Dive sites:
All reviews are just our opinions - some may think we're crazy!! We didn't have a 'bad' dive all week and it's all about what you're into. We tried not to repeat anything so we could cover as much as possible.
Bari - good, but not great for us. Strong current and average sloping reef. Good fish, but not overly memorable. Not a bad check out dive, but I don't know if I could do this reef over and over.
Night Dive Lac Cai with Bas - AMAZING! rubble, soft coral, muck for critters, drop off with near vertical wall, and tons of life including stingray, green morays, green and hawksbill turtles and several rare fish species (Bas knows his stuff) that he was excited to see and in turn got us excited! Do this dive if you can!!!
Oil Slick - fun, easy entry and a very nice dive!! Nice topo and good fish life. Great place for your SI jumping off the rocks! Found a ring in the shallows that my daughter is now wearing as a cool dive trip souvenir.
Salt Pier - we loved this during the day when you can see the legs of the rig and the massive number of fish underneath. Easy in and out, and we didn't have any trouble with it being 'closed' for diving. We did it at night a second time, and for us it was uneventful without being able to see the large schools, and a bit creepy!! Your results may vary!
Angel City to Hilma Hooker - KILLER! Bas Tol advised us to do the dive this way and it was awesome! Park at Angel City, swim out to the first reef and drop. Staying shallow, swim across the sand to the 2nd reef and turn right. Stay on top of the reef watching your depth and look for giant anchor chains that cross the reef. Follow them heading north and it will eventually split off in several directions. Stay to the north and it will cut the reef and disappear into the sand to the right. Stay on the imaginary line that the chain creates and you will see the bow of the Hooker appear from the gloom - it's quite awesome! Enter the cargo holds and swim the length of the ship inside - exit and go through the wheelhouse then up and around to the prop. Swim the hull up on top and then cross over to the reef and head back to Angel City on the inside reef. What a dive!!!! Depth/NDL and gas management a must!
Alice in Wonderland - KILLER! We went straight to the outside reef and did the outer and inner sides of the far reef out and back. The fish life, visibility and coral formations were magical here and IMHO this site really deserves it's reputation as one of the best!
Cliff - GREAT!! Capt. Don's dive shop told us to gear up at the car, walk in, dive off the small pier, get out and leave without using any of the facilities and we didn't need to pay any fees. Easy dive - follow the rope from the pier to the reef, turn right at 60-80ft until 1/2 a tank then go up to the top of the wall and come back to the rope. I loved the vertical section of this dive so much and it has a different look than a lot of the rest of Bonaire to me. To the south of the rope is a small wreck that is cool to poke around and when diving here at night the tarpon hunting action was crazy! Some people hate this, but we found it super entertaining!!
Lake - AWESOME! My personal favorite of the double reefs. Their proximity to each other allows for much better exploration of both sides in a single dive. I like the blend of hard and soft corals and this was one of the most diverse and fishy dives of the week!
Monty's Divi Tree Klein Bonaire - very pretty but average dive with good life and healthy coral. Made me think about people saying the boat dives are unnecessary as everything over there is the same as the mainland. However the next dive changed our mind on the subject.
Forest Klien Bonaire - AWESOME! One of our favorites of the week. Great vertical structure with steep buttresses that cut in and out. A small cave around 80' held a couple of big lion fish (no spears in the group) and the coral, sponge, and fish life here was incredible! Several turtles and eels were present and the viz was spectacular. If conditions and boat members allow, this is a site no to miss!
Vista Blue - Nice dive, easy entry and had a Hawksbill with us for about 1/3 of the dive. Perfect dive after a Kite Burger for lunch, however I had to take my SMB and deploy it from depth as we had kite boards ripping back and forth across our heads the entire dive.
Bon Bini Na Kas - Boat dive in the north which featured turtles and a nice if not unspectacular reef with good fish and sponges.
Rappel - AWESOME! Great topo, turtles, stingray, tarpon, and little to no current allowing for a great out and back experience. The DM showed us a small cave that held a huge green moray as well as an interesting hole in the reef that goes down into the bottom that was full of squirrel fish. Listening to the low end frequency boom through the water as the surf pounded the cliffs was extra cool!!
