Roatan vs. Bonaire

[pilot fish]

mike, another person that experienced crime on Bonaire. You decide.

"We had money stolen out of our room in Bonaire WHILE WE WERE IN THE CONDO. We had an electrical problem, called they front desk, they sent the maintenance guy up. While four of us were in the living room of the condo, the maintenance guy went through some stuff in our bedroom and went away with US$$. When we checked out (next day), we told the front desk not to look for any tips for housekeeping, etc.... just ask the maintenance guy for it.

We also have friends who retired and bought property in Bonaire. They just sold it and moved back to the US after being broken into while they were away.

I agree with Belgo 1 ... not anything so unique about Bonaire diving that you can't find it someplace else. It's gonna take a lot more people just saying "NO" to Bonaire before they feel the economic pinch and get their act together." Highdesert

 

[pilot fish]

I think you get the picture.


"Agree w/ you 100% and hate the cop out (no pun intended) attitude by incompetent, lazy, law enforcement.

These are ISLANDS, for Christ sakes - where almost everyone knows each other - someone knows something - you will never convince me otherwise.
We have been crime victims - Freeport, Grand Bahama Island - we had our 31' Contender stolen twice - 1st time we got it back w/out engines - you will never convince me no one knows who's doing these crimes.

Bahamas' loss - we have not been back (W/ the boat) in 3 years; we went for 10+ years before; spent money on dockage, fuel, lodging, airfare, food, and on and on - we will never bring the boat back.

Law enforcement "knows", believe me - they just tend not to want to rock the boat."// Jupiter 31

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Not sure why since the op has been to Bonaire and asked for a comparison why this has turned
into a Bonaire crime thread?

I don't think crime on Bonaire is any worse than Roatan and given Honduras's political issuses
I think Bonaire is probably safer right now.

 

[doctormike]

I guess the bottom line is this discussion comes down to a real lack of any sort of objective data. Pilot Fish, I don't mean to just dismiss your concerns, you are not the first one to make this point. However, it seems that pretty much all of the information that one can find either supporting or discrediting the theory that Bonaire is disporportionally plagued with petty theft is anecdotal.

It's easy to come up with dozens of postings saying "I never experienced crime in Bonaire in X visits", or "I had this horrible experience in Bonaire".... unfortunately, none of these really prove anything. Selection bias, reporting bias, systematic problems in online polls - no real science.

I tried googling around for some actual statistics, but travel.state.gov doesn't break it down like that, and most of the real data is for Bonaire, Georgia (who knew? Wonder if they have diving?)..

SO, I guess I'm not sure what else to add here, except happy diving everyone! I will say that I have NEVER experienced a robbery at Dutch Springs, so I'm suggesting we all meet for a dive in that beautiful quarry in the Pennsylvania countryside and forget about the whole thing...



Mike

 

[pilot fish]

When people say, "I had my truck/car/room broken into" [first hand ] that does not sound too anecdotal. Anyway, it is a personal choice and whatever level of risk you are willing to take in order to dive. I don't like what I hear and what I've seen. But, that's me. Your opinion and tolerance level is perhaps different than mine? Lot's of people have smoked for 30 years and have never caught cancer, so it's OK to smoke? Of course. There are just too many safer spots to dive than Bonaire.

Continued safe and happy diving.

I guess the bottom line is this discussion comes down to a real lack of any sort of objective data. Pilot Fish, I don't mean to just dismiss your concerns, you are not the first one to make this point. However, it seems that pretty much all of the information that one can find either supporting or discrediting the theory that Bonaire is disporportionally plagued with petty theft is anecdotal.

It's easy to come up with dozens of postings saying "I never experienced crime in Bonaire in X visits", or "I had this horrible experience in Bonaire".... unfortunately, none of these really prove anything. Selection bias, reporting bias, systematic problems in online polls - no real science.

I tried googling around for some actual statistics, but travel.state.gov doesn't break it down like that, and most of the real data is for Bonaire, Georgia (who knew? Wonder if they have diving?)..

SO, I guess I'm not sure what else to add here, except happy diving everyone! I will say that I have NEVER experienced a robbery at Dutch Springs, so I'm suggesting we all meet for a dive in that beautiful quarry in the Pennsylvania countryside and forget about the whole thing...



Mike

 

[robint]

Pilot Fish - you are missing the point. The OP has been to Bonaire already, he knows all about it. He was asking to compare the diving between Bonaire and Roatan. He wasn't asking for anyone's opinions on whether they should go to Bonaire. He was just trying to decide if they should try Roatan.
Go back and read his original post.

 

[pilot fish]

Pilot Fish - you are missing the point. The OP has been to Bonaire already, he knows all about it. He was asking to compare the diving between Bonaire and Roatan. He wasn't asking for anyone's opinions on whether they should go to Bonaire. He was just trying to decide if they should try Roatan.
Go back and read his original post.

oooooooooooooooooooooooh, well, in that case. OP, go to Roatan, you won't get your car broken into. Divings Ok too.

 

[fairybasslet]

:lol:

 

[doctormike]

When people say, "I had my truck/car/room broken into" [first hand ] that does not sound too anecdotal.

Actually.. that is the precise definition of anecdotal. You may be thinking of "hearsay", which is a legal term for unreliable evidence relying on second hand reporting.

In medical research, anecdotal evidence is "I gave my patient X drug, and it cured Y disease", or "I gave these three patients X drug, and it cured them". It is considered interesting, in terms of stimulating research, but totally invalid in terms of demonstrating or refuting benefit.

In order to actually demonstrate the benefit of a particular intervention, one would need to say something like: "We gave 10 patients with this disease drug X, and another 10 patients with the same disease drug Y, and a third group of 10 patients a sugar pill. 9 out of ten patients in the first group were cured, but only 2 of ten in the second two groups were better". (I won't go into the details of double blinding, etc..).

SO, what we really need is some sort of study that says "We looked at 5 Caribbean islands frequented by divers with similar populations of visitors and locals, and found out that on Bonaire there were 51.8 thefts per 1000 person-weeks, while on Roatan the number was 9.5. However, there were 1.2 cases of armed robbery per 1000 person-weeks on Bonaire, as compared to 3.1 on Roatan".

THEN you could make an intelligent decision on where you want to dive, depending on (a) how much gold bullion you routinely leave in your dive bag, and (b) whether or not you hold advanced martial arts training and have a kevlar wet suit...

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

According to this article Bonaire is one of the safest islands in the Caribbean to visit ...

Crime can happen anywhere, and there are no guarantees. However, experience and statistics indicate that the following nations are among the most secure in the Caribbean region:

Montserrat
The Cayman Islands
St. Barts
British Virgin Islands
Bonaire
Dominica

... Bob (Grateful Diver)