meagicano
Contributor
This was my first trip to Bonaire and my first ever warm-water diving vacation. All of my previous dives had been in Canada's chillier, murkier waters. I went with a big group of about 17, with some staying for only 1 week and others staying for the full two weeks. With the flight changes from United we basically lost a day of diving and incurred extra expense with the required overnight in Newark.
I tend to be verbose, so I apologize in advance if anyone thinks it's too much!
Accommodations & Dive Provider
We stayed at the BonaireFUN apartments. The trip's ringleader had stayed at the Dive Hut before and swore he wouldn't again, however with new ownership and an apparent renovation (plus the fact that BonaireFUN was apparently more "upscale") he said this would be the perfect place. One person on our trip ended up at DiveHut for a week and was thrilled to make the move over to BonaireFUN because he was miserable at the DiveHut. We were under the impression there would be a restaurant and a full service bar, however the bar hours were a bit spotty while we were there and the "restaurant" was basically just breakfast from 8-10am and then a few special meal nights each week. We tried a Saturday BBQ, the two Thursday BBQ's and Thai Night. The Thai food was fantastic and the Thursday BBQ's were pretty fun as that was also the free rum punch party (from 5:30pm to 6:30pm).
BonaireFUN is located across the street from the DiveHut. There's a gate to the complex, which is supposed to stay locked, and each apartment has a small kitchenette. I stayed in a 2 bedroom with three others. We found there are a ton of bugs outside, so be sure to bring good bug spray or buy some when you get here! We ended up changing into pants most nights in order to avoid bites. Keeping our windows closed also helped to keep them at bay. It would have been nice to have enough keys for everyone staying in the apartment, especially as they wanted us to keep the gate locked.
I had expected a bit more - towels are changed twice a week, so they start to get pretty rank. We had to ask them to change our towels the first week, although maybe if we had left it another day (it was Wednesday when we asked) they would have been changed for us. Sheets were changed and the apartment was cleaned once during our two week stay. I was a bit surprised to see it was BYO toilet paper, garbage bags and hand soap for the bathrooms. We also didn't have a dishcloth for the first week but one magically appeared during the apartment cleaning. The rooms had air conditioning but ours was a bit iffy most nights and my roommate and I often slept with hoodies and long pants on as we decided too cold was preferable to the humid mess that was the other option. Internet service was also spotty and except for a couple of days of no service at all, we eventually ended up connecting.
We were free to use the BBQ at the Dive Hut whenever they didn't have a special event - check with the people working the bar - but we had to bring our own charcoal, which was easily available at the grocery stores.
We had access to the gear room at the Dive Hut (you receive a key with a $20 deposit) but there weren't enough hangers. I advise against going in there while wearing flipflops as the floor gets muddy, wet and slippery - I almost saw a few wipe outs, including an American girl with her brand new underwater camera in hand! There were problems with tanks - they had promised they could get us enough (around 30), yet this quickly became a problem and it was frustrating to wait for the tank guy only to find he didn't bring enough with him. We had to go to the Eden Beach Wannadive location, which was only a short 5 minute trip from the hotel, but it would have been much better if they were upfront with us about it. Based on the conversations at the bar, it seems as though most guests had the same issues and it wasn't just the size of our group. Be sure to check your tanks if you're diving nitrox - as any diver should - because we found that what was labelled didn't always match up with the analyzer. We had different Wannadive employees telling us to calibrate the analyzer to different percentages (one person said 19.6, for some reason, while the other said 20.9) which was frustrating. I was careful to dive conservatively knowing the mix could be off by a percentage or two either way. Keep a close eye on your o-rings as well. After a few days and numerous issues we started bringing a spare tank in our truck and we swiped a few o-rings from the filling station. I take pride in my gear - I am obsessive about maintenance, I am careful to rinse, etc. - so using tanks with leaky valves or broken o-rings was a new and frustrating experience for me. I also really hate yoke and wish the world would transition to DIN.
Food
Most of the food was prepared at the hotel, but we did eat at a few restaurants.
Karel's Beach Bar - we didn't have great luck with their specials (the pork chops looked especially dire and I felt bad for my friends who ordered it) but I had a great burger and the calamari was very well received. This is a great location with a decent happy hour and good service.
The Rib Factory - good ribs but some prices were a bit high.
Eden Beach Spice Beach club - another awesome burger but the calamari is not recommended. There's a $5 beach chair policy that was occasionally enforced if you also spend a bit of time at the beach and you are not an Eden Beach guest.
Jibe City Beach Hut - on the east coast. This was a great spot and it was fun to watch the windsurfers while eating. Prices were reasonable (even on the Corona) and I loved my fish and chips while others were very happy with their burgers or shwarma's. This was probably one of the best lunches we had.
It Rains Fishes - I went for lunch with a friend. I had the Fishes Club which was chicken & crab. It was great, the location is beautiful and the drinks all came with little carved and painted figurines.
Pasa Bon Pizza - we all tried the lionfish pizza, which was surprisingly good! I wouldn't have been able to eat a full one (we ordered the lionfish to share and then ordered normal pizza too) but it was a good experience. The pizza itself was pretty rich and flavourful and I'm glad I didn't have any diving to do the next day.
Diving
I dove every day except our arrival day and the Friday before departure. I did 31 dives and actually think I may have done too many because I was starting to find the diving really repetitive. I was told, before coming here, that I would never want to dive in Canada again after diving in the south and I disagree. The water temperature at home goes as high as 76 F - the water during my trip to Bonaire was in the 79 - 81 F range. I used my hooded vest a few times and often felt chilled even though I was using the same wetsuit as I do at home.
