Robbery

[divematt]

Finally if u talked to others, ie The owners of CasaBlkanca, they experienced a similar situation and said that it is rapant on the island.

I've been to Bonaire once and here's what I saw.


I had dinner at the outdoor Casablanca restaurant last year and watched a local man walk by a woman eating dinner, reach over a railing, grab her purse off of her chair and run off. Everybody that saw it including the waitress stood up and screamed at him. The waitresses were screaming some word that means thief in their language. 15 seconds later, the male waiters or cooks ran out of the restaurant after him. 2 minutes later the police came and drove all over the place up and down the streets and asking questions.

After it happened, the waitresses said the same thing about it being rampant on Bonaire and went back to work as if nothing happened.

That just made me sick and angry. I'm talking about the blatant "robbery". Call it whatever word you like.


If you look on the ground at some of the dive sites, you'll see broken glass. At 1000 steps, there was broken glass on the ground in 2 places over 15 feet apart so it had to be from 2 different cars, but I'm not going to get into that discussion again as it's being beaten to death here on this ABC site.

The fact remains, if you want to dive on Bonaire, you have to take more precautions than anywhere else I've ever dived in my life. I'm not going to get into discussions about how bad it is elsewhere either. What's the difference if it's worse somewhere else? I've never had to leave my windows down instead of up and locked anywhere but Bonaire. I love the diving in Bonaire but hate the lack of the enforcement against theft and burglary whether its too few cops, or crooked cops, or lazy cops, or weak laws, or if some of you think it's just not all that bad compared to all of the other places you've been! You just have to figure it all in when making the trip and some of us feel it's worth it, and some of us don't.

Until those that think it's not all that bad have it happen to themselves or see it happen to someone else, there will always be those that play it down and compare it to some place else.

And until the police and the city do more about the theft, and change the laws and enforce them, or divers decide that they've had enough, nothing will ever change.

Some will still go and will take precautions, and some will still get their stuff taken.

But if you ask any diver who's been around awhile, "which dive location is most known for it's theft", see if 9 out of 10 don't say Bonaire. And if everyone seems to already know that, why is it still happening and being reported? It may be worse than you think because everyone is ALREADY being careful, and they're still getting ripped off. Read all of these posts about theft. The person was already hiding his stuff, locking his door, taking precautions.

It just sucks that the diving is so good there, and that's why many people still put up with the place. I'll probably go back, stay at Plaza Resort again where you have to stop at a guard shack just to get into the parking lot, and hope that no one breaks into my room and steals my stuff. And I'll leave my truck windows open and take only what will go under water with me. And I'll hope that one day, things just somehow change on that island.

 

[Dive California]

Well said DiveMatt...

Bonaire has to be the worst diving destination in the world for small thefts...a big pain the @$$. I too will go back, but it's still wrong.

I'm in law enforcement in the States and this kind of thing can be taken care of on such a small place like Bonaire...they just chose not to take care of it...bad for business in the long run.

 

[soonerwink]

I was planning a trip to Bonaire for our dive club. But because of the robberies and burglaries that I have read from many trip reports, I have decided to go to Roatan instead. You would think the authorities in Bonaire would want to take care of this. There are so many other places to go with fantastic diving. I can't imagine how much they are losing in tourist revenue because of this. I know of at least 12 divers that will be going to Roatan instead of Bonaire.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

When we were on the island in January we hweard that Bonaire had voted to leave the Netherlands Antilles and return to being formally governed by the Dutch in order to participate in the legal and health care system. There was some discussion on the island of what an improvement it would be in both realms to have outside help when it came to administration. The view expreesed by a few people we talked to was the the police were part of a "good ole boy" network that very often looked the other way.

 

[scubafanatic]

...thanks for reminding me once again why I prefer liveaboards...just so much less hassle/worries...been to Bonaire twice....enjoyed it, but never liked having to have my guard up all the time......shore diving there is a lot of work as is, constantly schlepping gear/tanks back and forth especially when it's hot/sunny...and never felt good about having to worry about the constant threat of theft/truck break-ins.....it's one of those places I'm glad I got to experience, but not a place/dive style that I dream of when I'm trying to plot my future dive adventures...the diving just wasn't that special......the total dive freedom is nice, but I found the diving the usual pleasant but bland Carribbean stuff...and supposedly Hurricane OMAR 10/08 did substantial damage to at least the shallower portion of the reefs...not enough bang for the dive trip/airfare buck.

