Question for those who have been to Bonaire?

[DeputyDan]

In reading "Bonaire Dives made Easy" by Jessie Armacost.

The author discusses short swims, long swims and very long swims for each of the shore dives but does not define what is short, long, and very long.

Can anyone who has been there define these?

It would be nice to know what to expect. Especially if anything under 1/2 mile is short

 

[diveatlas]

I would classify them all as short to medium. I dove Karpata, 1000 steps, and Andrea II. Those were about 1 minute surface swims. Sites like the invisibles and the wreck were slightly longer, at about 3 minutes. They were all quite easy.

Check out my trip report here
Bonaire Trip Report

This site also has some good aerial photos.
Shorediving.com

 

[herman]

Hi Dan,

I feel that the "distances" that are in the book are a little misleading. By that I mean that her def of where the reef begins differs a lot from mine. Typically, the "reef" as defined by Jessie appears to me to be defined as where the reef takes a sharp drop off. A typical Bonaire shore dive profile is a gradual sloping shelf from the shore to a depth of about 35ft where the bottom takes a sharp,45 deg to 90 deg, drop to a bottom depth of 60 to 100 ft. I think the distances she is talking about are the distances from the shore to the drop off. I on the other hand, consider anywhere there is bottom stucture and growth with fish hanging around to be "reef". The distance to my definition of reef is somewhere from 1ft from shore to maybe 50 ft(bare sand) from shore. We never do surface swims, we just drop down as soon as the water is 5 or 6 ft and don't surface again until we are back in 5 or 6 ft of water.
If you want, drop me a PM with your phone number and we can talk on the phone if you like, I don't think we live too far apart.

 

[jepuskar]

DDan,

Personally, I think that book has been given more hype than it deserves. I bought it while down there and was very dissapointed. If you want a better book, one that we actually used....PM me and I will tell you what to get. I dont want to start a debate about this since you werent asking for it.

Jason

 

[Beachman]

Short to medium is right for just about all the sites. However, virtually all the shore dive sites are also boat sites. What I'm saying is that there is a mooring ball on the site which is very visible from shore, and the ball is typically very close to the drop- off that Herman descibes. When you arrive at the site, you can spot the ball and decide how far is "long" or "short" for you. You then swim for the ball, drop whenever you please with a good hard bearing on the ball, and enjoy 15' all the way down to 100' any way you like.

Believe me, it's easy and very enjoyable.