The Bonaire criminal exposed, and it is ........YOU!

[dumpsterDiver]

Did they collect any finger prints or were the culprits assumed to have been wearing gloves?

 

[koozemani]

Sad to hear. I've just scheduled my first Bonaire trip with buddy's for February.

 

[gypsyjim]

Wife and I were in Bonaire for May 2 thru 17 so we were there at the same time as you...... As a matter of fact, we may have been on the same United flight to Houston this past Sat morning.

This was our 10th trip back to Bonaire and the first trip that we stayed anywhere other than Buddies. (Villa just up the road in Sabadeco)..... But...... we did buy our Nitrox / Air package from Buddies and did two boat dives with them on Thursday the 15th. On deco day (Friday the 16th) we turned in our lead and went into the Buddies dive shop to pay for our two boat dives and there was a woman in there filling out some forms with Lourdes and she was obviously distraught.. My wife asked if she was OK and it turns out that someone had stolen her entire reg set including computer console.... from the dive locker! I'm talking about the locker down on the dock, not the one at the drive-through.

This would appear to confirm that there most definitely was a low life scumbag at Buddies that week.

Anyone else there also probably noticed that the small road between the drive through and the dock was chewed up during that week along with the center of the turnaround at the top of the stairs. Looks like they are finally going to put pavers down on that section. The result was that a lot more folks seemed to be using the upper dive locker.

On a side note.....we are basically shore divers and for the entire two weeks we dove everywhere from Red Slave to Karpata and nary had a problem. On EVERY excursion we brought a towel, jugs of fresh water and a soft ice-chest with some snacks and post dive Amstel Brights. Windows down and doors unlocked....no problems. As for sunglasses, we just use cheap $10 ones for diving, wear them for the kick out and then they go in BC pockets just before descending.

Anyway.... I hate thieves and would really enjoy catching one to show them that crime doesn't pay.

I had heard a rumor on Friday that someone's regulator was stolen from the same storage room, but I had no direct knowledge of the incident.

These thefts highlight the fact that this is not "Bonaire Crime", but theft by some of our own dive community. The divers who stole dive gear have nothing to do with Bonaire, other than they happened to be there and took advantage of the open and relaxed atmosphere, to steal from fellow divers.

Buddy Dive was at full capacity that week, with two teams of university students, and divers from Europe and the US. Tons of activity day and night.

Whether these crimes point to two or three different thieves or more, it does illustrate what some have suspected for years. That is that a significant part of the thefts from divers on the island have been done by non native divers, taking advantage of the low key atmosphere to steal whatever they see as tempting, from other divers.

 

[SailNaked]

After 5 trips to bonaire the only thing I have had stollen was a din adapter from the gear locker at buddy. I dont leave my gear in there anymore.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

 

[gypsyjim]

Sad to hear. I've just scheduled my first Bonaire trip with buddy's for February.

Buddy Dive runs a great operation, but their gear room is accessible to all guests 24/7, so if you happen to be using the Buddy dive gear room at the same time as a larcenous, light fingered fellow guest anything you leave there could be at risk..

The reef at Buddy dive is a great dive, and the folks there treat you well, but you need to be protective of your gear just as if you were diving here in the States, for the same reason you have to be alert here in the Sates. Not all divers are honest.

 

[PartyStar]

We tried to stay at Buddy's but had to leave after the mold sent me to the hospital.

I hollared n bitched about putting my gear in that room and did not get a good feeling about the entire operation.

There is nothing like a nice large CLEAN dive locker in Bonaire !

You could store your gear in the room - but it makes mold and people like me cranky n puffy.

 

[gypsyjim]

We tried to stay at Buddy's but had to leave after the mold sent me to the hospital.

I hollared n bitched about putting my gear in that room and did not get a good feeling about the entire operation.

There is nothing like a nice large CLEAN dive locker in Bonaire !

You could store your gear in the room - but it makes mold and people like me cranky n puffy.

A few years ago we too had a mold problem at Buddy's but this year we stayed in many of the same units our group had used then, and the updating they have been doing has eliminated that mold completely, at least in all of the units our group used.

Being the tropics, mold and such is an endless battle.

We do usually hang our gear on the upstairs balconies at Buddy Dive, if we are staying at that resort, and only use the gear room for short term hanging, between boat dives if we are doing any, or while we grab a bite to eat after a shore or night dive. This time we made the mistake of leaving things there a bit longer, and Colleen had that inflator assembly stolen off of her new Halcyon travel wing. I had the weight pocket stolen out of the rental bcd I was using temporarily when she was diving her wing with my inflator, but being a rental I was not remotely concerned (which turned out to be a mistake because some yahoo did not want to pay for a weight pocket they lost out of their rental, and swiped the one out of the one I borrowed, to avoid the charge for their loss )

 

[deco_martini]

Whether these crimes point to two or three different thieves or more, it does illustrate what some have suspected for years. That is that a significant part of the thefts from divers on the island have been done by non native divers, taking advantage of the low key atmosphere to steal whatever they see as tempting, from other divers.

I read up on theft at bonairetalk and from the police reports. Diver on diver theft is pretty insignificant actually overall vs locals.

 

[gypsyjim]

Define insignificant. The French lady who had her computer and regulator stolen, and Colleen who had her entire Halcyon inflator assembly stolen off her wing do not think of it as insignificant.

Since no one ever seems to actually be caught stealing from trucks at dive sites I do not think you can say that those thefts are NOT diver on diver theft, at least in some part. Fellow diver certainly have the opportunity and no one gets suspicious if they are seen at a dive site, as a local might be.

 

[deco_martini]

Insignificant as in, you have a few anecdotes but the majority of the data doesn't support it.

---------- Post added May 29th, 2014 at 06:22 PM ----------

I feel for anyone who gets victimized. Putting your gear in a place with no cameras where there is a lot of foot traffic isn't safe by definition.

However, the crime problem on Bonaire isn't diver and diver primarily.