OK to miss Klein Bonaire?

[wwguy]

I've enjoyed 179 shore dives on Bonaire since our last boat dive to Klein Bonaire.

Q: Do we miss diving Klein Bonaire?
A: Not really. The diving isn't "better" there. It's just different. (And just as good as anywhere else on Bonaire.)

Q: Would we dive Klein Bonaire again if the right opportunity presented itself?
A: Certainly!

Diving Klein Bonaire requires a boat. That means incremental expense, logistics, and diving with unknown divers. We prefer to dive according to our own schedule, pick our own dive sites, dive with our preferred and vetted dive buddies, and find our own critters. For us this is what makes Bonaire magical.

There's plenty of fun to be had diving plain old Bonaire. No offense intended to my SB brethren that love boat dives and/or Klein Bonaire.

 

[oldschoolto]

I've enjoyed 179 shore dives on Bonaire since our last boat dive to Klein Bonaire.

Q: Do we miss diving Klein Bonaire?
A: Not really. The diving isn't "better" there. It's just different. (And just as good as anywhere else on Bonaire.)

Q: Would we dive Klein Bonaire again if the right opportunity presented itself?
A: Certainly!

Diving Klein Bonaire requires a boat. That means incremental expense, logistics, and diving with unknown divers. We prefer to dive according to our own schedule, pick our own dive sites, dive with our preferred and vetted dive buddies, and find our own critters. For us this is what makes Bonaire magical.

There's plenty of fun to be had diving plain old Bonaire. No offense intended to my SB brethren that love boat dives and/or Klein Bonaire.

And that is why I / We fell in love with bonaire....

jim...

 

[darook]

My first trip to Bonaire I did several boat dives as I was very new to diving and it was good to have a DM around just in case. Second trip I did a few to Klein, one of which was Forest which is very nice. Next trip I did one and it was the worst dive of the week. Bossy DM from Buddy. Last two trips no boat dives. I am going again in October with our local dive shop and the package at Plaza includes 12 boat dives. I will probably use half of them if they go to some sites that are not possible from shore or a pain to do so. I plan to use a truck as my dive boat and do things on my schedule. Klein is really like the shore dives so no need to go there unless you just want to not lug gear around for a bit though with VIP I don't think you will be anyway.

If anyone has any experience with Plaza or Toucan divers let me know. The reviews make them sound just ok. I can live with it as we are doing this trip to hang out with friends and that is always way more important than the accommodations.

 

[MarineResearch]

No guarantees, but the only seahorses that I have seen on Bonaire have been during boat trips to Klein, I'm just sayin'!

You'll have fun and nice dives wherever you go. You can't do it all so relax and figure that you'll catch the rest of the great stuff the next time you are there! Enjoy!

And it takes a lot of dives just to get enough for one seahorse dinner.

 

[Lorenzoid]

No guarantees, but the only seahorses that I have seen on Bonaire have been during boat trips to Klein, I'm just sayin'!

This past November we found one at the Yellow Submarine site in town, pretty much where the folks at the Yellow Sub / Dive Friends shop told us to look for one.

 

[wwguy]

IMHO seahorses are where you find them... or where your DM points them out to you if that's how you roll. The trick to finding them on your own is to dive slowly and look carefully. And then slow down some more and look even more closely.

On our recent Christmas trip we found 4 seahorses while diving at The Cliff, La Machacha, and Bari. On previous trips we've also discovered them at Andrea I, The Cliff, The Salt Pier, and Tori's Reef. I don't count the seahorses that were resident at Cha Cha Cha for a couple of years because DFB had them located on a wall map for anyone to find. These are just some examples that come to mind. I'm sure there are probably more buried in my logbook.

I guess my point is that when divers ask me where to look for seahorses my reply is always the same. "Look down."

 

[Lorenzoid]

The Cliff and La Machaca--wow--those are the sites we dived every morning, right outside our rental at Hamlet. I'm going to pay better attention next trip! Your point is well taken, though: seahorses are probably more abundant than we realize because in Bonaire many of us get into a cruise mode where we just go too fast.

 

[Doctorfish]

I have been to Bonaire at least 10 times and have done some boat diving on all of those visits. Maybe 50 dives off Klein.
In the afternoons and nights. I shore dive.

IMO, the dive sites on Klein are no better than the mainland west side. I dive them because that is where the boat captains go and I am inherently lazy. I don't think I've ever seen critters at Klein that I have not on the rest of Bon.
I certainly would not give up an east side dive to go to Klein.

I've found seahorses at Buddy Reef, Habitat, Bari and Something special; all west side shore based sites.

 

[jimw]

I like Klein for the top of the reef white sand and gorgonian shallows at numerous sites where we regularly see squid and turtles, ....But please, truckdivers; continue NOT diving my fave, and thanks! So yes, OP; you will be missing some good stuff on Klein and elsewhere, Rappel and Thousand Steps for example.

 

[drbill]

I'm an old geezer so opted almost exclusively for boat dives including a number of dives on Klein Bonaire. Only exception were the night shore dives I did at Carib Inn and with a group at a site adjacent to Salt Pier (Salt City?).

You certainly can get in a lot of great dives from shore there, but I'm glad we did the dives at Klein Bonaire that we did