Intermediate divers - Bonaire vs Caicos

[scubby-doo]

After studying these , I have some limited info.
Bonaire - sitting on a reef, reef alll around the island, walk in over the rocks. no sandy beaches like USVI.

South Caicos supposed to have white sandy beaches as well as a wall for diving. Not so much shore diving , but great boat dives i hear.

We can afford bout $1000-1600 per person including lodges, diving.
Is a car/truck neede in Caicos ? or taxis like in CAyman ?

Is Caicos lots more $$$ ? The flights seem to be +$100 more than Bonaiore, from NC, US.

Is it worth the more $$ to goto Caicos to get more upscale lodging, and beach combing ?

Please rate these things in Bonaire vs Caicos

scale of 1-5 ( 1 lowest 5, highest , as in 5-star )

Restaurants:
Bonaire (* 1-5):
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

Diving 30-100 ft:
Bonaire (* 1-5):
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

Shore diving:
Bonaire (* 1-5):
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

Boat diving:
Bonaire (* 1-5):
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

new, modern lodges:
Bonaire (* 1-5):
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

shopping:
Bonaire (* 1-5):
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

History tours:
Bonaire (* 1-5):
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

Good quality chefs and cooking:
Bonaire (* 1-5):
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

Stun factor: ( Wow, this place is remote and awesome )
Bonaire (* 1-5):
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

 

[robint]

Bonaire is one of the few land-based trips I will ever do again. Easiest shore diving in the world. I would never go there for the food, beaches, or topside activities alone. Go there only to dive dive dive. Check out my 2007 trip report at: www.rnrscuba.net/photos.html

Turks & Caicos I am planning to do by liveaboard in the near future. Getting in 4-5 dives per day on fabulous walls with sharks.

 

[herman]

Never been to T&C so I can't help there. Bonaire on the other hand I know a good bit about. You can easily do it for less then $1500pp. I have a trip going in July from NC and the cost are less than $1200pp for air, condo, unlimited nitrox (shore) and truck rental. With food, beer and tshirt it's going to run less than $1500pp. If you rate a place on bottom time, the deal gets even better. A determined diver can do 5 or 6 - 90 minute dives a day, live aboards are the only other place you can come close to that kind of bottom time. I have done it in the past but it's not a schedule I can keep up.

Restaurants:
Bonaire (* 1-5): 5, plenty of places to eat and every kind of food
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

Diving 30-100 ft:
Bonaire (* 1-5): 5 best shore diving in this part of the world, I would drop the depth to 1 to 100ft, loads of stuff in the shallows
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

Shore diving: see above
Bonaire (* 1-5):
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

Boat diving:
Bonaire (* 1-5): 3, smaller boats and short rides but why waste time on boats
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

new, modern lodges:
Bonaire (* 1-5): 2, not much fancy on the island, I go to dive not stay in the room
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

shopping:
Bonaire (* 1-5): 1, everything you need you can find but the "shopping" is limited..again, I go to dive, I can shop at home
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

History tours:
Bonaire (* 1-5): 2, the park is OK and there are some attactions but I go to dive
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

Good quality chefs and cooking:
Bonaire (* 1-5): 4, no 5 star places with 4 forks and 3 glasses but plenty of really tasty food of all types
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

Stun factor: ( Wow, this place is remote and awesome )
Bonaire (* 1-5): guess it depends on your perspective. The island is arrid, think southwest desert. Not the prettiest above water but some of the best reefs in the Caribbean.
Turks/Caicos( 1-5)

 

[Damselfish]

when you say Caicos, are you specifically interested in only South Caicos (which you mentioned) or any of the Turks & Caicos islands? The different islands in the group are, well, different. South Caicos was the best diving I did there (I was on a liveaboard at the time which is no longer there.) But AFAIK there's really only one place to stay on South Caicos which looks less "upscale" than many of the places on Bonaire and definitely less so than many places on Provo, which is the main island in the T&C. Provo is famous for the beach, but for the better diving the dayboats mostly go to the wall off West Caicos. South Caicos diving is not accessible from Provo.