the fish life is a little less plentiful and generally smaller than what I have seen elsewhere. With the exception of a very large moray eel at Angel City and a lone Tarpon at Karpata, I never saw anything larger than 12. I recognize that this is the nature of the environment on Bonaires west coast and we didnt dive the Salt Pier which is noted for large marine life but, again, newbies should know to expect this. Of course, I may just have been unlucky.
OTHER STUFF:
There isnt a great deal to do other than dive. This became a little bit of a challenge for our family since we have an 8 year old, and my wife wants no part of diving.
We did do a lot of driving through the Washington Park which is interesting but will only kill a half-day or so. Also, we did Blo-Karting on the islands east side very cool -- I recommend this to anyone for their dry day.
Generally, I would rate Bonaire as poor in terms of non-diving activities.
GENERAL CONCLUSION:
Bonaire is a unique destination and based on the quality and convenience of the diving I recommend everyone give it a shot (budget permitting, of course). But, I think the island is going to have to accept a bit more development of the high-end variety if it is ever going to appeal to more than the hard-core diving market. I do not accept that development necessarily and inevitably means environmental degradation. Too many other locations (Turks & Caicos and Costa Rica come to mind) are proving that (intelligent) development and environmental protection are not mutually exclusive.
So, our familys final conclusion: we probably wont be going back considering that there are other places that offer nearly comparable diving with much better amenities and activities.