Karl

 

[bqualls]

I really love Bonaire...The people are friendly, the diving is great, the weather is fine being out of the hurricane belt. Bonaire clearly does have a theft problem though--I've never been a victim, but we do boat dives because they're easier and priced low...along with a few shore dives in places where theft is less common. Bonaire is the only place in the world that I know of where you have to leave your windows down so you can be sure they won't be broken. I would urge you to go to Bonaire, but just do the out of the way sites like Karpata by boat so you don't have to worry about the thieves... and just take sensible precautions like anywhere in the caribbean.

 

[driftwood]

When we were on the island in January we hweard that Bonaire had voted to leave the Netherlands Antilles and return to being formally governed by the Dutch in order to participate in the legal and health care system. There was some discussion on the island of what an improvement it would be in both realms to have outside help when it came to administration. The view expreesed by a few people we talked to was the the police were part of a "good ole boy" network that very often looked the other way.

Since it is such a small island, it has been speculated that the police are often relatives of the thieves. If the authorities really wanted to address the problem of theft on the island, it could be handled in short order. It is a constant source of amazement to me that the locals view the problem with such a relaxed island attitude. But God help you if you want to wear gloves while you dive.

 

[DandyDon]

Hello,

I am sorry to hear of your bad experience. I was going through the forum and found this post relating to theft http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/abc-islands/285353-bad-ending-otherwise-good-bonaire-trip.html. I am planning a trip to Bonaire and Curacao in end July-early August and I have to say I am not happy to find such info online. I am always careful with my stuff but that does not really mean much because there is always an opportunity presented even if it is for a split second.

He's already posted on that thread. BTW, post #1 there does have excellent suggestions to keep in mind for any trip.

Excerpting...

1) Make sure all the doors to your room have non-pickable locks along with handle locks. A deadbolt, latch, wooden door jam, anything. The guy tried our front door first and was thwarted, but he was successful around back.

2) Keep your valuables in the room safe at all times, no matter what. The sad part of our story is that we had kept the phone, wallets, passports, ipods, etc in the safe every day except the last one. We did this because we were out and about all week, and figured that on the last night, since we wouldn't be leaving the room, my stuff would be safe on the nightstand a foot from my head. It was not.

3) Make photocopies of all your documents. They may come in handy. According to the US Customs official, the immigrations people in Bonaire should not have let me on the plane with only a photocopy. But they did, so it worked out for us. This is especially helpful because the US Consulate is on Curacao, not Bonaire. So in order to get a new passport, you'd have to get to Curacao first, miss your flight, and pay a small fortune to book a last minute flight home. So we were really glad they bent the rules for us.

4) Make sure you have a way to contact the police. We only had one cell phone with us, and once it went missing, we were sorta screwed.

5) Make sure you only have stuff in your wallet that is necessary to your trip. I had both my credit and debit card with me when I only needed one. So when I got back to America, I had no way to get money. If my wallet hadn't have been returned, I'd also need to get new insurance cards, a new Metro card, everything. I shouldn't have brought that stuff in the first place.

6) Buy trip insurance. It would have cost us a ton if we had missed our flight.

Sadly, I don't think I would stay in any rental houses on Bonaire, but would stick to places like Buddy Dive, Den Laman, Cap't Don's, Golden Reef Inn, etc. From what I have heard here, on Bonaire Talk and elsewhere, it seems the risk is too great (Unless it is the same couple of incidents being described repeatedly).

You won't see these on that board much. They won't allow reports unless you fax in a copy of the police report so few make it there.

Here, you get criticized by some - but you can speak your mind and ignore the critics who try to discourage you.

I've been to Bonaire once and here's what I saw.


I had dinner at the outdoor Casablanca restaurant last year and watched a local man walk by a woman eating dinner, reach over a railing, grab her purse off of her chair and run off. Everybody that saw it including the waitress stood up and screamed at him. The waitresses were screaming some word that means thief in their language. 15 seconds later, the male waiters or cooks ran out of the restaurant after him. 2 minutes later the police came and drove all over the place up and down the streets and asking questions.

After it happened, the waitresses said the same thing about it being rampant on Bonaire and went back to work as if nothing happened.

That just made me sick and angry. I'm talking about the blatant "robbery". Call it whatever word you like.

