tire theft in bonaire

[scubaaaronh]

i have read about a hundred posts about tire theft in bonaire and the tools to change a tire. Would i be better off leaving it in the hotel room? or doesn't it happen all that often?

 

[diversteve]

i have read about a hundred posts about tire theft in bonaire and the tools to change a tire. Would i be better off leaving it in the hotel room? or doesn't it happen all that often?

Nothing happened to ours - or anything else for that matter. And near the end of the week, we started leaving stuff in the truck too. I'd take it at least up north, sometimes it's a long time before you see another car. South of the airport there seemed to be people going by pretty often.

YMMV

 

[RICHinNC]

I just got back from Bonaire. We didnt see any particular problem but were warned many time by regulars and those that live there to look out.

I took a lock and two lengths of chain and chained up the spare tire and chained the tools together and to the rental truck. Probably over kill....but there were there when I went to turn in the truck.

I would NOT recommend leaving them in the hotel room as if you get out on the far south or north side of the island and have a problem....it could be some time before you are found..or you have one bodacious walk ahead of you.

 

[herman]

I was with Rich but driving a seperate truck, my 8th trip and so far I have had no problems. While the problem does exist, it gets blown way out of proportion. If you are really concerned, a light steal cable and lock would do fine. I do agree with Rich, don't leave it at home, it's a long hot walk from a lot of places.

 

[scubaaaronh]

Cool Thanks.
I Read All The Posts On It And Was A Little Concerned

 

[herman]

I think the of reason that it gets so much press is the diving style of the island. As best as I know of, there is no place where divers rent a truck, drive to remote places and just dive. No resort, no DM, no one holding your hand, just you and the water. The reason that you don't hear about cars getting broken into in Coz or the Bahamas is because very few divers go wondering off on their own, which is the norm on Bonaire. While in a perfect world you should be able to leave cash and expensive stuff in your vehicle (open actually) that's not reality, not just on Bonaire but everywhere. If you follow simple rules like not leaving anything in your vehicle and leaving the windows rolled down, you will be fine. I may just have been lucky but in 8 trips I have not lost anything or had any evidence that my truck had been gone through. What you will not find on Bonaire are street venders worring the crap out of you to buy junk or worse.

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

I think the of reason that it gets so much press is the diving style of the island. As best as I know of, there is no place where divers rent a truck, drive to remote places and just dive. No resort, no DM, no one holding your hand, just you and the water. The reason that you don't hear about cars getting broken into in Coz or the Bahamas is because very few divers go wondering off on their own, which is the norm on Bonaire. While in a perfect world you should be able to leave cash and expensive stuff in your vehicle (open actually) that's not reality, not just on Bonaire but everywhere. If you follow simple rules like not leaving anything in your vehicle and leaving the windows rolled down, you will be fine. I may just have been lucky but in 8 trips I have not lost anything or had any evidence that my truck had been gone through. What you will not find on Bonaire are street venders worring the crap out of you to buy junk or worse.

One can also rent a truck, get tanks, and go diving from shore with no DM, resort, etc. on Curacao as well, so it's not a 'Bonaire only' phenomenon. Curiously, when I picked up my rental vehicle (RAV4) from Budget on Curacao, each wheel & tire, including the spare, had a broad orange stripe painted on it. When I asked, I was informed this was done to discourage such theft - the paint stripe identified the rim & tire as belonging to a rental vehicle, and the color of the stripe showed which agency it belonged to (Budget was orange). Maybe, if someone really wanted to address this on Bonaire, they could borrow such a program from their neighbors on Curacao - especially when you consider several companies have rental offfices on both islands.

Having said that, we had zero such problems either on Curacao or Bonaire (we stayed 8 nights on Bonaire and 7 on Curacao).

 

[ianr33]

Well I have never been to Bonaire but I did go to Aruba a few years ago.After we had the spare on our jeep stolen I noticed that every other jeep on the island seemed to have a lock on the spare...........

 

[scubaaaronh]

Ive decided i am going to take a cable and padlock like i use on my protable tree stands. That way i can lock the tire and not have to pay for it