Teens and Parents Bonaire logistics

[Kksmama]

I'm planning a family trip for four: parents, our 16 year old girl and 14 year old boy. We dove Curacao and Hawaii a few years ago with their older siblings. This is our first trip to Bonaire, and I would really appreciate advice.
I'm looking at a March 4-12th trip, choosing Bonaire for the shore diving. Staying (on points) at the new Marriott Courtyard.

Transportation: We can fly inexpensively into Aruba, spend a night (or two?) then take Insel to Bonaire. Not convenient but we'd save over $1000 and get to see a bit of Aruba. Will I be sorry not to have paid more to fly Delta or United directly to BON? We can rent a Hertz SUV, getting primary CDW from Chase Sapphire visa.

Gear: We probably need new booties and will have to make sure they fit in our fins. We'll have to rent tanks/weights, but can bring everything else. What did you bring and not need? What did you find you needed and have to buy or rent?

Diving: So grateful for all the trip reports! We are going to do mostly (or all) shore diving, probably over 6-7 days so we should get more than ten, but less than twenty dives. I'd like to get the teens nitrox certified, but after that we probably won't want a guide or instructor. Given our preference for shore diving, are there boat dives we don't want to miss? We are all advanced divers, but would probably like to start off with some easy stuff early in the week, then take on challenges (or not) towards the end. Which operator will give us the best tank package/guidance/shore reef access?

Food: Any tips on eating well, at reasonable expense, without a kitchen? If you've ever tried to keep an active 14 year old boy fed, you understand. If not, there are no words. I'd compare him to a lionfish, but he can be picky. And I'm a little bossy when it comes to choosing healthy food. So, um....help?

Safety: I've read about stuff being stolen from vehicles, are there any other concerns?

 

[DustyC]

I'm planning a family trip for four: parents, our 16 year old girl and 14 year old boy. We dove Curacao and Hawaii a few years ago with their older siblings. This is our first trip to Bonaire, and I would really appreciate advice.
I'm looking at a March 4-12th trip, choosing Bonaire for the shore diving. Staying (on points) at the new Marriott Courtyard.

Transportation: We can fly inexpensively into Aruba, spend a night (or two?) then take Insel to Bonaire. Not convenient but we'd save over $1000 and get to see a bit of Aruba. Will I be sorry not to have paid more to fly Delta or United directly to BON? We can rent a Hertz SUV, getting primary CDW from Chase Sapphire visa.

Gear: We probably need new booties and will have to make sure they fit in our fins. We'll have to rent tanks/weights, but can bring everything else. What did you bring and not need? What did you find you needed and have to buy or rent?

Diving: So grateful for all the trip reports! We are going to do mostly (or all) shore diving, probably over 6-7 days so we should get more than ten, but less than twenty dives. I'd like to get the teens nitrox certified, but after that we probably won't want a guide or instructor. Given our preference for shore diving, are there boat dives we don't want to miss? We are all advanced divers, but would probably like to start off with some easy stuff early in the week, then take on challenges (or not) towards the end. Which operator will give us the best tank package/guidance/shore reef access?

Food: Any tips on eating well, at reasonable expense, without a kitchen? If you've ever tried to keep an active 14 year old boy fed, you understand. If not, there are no words. I'd compare him to a lionfish, but he can be picky. And I'm a little bossy when it comes to choosing healthy food. So, um....help?

Safety: I've read about stuff being stolen from vehicles, are there any other concerns?

Saving a grand is probably worth the hassle, to me it would be anyway
An SUV might not be set up for diving, they may not allow you to do it, and dive gear/tanks for 4 people can easily fill up a truck bed.
I just took my normal dive gear, and some extra small parts for the stuff I can repair myself, and an extra mask.
You have plenty of time to let them get nitrox certified before they go, so they don't waste time doing that on vacation. The PADI online course is quick and easy, and just requires a real quick demo of an Oxygen analyzer in a PADI dive shop. Maybe ten minutes in a shop. No dives needed.
Boat dives? I'm sure there are great ones, and on my trip next month, I'm finally going to do 2 on the east coast. But the easily accessible shore dives in town and south of town can easily keep divers satisfied for a week.
Operators, Dive Friends Bonaire is one of the most popular ones, and they have multiple locations to exchange tanks. You don't have to deal anyone, drive up, unload your empties, analyze the new ones, load and go. You set up with them at the beginning of the week, do a check out dive, do a pre authorization on a credit card, run a tab, pay at the end of the week. Except $25 for your tag, that's cash, due at check in with the dive shop.
Food wise, I'm a bit of a health nut myself, I eat a real food diet, and generally extremely low carb. On Bonaire, it's easy to get food that's low on crap/fillers/processed stuff. But I also don't get real strict either. Kite City (food truck, usually across from the airport) has some of the best burgers I've ever had, if not the best. A friend of mine tried the Mahi Mahi on day 2, and wanted to eat it every day. I think he cried a little when they weren't open the day we flew out. We ate at the chinese restaurant across from Hamlet (we stayed at Hamlet last time) and weren't super impressed. But we shopped at the grocery store almost every day. We loved Wil's as our one 'nice' restaurant of the week. And the crab sandwiches at the Hang out beach bar were great. We didn't eat out a lot, we got burgers and fries downtown, can't remember the name of the place, but across from where the Venezuelan fruit guy was set up. They actually have a KFC and a Subway there, or did last time I was there last year.