Red Beryl - Good but by this time, the southern sites were beginning to blur together and my nitrox brain was a bit muddy from lack of sleep and time underwater! Hung with some squid in the shallows which inspired calamari for dinner!
Mushroom - an unmarked site between salt pier and alice where we did a night dive that featured a glowing crustacean spawn in the shallow soft corals. Really interesting dive that felt like a flash back drug trip (even though I've never done hallucinogenics). This was a paid guided dive, and I would never have known to do this unless shown. Very unique experience.
La Dania to Karpata - KILLER! I had been anticipating trying this dive for weeks, and as the day approached so did my anxiety about pulling it off safely with my daughter in tow. It really was no big deal although I can see where there could be problems if you had a gear malfunction or forgot something once you've made the leap. However, you could just surface swim for 30-40 mins to Karpata if needed. We pulled off the side of the road at the trail head (marked by the faded ying/yang and a pile of rocks with a stick in the top) and built the gear. I left my daughter and drove a very short distance to Karpata and parked. I dumped a bottle of water on my head and made the <10 minute hike back. The trail down gets steep at one point, but there is a rocky place to sit and put the fins on to the lower right once you're at the water. This was actually an easier leap than Oil Slick IMHO. Once in, we dropped down to 100 feet to check out the vertical overhang, but since we were on 32% at 1.4 my computer started barking so we came up to 70fsw and did the dive there. On this day, the current was going backwards so instead of being a drift, it was actually a swim, but very gentle. Moving in and out of the buttresses that plunge to the bottom was great, and we had several turtles swimming above us on top of the reef. The site looked very much like Forest on Klein and after 50 minutes of touring the reef and working our way up to 35fsw the Karpata buoy came into view. We did our safety stop in the shallows the used 'turtle navigation' to pop up and see where we were. There was some surge, but we used the concrete pier to block the waves and made our way up and out holding on to the block. Great dive and well worth the effort!!
Invisibles - Fun dive with a colony of garden eels right under the buoy in about 25fsw. similar to the other sites in the area, but the outer reef is deeper and is not continuous so we stayed on the inner reef as our nitrogen bars were a bit high by this point in the day.
Funji's Reef - our first dive with East Side divers. Nice dive with eagle rays, turtles, morays and a very beautiful and pristine reef.
Unnamed - AMAZING!! Our last dive of the trip and the 2nd dive with East Side. We were presented with the option of White Hole or one of Hans' 'personal favorite' dives. The boat voted for the latter, and we were rewarded with many eagle rays, too many turtles to count (both green and Hawksbill) and some of the most perfect unmolested coral reef I've ever seen. No bleaching, no algae, and no fin damage to be seen anywhere! Awesome way to finish up!!
Final Thoughts:
We really enjoyed our week and totaled 24.20 hours underwater for 21 dives in 6 days. I enjoyed the 'freedom' of the diving, but was honestly getting bored with some of the sites by the end of the week. The sheer number of fish was astounding, and if you mix up North and South with Klein and East side, you do get a great variety. The reefs looked very healthy and I like the addition of the soft corals and Gregorian forests to the underwater scenery. We both really missed the massive structure and variety of the sites in Cozumel and found the diving in Bonaire to be rather tame in comparison. I like boat diving and really enjoy the interaction with other divers (as long as they're not fools) on the boats. We may have had more of this interaction if we would have stayed at a dive resort, so that was partially our fault. The flight from LAX is a lot longer and more expensive so that is a trade off for the lower cost per tank of the dives. The food was not as good as Coz (mostly because I prefer mexican food to european food) and I found it more expensive. It's a great place for newer divers, or those seeking to maximize time underwater with a low per dive cost. I was very glad we went and have no regrets, but will most likely return to Coz or try other places before going back to Bonaire. If I was traveling with a group that included newer divers who wanted to increase their underwater skills (entry, navigation, buoyancy, air consumption) Bonaire would be a great choice, and I see why it is a top destination!
Thanks for reading all of my drivel, hope there's some useful info in there somewhere!
