Roatan vs Bonaire

[fdrcva42]

Planning next year's trip. I have been in the Maya Riveria this year and was planning on going to Bonaire but......I have heard that Roatan is better.

I am looking for qualified opinions of these two beautiful dive spots. Which is better under water and which is better all around?

Thank you all in advance.

 

[diveprof]

Planning next year's trip. I have been in the Maya Riveria this year and was planning on going to Bonaire but......I have heard that Roatan is better.

I am looking for qualified opinions of these two beautiful dive spots. Which is better under water and which is better all around?
QUOTE]

The answer is "yes" - both are good dive sites, depending on what you are looking for. Roatan has more turtles, sharks (at least at the shark dive), seahorses, wall diving, swim throughs, and West End (if a California surfer dude designed a town this would be it). Roatan offers very competitive prices. BUT, it is more 3rd world in terms of accomodations, drinkability of the water and has it's share of no seeums and mosquitos. Drive at your own risk (issues with rental agencies and safety of drivers - I never saw so many accidents in such a short time in my life). It is a forested island.

Bonaire offers better coral, it's fishier (though smaller stuff mostly), it has more gradual sloping walls, it is the meca of shore diving (dive at your own pace without limits on dive time except your computer and stamina, it does not seem "3rd world" and has nice accommodations, safe to drive, safe to drink the water. It does cost more. It is a desert island. So which one to dive - "yes to both".

 

[CLEAR BLUE]

Only been to Bonaire but the diving was unbelievable! The reefs are so pristine. Tons of fish! And I LOVE shore diving! No boats or schedules. Dive when, where, and however long you want! There's stuff to do during surface intervals. Some night life but not tons. When you dive as much as we did you are tired at night anyway.

 

[herman]

I have spent several weeks at Cocoview on Roatan and many weeks on Bonaire, most at Buddy. I like both places for different reasons.
CCV is a brain dead week for me, zero decisions except wheather to go on the boat or not. I like that as a pure vacation. The down side to CCV is 2 of the 4 dives each day are the same dive. There is a lot to see and as a photographer who prefers macro thats not a huge down side. Others disagree but I find the food at CCV to be industrial....out of a can and on the plate, high school food if you will. It's not bad and there is plenty of it but it's not great IMO. Roatan is mostly a place where you stay on the resort and don't travel around the island.
On the othe hand Bonaire is all about the shore diving. More work but also more places to see and differnet sites to visit with no boats needed. Food on the island is very good and there are plenty of places and styles to choose from. The down side is you have to decide where you are going to dive and where your going to eat. This can be a PITA, esp if your with a large group. The diving and eating are somewhat more hectic. Traveling around the island and mingling with the locals is a lot easier on Bonaire than Roatan.

In general I find the diving similar as far as animals and corals. To me the major difference is on Roatan is most diving is done from a boat with DM lead dives. The shallow reef drops of very quickly at a deep wall with some swim throughs as opposed to Bonaire which which has a long slow drop off out to about 30 ft deep where the reef more gradually drops to a sand channel at around 100 ft and you are on your own- no DMs...or time limits or groups to keep up with.
My dive profiles are usually similar on both islands but my dive times run 15 to 30 minuts longer per dive on Bonaire because I am on my own schedule. All in all, you can't go wrong with either island.

 

[robint]

I just did Bonaire last June (see my videos and trip reports), heading to Cocoview Roatan in 3 weeks......... so I will let you know! I will post trip report, videos and photos when we return.

robin

 

[mjh]

Herman covered it well. I would add a twist, how about Utila??? IMHO reefs are in better shape than Roatan, better sea life, cool little downtown, and the chance to see whale sharks. Trip reports for all three at our website. But if we were to go back it would be between Bonaire and Utila. If you want to dive, dive, dive, dive, dive I would give the edge to Bonaire.

One thing I don't get is people who go to Bonaire and only dive the "house reef" the majority of the time.

 

[georoc01]

I did both this year. Bonaire in May and Roatan in September. I enjoyed Bonaire, my dive buddy preferred Roatan. For us the diving was similar, we did 3 boat dives a dive and a couple of shore dives, including a night dive.

In Bonaire we stayed at Divi Flamingo and in Roatan we stayed at AKR.

Probably the biggest difference was that Anthony's Key was an AI whereas we had breakfast and lunch at Divi and then headed to town for dinner. The other thing was top side Bonaire is desert whereas Roatan tropical, so more bugs in Roatan.

Flights were easier to Roatan where the Bonaire flight options pretty much forced us into a red eye.

 

[lmorin]

Roatan (CocoView) twice and Bonaire twice, and again next January. CocoView is not necessarily Roatan. I agree with everything Herman said, although I'd add that the food, while nothing to write home about, is abundant, varied and palatable. CocoView has the best dive operation I've experienced in terms of ease of use and overall convenience. Herman mentioned the second boat dive being somewhat repetitious. True, but nobody is ever locked into the second dive and you can go (within very wide limits) wherever you want for as long as your air lasts.

For what it's worth, I enjoyed both Bonaire and Roatan better the second time there. Finally, why limit yourself to those two places? Consider Curacao, too. In my book, it's right up there with Bonaire and Roatan.

 

[DiveMaven]

I haven't been to Roatan, just Bonaire, but I've never heard that Roatan is "better"......different for sure and there are folks who prefer one over the other. It all comes down to personal experiences/preferences.

 

[diverbob]

I liked Bonaire a lot better. Roatan had a lot of fish, but it seemed like it was all the same fish, didnt see much variety. In Roatans defense, I dont think we have a very good DM either, becuae he didnt show us anything cool until our last day, when tips was to be paid out. Then all of a sudden seahorses appeared out of nowhere, 5 or 6 per dive. That was a major turnoff for. Since then ,I have learned to look for things myself, and reall enjoyed my experience in Bonaire. I stayed at the Sanddollar, and I saw everything right off their back porch. My first dive in Bonaire, there was squid lined up 7 or 8 deep. I saw octopus, turtles, seahorse, eagle rays...it was great. My choice would be Bonaire.