 

[tursiops]

I'll be interested to hear how the Courtyard works out for you. It is not open yet.....

You will need to rent a vehicle, preferably a pickup truck, but check and double-check if your Chase coverage extends to trucks.
Dive Friends can supply tanks/weights. VIP Diving may be your best guidance at the beginning.
Do Nitrox before the trip.
Flying through Aruba is painful, and Insel is unreliable. If you don't want to fly directly in with UA or DL, then most seem to prefer going to Curacao and using DiviDivi to hop over.
You will want to do some boat dives; they are not expensive, Klein has some great sites, and some of the really good sites on-island cannot be reached as shore dives, for example Rappel.
New booties, YES! Heavy, thick soles are mandatory for Bonaire. You may even need new (open-heel) fins to fit the booties.
Food? You can eat cheaply (like the excellent food trucks) but it is easier for lunch than for dinner and breakfast.

 

[covediver]

Been a while since I was on Bonaire, but when I was there all the vans and trucks used for diving were standard transmission (that was a while ago). Each dive site was marked by a yellow rock. offshore was a mooring buoy that marked the reef. easy entry and swim out to the buoy. we used a guidebook that described each site to pre-plan a couple of different spots. great trip.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Seems to me that people who really love shore diving could take several trips to Bonaire before they ever feel the slightest urge to do a boat dive. From what I have read here on SB and heard from friends, except maybe for a few sites at Klein Bonaire, the sites look the same whether you dive them from shore or a boat. I still haven't gotten around to doing a boat dive after five or six Bonaire trips, mainly because the people I travel with, who have done many more Bonaire trips than me, did a few of them years ago and are just not interested.

We mostly prepare our own breakfasts and lunches and some dinners. There are lots of good places for dinner out, but eating lunch out at a restaurant takes a bite out of our dive time and budget. We're not into burgers and fries and fast food. Fish sandwiches, sashimi and ceviche at the Kite City truck are fantastic, but not in our budget to do every day. So our lunch between dives generally consists of sandwiches made with supplies from the supermarket. Cheap and filling lunch lets us do better for dinner.

 

[tursiops]

Seems to me that people who really love shore diving could take several trips to Bonaire before they ever feel the slightest urge to do a boat dive. From what I have read here on SB and heard from friends, except maybe for a few sites at Klein Bonaire, the sites look the same whether you dive them from shore or a boat. I still haven't gotten around to doing a boat dive after five or six Bonaire trips, mainly because the people I travel with, who have done many more Bonaire trips than me, did a few of them years ago and are just not interested.

We mostly prepare our own breakfasts and lunches and some dinners. There are lots of good places for dinner out, but eating lunch out at a restaurant takes a bite out of our dive time and budget. We're not into burgers and fries and fast food. Fish sandwiches, sashimi and ceviche at the Kite City truck are fantastic, but not in our budget to do every day. So our lunch between dives generally consists of sandwiches made with supplies from the supermarket. Cheap and filling lunch lets us do better for dinner.

@Lorenzoid, your posts are usually very helpful, but I think you are missing the mark on this one.
Yes, many of the sites look the same whether you do them from shore or boat, but many of the sites are not accessible from shore, plus those at Klein. If you do only shore dives in Boanire, you can do some very good diving. But if you do only shore dives, you can MISS some really different and excellent diving. In addition, some of the shore entries are challenging, especially if there are any waves and if you are carrying a big camera.

Secondly, the OP will be at the Courtyard, which (according to its website) is not really going to be very good for preparing any meals, even breakfast or lunch. The list of room amenities does not even mention a refrigerator.

 

[BreeAbyss]

If you are feeling up to it near the end of the trip, try to take a trip to the east coast with Bonaire East Coast Diving. I did a couple dives with them on my last trip there and it was amazing. A bit intimidating because the surge/waves were huge, one person on the boat was feeling pretty sick. You gear up in the calm bay then they drive you out there. Take a drive to the east coast and you will see what the ocean looks like lol.
It was great though, we went to a place called Turtle City where turtles go for naps or to rest. There were so many of them just chilling. Lots of huge coral fans and structures that are not seen at the normal sites. I have never seen coral that large before anywhere else, I wish I had a camera! It is well worth the rough ride. I'm sure some days are calmer than others.

 

[diversteve]

The Marriott is being built on one of the canals by the airport. If they have a dive operator on-site when they open - consider them - it will be the most convenient. I expect they will, most resorts have arrangements with someone.