All reviews are just our opinions - some may think we're crazy!! We didn't have a 'bad' dive all week and it's all about what you're into. We tried not to repeat anything so we could cover as much as possible.
Bari - good, but not great for us. Strong current and average sloping reef. Good fish, but not overly memorable. Not a bad check out dive, but I don't know if I could do this reef over and over.
Night Dive Lac Cai with Bas - AMAZING! rubble, soft coral, muck for critters, drop off with near vertical wall, and tons of life including stingray, green morays, green and hawksbill turtles and several rare fish species (Bas knows his stuff) that he was excited to see and in turn got us excited! Do this dive if you can!!!
Oil Slick - fun, easy entry and a very nice dive!! Nice topo and good fish life. Great place for your SI jumping off the rocks! Found a ring in the shallows that my daughter is now wearing as a cool dive trip souvenir.
Salt Pier - we loved this during the day when you can see the legs of the rig and the massive number of fish underneath. Easy in and out, and we didn't have any trouble with it being 'closed' for diving. We did it at night a second time, and for us it was uneventful without being able to see the large schools, and a bit creepy!! Your results may vary!
Angel City to Hilma Hooker - KILLER! Bas Tol advised us to do the dive this way and it was awesome! Park at Angel City, swim out to the first reef and drop. Staying shallow, swim across the sand to the 2nd reef and turn right. Stay on top of the reef watching your depth and look for giant anchor chains that cross the reef. Follow them heading north and it will eventually split off in several directions. Stay to the north and it will cut the reef and disappear into the sand to the right. Stay on the imaginary line that the chain creates and you will see the bow of the Hooker appear from the gloom - it's quite awesome! Enter the cargo holds and swim the length of the ship inside - exit and go through the wheelhouse then up and around to the prop. Swim the hull up on top and then cross over to the reef and head back to Angel City on the inside reef. What a dive!!!! Depth/NDL and gas management a must!
Alice in Wonderland - KILLER! We went straight to the outside reef and did the outer and inner sides of the far reef out and back. The fish life, visibility and coral formations were magical here and IMHO this site really deserves it's reputation as one of the best!
Cliff - GREAT!! Capt. Don's dive shop told us to gear up at the car, walk in, dive off the small pier, get out and leave without using any of the facilities and we didn't need to pay any fees. Easy dive - follow the rope from the pier to the reef, turn right at 60-80ft until 1/2 a tank then go up to the top of the wall and come back to the rope. I loved the vertical section of this dive so much and it has a different look than a lot of the rest of Bonaire to me. To the south of the rope is a small wreck that is cool to poke around and when diving here at night the tarpon hunting action was crazy! Some people hate this, but we found it super entertaining!!
Lake - AWESOME! My personal favorite of the double reefs. Their proximity to each other allows for much better exploration of both sides in a single dive. I like the blend of hard and soft corals and this was one of the most diverse and fishy dives of the week!
Monty's Divi Tree Klein Bonaire - very pretty but average dive with good life and healthy coral. Made me think about people saying the boat dives are unnecessary as everything over there is the same as the mainland. However the next dive changed our mind on the subject.
Forest Klien Bonaire - AWESOME! One of our favorites of the week. Great vertical structure with steep buttresses that cut in and out. A small cave around 80' held a couple of big lion fish (no spears in the group) and the coral, sponge, and fish life here was incredible! Several turtles and eels were present and the viz was spectacular. If conditions and boat members allow, this is a site no to miss!
Vista Blue - Nice dive, easy entry and had a Hawksbill with us for about 1/3 of the dive. Perfect dive after a Kite Burger for lunch, however I had to take my SMB and deploy it from depth as we had kite boards ripping back and forth across our heads the entire dive.
Bon Bini Na Kas - Boat dive in the north which featured turtles and a nice if not unspectacular reef with good fish and sponges.
Rappel - AWESOME! Great topo, turtles, stingray, tarpon, and little to no current allowing for a great out and back experience. The DM showed us a small cave that held a huge green moray as well as an interesting hole in the reef that goes down into the bottom that was full of squirrel fish. Listening to the low end frequency boom through the water as the surf pounded the cliffs was extra cool!!