Yeah, for a person to lay their purse down anywhere is dangerous. At times I'll have my money, etc in a bag that one might call a purse (men were first to carry purses, before pockets were invented or women handled money), like to/from the gym, diving, etc. - but I would not leave the bag where someone could grab and run.

With it being a small island and only a few thousand people, you know that many knew who it was. You got to wonder why the cops may pretend to do something but rarely really do.

If you look on the ground at some of the dive sites, you'll see broken glass. At 1000 steps, there was broken glass on the ground in 2 places over 15 feet apart so it had to be from 2 different cars, but I'm not going to get into that discussion again as it's being beaten to death here on this ABC site.

The fact remains, if you want to dive on Bonaire, you have to take more precautions than anywhere else I've ever dived in my life. I'm not going to get into discussions about how bad it is elsewhere either. What's the difference if it's worse somewhere else? I've never had to leave my windows down instead of up and locked anywhere but Bonaire. I love the diving in Bonaire but hate the lack of the enforcement against theft and burglary whether its too few cops, or crooked cops, or lazy cops, or weak laws, or if some of you think it's just not all that bad compared to all of the other places you've been! You just have to figure it all in when making the trip and some of us feel it's worth it, and some of us don't.

Until those that think it's not all that bad have it happen to themselves or see it happen to someone else, there will always be those that play it down and compare it to some place else.

And until the police and the city do more about the theft, and change the laws and enforce them, or divers decide that they've had enough, nothing will ever change.

Some will still go and will take precautions, and some will still get their stuff taken.

But if you ask any diver who's been around awhile, "which dive location is most known for it's theft", see if 9 out of 10 don't say Bonaire. And if everyone seems to already know that, why is it still happening and being reported? It may be worse than you think because everyone is ALREADY being careful, and they're still getting ripped off. Read all of these posts about theft. The person was already hiding his stuff, locking his door, taking precautions.

It just sucks that the diving is so good there, and that's why many people still put up with the place. I'll probably go back, stay at Plaza Resort again where you have to stop at a guard shack just to get into the parking lot, and hope that no one breaks into my room and steals my stuff. And I'll leave my truck windows open and take only what will go under water with me. And I'll hope that one day, things just somehow change on that island.

I emphasized some of your words. Hope you don't mind.

Since it is such a small island, it has been speculated that the police are often relatives of the thieves. If the authorities really wanted to address the problem of theft on the island, it could be handled in short order. It is a constant source of amazement to me that the locals view the problem with such a relaxed island attitude. But God help you if you want to wear gloves while you dive.

Hear hear!

 

[scubamickey]

I made my flight reservations back in November and did a lot of research on where to stay, how to get there, etc.. It never occurred to me to ask about the crime having just returned from the wonderful island of Saba--also in the Netherlands Antilles. There's almost no crime there. Amazing. It also didn't occur to me because I don't experience vehicle theft (or burglary or robbery) where I live now. Had I know I would have booked another liveaboard or gone back to Saba.

I find it insanely absurd that some insist that you must leave windows down and doors unlocked with nothing at all in the vehicle. To do otherwise is inviting a theft and therefore YOUR fault. Not being able to carry my prescription sunglasses with me will greatly diminish my ability to see the road--hope I don't hit any locals

This way of thinking is pathological. They seem to have accepted petty theft and burglary as a norm and even blame the victim. I feel sorry for the people of Bonaire. Strange culture to be living in.

So in 2 weeks we leave for Bonaire. I'm still excited and looking forward to our 2 week stay but I'm a bit anxious about taking our video equipment. Den Laman seems safe and I haven't read any reports about break ins at those condos so I feel better about that. I am taking door alarms and will be prepared with other personal protection strategies. I feel sorry for the burglar who enters while we are there. Won't be the first time an unwanted visitor had their mindset readjusted.

What are the dive sites that get hit the most often that we should avoid? Is there such a list or is it pretty much luck of the draw?

 

[DandyDon]

Not being able to carry my prescription sunglasses with me will greatly diminish my ability to see the road--hope I don't hit any locals

That was discussed on the linked thread as I cannot drive without glasses at all. One diver mentioned that they're made to handle sweat. He carries his in a crush proof protector, then washes them with water left in the truck not considered at risk for theft. I even have a waterproof case for mine that floats, but never tested it at depth.

I think I'd pack a baseball bat for the room.