Packing and Travel, Resort Info, and Diving Tips for the ScubaBoard Invasion 2024 to Bonaire

[ROXANNE]

Wow great info, thank you! The note about the open lockers caught my eye. Do most people end up bringing gear back to their room everyday or is the resort safe enough to leave the basics in the open lockers?

We would usually bring our regs back with us and leave the rest there unless we were planning on shore diving the house reef or knew we were on 1 of the marina boats. We'll talk about boats at a later date.

 

[deeno]

Sounds like a good plan, thanks!

 

[Fat Daddy]

Trust me on this one, as I've been in the Divi Flamingo Casino on Bonaire. You will be a target for theft and the casino will do nothing to help you. And as always, great information. Thank you!

 

[Fat Daddy]

Here's a tip. If you plan on going to the Donkey Sanctuary (do, it's a riot) go before 2 p.m. because they feed the donkeys around 3. Carrots are expensive at the sanctuary so we bought them at the market and picked up around 20 lbs and then cut them up. The locals love it when you buy a crap load of carrots as they're waiting. The looks we got lol

 

[Moonie]

I went through all the info and I'm all packed and ready! How about you?

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

For those of us bespectacled how does one carry glasses on a shore dive?

 

[ROXANNE]

For those of us bespectacled how does one carry glasses on a shore dive?

You would put them in your dry box along with other items like keys etc.

 

[RobPNW]

A lot of the dry "boxes" I see are cylinders that look big enough for rolled up cash or a standalone metal key, but they don't really look wide enough for something like a driver's license, credit card or one of those hotel electronic room keys. Seems people are saying they lug their gear back to the room at the end of the day? Are people thinking they can stow those valuables in a waterfront gear locker and just take the locker key in the dry box? Or vehicle key of course.

 

[dkkpwhit]

Hello everyone! We are very excited about this trip. Will be our first time in Bonaire. Question about the tips. Since we're supposed to bring the money to the Farewell Party on Friday, I assume we can only pay the tips in cash. At another group travel trip I did, we were able to pay the tips at the end with a credit card. I'm just trying to plan for how much cash I need to pull out of the bank before Friday. TIA

 

[ROXANNE]

A lot of the dry "boxes" I see are cylinders that look big enough for rolled up cash or a standalone metal key, but they don't really look wide enough for something like a driver's license, credit card or one of those hotel electronic room keys. Seems people are saying they lug their gear back to the room at the end of the day? Are people thinking they can stow those valuables in a waterfront gear locker and just take the locker key in the dry box? Or vehicle key of course.

For shore diving the island, you will also need a Dry Box to take in the water with you to hold keys, cash, IDS, and other valuables. I usually place items in a baggy and then into the dry box as sometimes, you can get a little leak under pressure. There are many different dry boxes that can work for your needs.
Just make sure they are crush-proof to depth for diving. A snorkeling dry box will not work for divers.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3

The gear room is an open room. There are no lockers.
For your gear, you will need to be mobile. Your boat might be at the dive shop one morning and the marina the next morning. You may choose to dive the house reef or go island shore diving. So, be flexible and mobile.
FYI, The dive shop does have some wagon carts for moving gear.
They also have concierge boat diving for your gear at an additional charge.