Red Beryl - Good but by this time, the southern sites were beginning to blur together and my nitrox brain was a bit muddy from lack of sleep and time underwater! Hung with some squid in the shallows which inspired calamari for dinner!
Mushroom - an unmarked site between salt pier and alice where we did a night dive that featured a glowing crustacean spawn in the shallow soft corals. Really interesting dive that felt like a flash back drug trip (even though I've never done hallucinogenics). This was a paid guided dive, and I would never have known to do this unless shown. Very unique experience.
La Dania to Karpata - KILLER! I had been anticipating trying this dive for weeks, and as the day approached so did my anxiety about pulling it off safely with my daughter in tow. It really was no big deal although I can see where there could be problems if you had a gear malfunction or forgot something once you've made the leap. However, you could just surface swim for 30-40 mins to Karpata if needed. We pulled off the side of the road at the trail head (marked by the faded ying/yang and a pile of rocks with a stick in the top) and built the gear. I left my daughter and drove a very short distance to Karpata and parked. I dumped a bottle of water on my head and made the <10 minute hike back. The trail down gets steep at one point, but there is a rocky place to sit and put the fins on to the lower right once you're at the water. This was actually an easier leap than Oil Slick IMHO. Once in, we dropped down to 100 feet to check out the vertical overhang, but since we were on 32% at 1.4 my computer started barking so we came up to 70fsw and did the dive there. On this day, the current was going backwards so instead of being a drift, it was actually a swim, but very gentle. Moving in and out of the buttresses that plunge to the bottom was great, and we had several turtles swimming above us on top of the reef. The site looked very much like Forest on Klein and after 50 minutes of touring the reef and working our way up to 35fsw the Karpata buoy came into view. We did our safety stop in the shallows the used 'turtle navigation' to pop up and see where we were. There was some surge, but we used the concrete pier to block the waves and made our way up and out holding on to the block. Great dive and well worth the effort!!
Invisibles - Fun dive with a colony of garden eels right under the buoy in about 25fsw. similar to the other sites in the area, but the outer reef is deeper and is not continuous so we stayed on the inner reef as our nitrogen bars were a bit high by this point in the day.
Funji's Reef - our first dive with East Side divers. Nice dive with eagle rays, turtles, morays and a very beautiful and pristine reef.
Unnamed - AMAZING!! Our last dive of the trip and the 2nd dive with East Side. We were presented with the option of White Hole or one of Hans' 'personal favorite' dives. The boat voted for the latter, and we were rewarded with many eagle rays, too many turtles to count (both green and Hawksbill) and some of the most perfect unmolested coral reef I've ever seen. No bleaching, no algae, and no fin damage to be seen anywhere! Awesome way to finish up!!
Final Thoughts:
We really enjoyed our week and totaled 24.20 hours underwater for 21 dives in 6 days. I enjoyed the 'freedom' of the diving, but was honestly getting bored with some of the sites by the end of the week. The sheer number of fish was astounding, and if you mix up North and South with Klein and East side, you do get a great variety. The reefs looked very healthy and I like the addition of the soft corals and Gregorian forests to the underwater scenery. We both really missed the massive structure and variety of the sites in Cozumel and found the diving in Bonaire to be rather tame in comparison. I like boat diving and really enjoy the interaction with other divers (as long as they're not fools) on the boats. We may have had more of this interaction if we would have stayed at a dive resort, so that was partially our fault. The flight from LAX is a lot longer and more expensive so that is a trade off for the lower cost per tank of the dives. The food was not as good as Coz (mostly because I prefer mexican food to european food) and I found it more expensive. It's a great place for newer divers, or those seeking to maximize time underwater with a low per dive cost. I was very glad we went and have no regrets, but will most likely return to Coz or try other places before going back to Bonaire. If I was traveling with a group that included newer divers who wanted to increase their underwater skills (entry, navigation, buoyancy, air consumption) Bonaire would be a great choice, and I see why it is a top destination!
Thanks for reading all of my drivel, hope there's some useful info in there somewhere!