2nd best - and I recommend what the others have posted above - is Dive Friends since they have a location at Port Bonaire condos - about 2mins. drive away. Or Toucan Diving at the Plaza which is the same distance the other way - the Plaza is actually on the west end of the canal complex but there's at least one resort etc. in between.

Also DFB keeps boats at Port Bonaire so that's convenient. One thing you'll likely find is that the convenience of their multiple locations is handy for tank exchange. Also they have another location at Sand Dollar condos which sits on Bari Reef - arguably the fishiest dive site on Bonaire and definitely one of the best known. Easy access too, they've built steps down to the beach at the south end of the condo property and there's a tank/changing house right there - the shop itself is in a plaza 50' from the main road so it's another convenient exchange point.

DFB can also do your nitrox cert and their location north at Cliff is one of the better shore dives on Bonaire. Personally I'd skip their location in town for diving (Yellow Sub) - it's popular and known due to the cruise traffic but there's so many better sites in either direction from town that with a truck it makes no sense to dive there. Dive Friends Bonaire - Best Bonaire Diving and Services

I also suggest you get the Nitrox certs now in FL. There must be 2-300 shops in SoFl that do that...lol. My buddy's took all of 20mins - shown how to use the analyzer and record it, then try it once himself and pay the fee for the card. He read the book beforehand, our agency didn't have on-line at the time - now I think they all do.

I wouldn't waste a morning of diving doing that on Bonaire personally.

I'd do some boat dives also. We did 9 which is a standard pkg. number but too many. There's 26 sites around Klein Bonaire so you need a boat for those but IMO only 3-4 good ones - two of our favorites were Forest and Hand's Off but the 2nd more for the drift dive than the quality of the site. Jerry's was OK due to all the turtles shallow. Rappel is a great dive also - it refers to the cliff in front of it so a boat dive for normal people. Honestly I could make a case for boat diving the Hooker also - it's a decent swim out, the entry is crap and the boat moors outside the Hooker so you can access the 2nd reef also - my DM buddy here (owns there) says it's the better of the two.

Some diving resources:

Dive Friends Bonaire - Best Bonaire Diving and Services
Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands - a little dated but has entry pictures.
Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy, BSDME, Author Susan Porter - the "book" you might have seen mentioned in other posts.

VIP diving is another option but they offer more of a cruise diver package - true valet diving but what they charge will almost pay for your diving pkg. for the week - it's $150/day.

A nice pricier meal is It Rains Fishes in town. Harbor views and good food. Less expensive is RumRunners at Habitat - they also have a Pizza kitchen as well as regular entree's. We also like Donna&Giorgios in town - the serving staff are mostly local girls so it's charming plus good food. Almost everybody goes to the Beach BBQ at the Plaza Resort - mid-week one night. On the beach, steel drum band, volleyball, fun night.

For food shopping, besides local markets there's both Van Den Tweel or Warehouse Bonaire - both in SE Kralendijk on the same road.
Here's a list: Bonaire's Supermarkets | InfoBonaire

If you haven't found them - two good info portals are:

www.infobonaire.com
www.tourismbonaire.com - the official site.

 

[Lorenzoid]

@Lorenzoid, your posts are usually very helpful, but I think you are missing the mark on this one.
Yes, many of the sites look the same whether you do them from shore or boat, but many of the sites are not accessible from shore, plus those at Klein. If you do only shore dives in Boanire, you can do some very good diving. But if you do only shore dives, you can MISS some really different and excellent diving. In addition, some of the shore entries are challenging, especially if there are any waves and if you are carrying a big camera.

Dunno man, I was just (not particularly helpfully) repeating what I have heard/read over the years. Perhaps my sources are wrong, or their boat only took them to Klein Bonaire. Is there a map of Bonaire dive sites that includes those not accessible from shore but that are commonly available from boat dives? I honestly hadn't heard of such sites. All the maps of Bonaire I have seen are geared toward shore dives (plus those on Klein Bonaire). Here's the STINAPA map that everyone sees during their orientation, for example: http://stinapabonaire.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Brochure-BNMP.pdf.

 

[tursiops]

Dunno man, I was just (not particularly helpfully) repeating what I have heard/read over the years. Perhaps my sources are wrong, or their boat only took them to Klein Bonaire. Is there a map of Bonaire dive sites that includes those not accessible from shore but that are commonly available from boat dives? I honestly hadn't heard of such sites. All the maps of Bonaire I have seen are geared toward shore dives (plus those on Klein Bonaire). Here's the STINAPA map that everyone sees during their orientation, for example: http://stinapabonaire.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Brochure-BNMP.pdf.

That map lists which sites are not (or at least not easily) shore-divable; see the list to the left of the map. A blue dot but not a red dot means boat only; I count 9 plus all on Klein, of course. 4-5 of those non-Klein boat-only sites are well-worth doing, for example Rappel, Country Garden, and Small Wall are among my favorites, and Kalli's Reef and Barkadera are not much done so have stayed in really good shape.