Some of the entries are a bit much and I quickly found that the challenge/effort required in the entry held no bearing on the kind of dive we would have.
Favourite sites included Tori's Reef, Salt Pier, Invisibles, Tolo and Andrea I. We also had great luck at Windsock where we spotted a ray and several turtles. I actually think we saw a turtle almost every day of diving. I received some intel on where to find a big seahorse and where to find a frogfish from a guy staying at the Dive Hut who has done over 1,000 dives in Bonaire and has been coming here 48 times. We successfully found the seahorse and frogfish with both dives being highlights of the trip.
We tried to do two boat dives with East Coast divers however we had two things working against us. One, the boat was overbooked. Two, the winds were too strong and the waves too high. The majority of the group agreed to try again on the Thursday and negotiated a bit of a deal by bringing our own tanks, but the dive was called off. I had pulled out by that point - with the overbooking, the early wake up and the chance winds would "slightly" decrease, I didn't want to push my luck on the last dives of the week.
We spent one day in the National Park during the second week of the trip. 8 members of our group had gone the week before and claimed that the diving was the best they had done on the trip, so we took them at their word and headed up. I tend to get a bit car sick, so the trip in on the bumpy road was pretty miserable. The first dive, Boka Bartol, had lots of surge and waves - conditions none of us are really used to - so the entry was a bit dicey. It had been hyped as an amazing site, so I think that was part of the reason why I was disappointed. I found the dive itself to be pleasant, but nothing really special. We didn't see anything new beyond the coral formations on either side as you swam out.
The other two dives were Playa Funchi and Boka Slagbaai. Again - pleasant dives, not necessarily worth the effort. We saw two cannons just after entering the water at Boka Slagbaai. I would have much rather spent a day in the National Park doing a bit of hiking or sightseeing instead of diving. I know that some people on here disagree with me, but I didn't find the diving here interesting enough to recommend that people spend the day at the sites in the park.
Odds & Ends
It was a good trip, but I don't see myself returning to Bonaire anytime soon. The bug bites will disappear, the bruises from being bashed against rocks will fade, but I have a lot more to see. I got into diving because I love being in the water and because I'm a history buff - the seeing pretty fish thing was never really an important consideration. I love diving the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario because we have lots of beautifully preserved wrecks with interesting histories and cool submerged structures. I think 2 weeks was too long for me for this trip but I didn't realize that the true variety of sites didn't come in what was underwater but rather above it. I think my next trip to someplace warm will be Roatan, Cozumel (I love drift diving), Florida or a liveaboard. We do a lot of shore diving at home, so I didn't find that particularly novel and while diving during the National Park I actually thought to myself - "this is a chore." It was the first time I have ever not enjoyed myself while diving and the first time I have ever had those thoughts. I may have just been burnt out or tired or cranky and carsick, but I wonder if maybe Bonaire and the intensive shore diving isn't just the place for me. I was also really glad to have my camera (I didn't use it for the first couple of days since I wanted to get used to things) just so I had something to keep me occupied.
I really hope I don't sound negative - the people I encountered were fantastic, the island itself is beautiful, the diving was good and my good experiences outweigh the bad/frustrating ones - but I just don't see myself becoming one of those repeat visitors!
I tend to be verbose, so I apologize in advance if anyone thinks it's too much!
Accommodations & Dive Provider
We stayed at the BonaireFUN apartments. The trip's ringleader had stayed at the Dive Hut before and swore he wouldn't again, however with new ownership and an apparent renovation (plus the fact that BonaireFUN was apparently more "upscale") he said this would be the perfect place. One person on our trip ended up at DiveHut for a week and was thrilled to make the move over to BonaireFUN because he was miserable at the DiveHut. We were under the impression there would be a restaurant and a full service bar, however the bar hours were a bit spotty while we were there and the "restaurant" was basically just breakfast from 8-10am and then a few special meal nights each week. We tried a Saturday BBQ, the two Thursday BBQ's and Thai Night. The Thai food was fantastic and the Thursday BBQ's were pretty fun as that was also the free rum punch party (from 5:30pm to 6:30pm).
BonaireFUN is located across the street from the DiveHut. There's a gate to the complex, which is supposed to stay locked, and each apartment has a small kitchenette. I stayed in a 2 bedroom with three others. We found there are a ton of bugs outside, so be sure to bring good bug spray or buy some when you get here! We ended up changing into pants most nights in order to avoid bites. Keeping our windows closed also helped to keep them at bay. It would have been nice to have enough keys for everyone staying in the apartment, especially as they wanted us to keep the gate locked.
I had expected a bit more - towels are changed twice a week, so they start to get pretty rank. We had to ask them to change our towels the first week, although maybe if we had left it another day (it was Wednesday when we asked) they would have been changed for us. Sheets were changed and the apartment was cleaned once during our two week stay. I was a bit surprised to see it was BYO toilet paper, garbage bags and hand soap for the bathrooms. We also didn't have a dishcloth for the first week but one magically appeared during the apartment cleaning. The rooms had air conditioning but ours was a bit iffy most nights and my roommate and I often slept with hoodies and long pants on as we decided too cold was preferable to the humid mess that was the other option. Internet service was also spotty and except for a couple of days of no service at all, we eventually ended up connecting.
We were free to use the BBQ at the Dive Hut whenever they didn't have a special event - check with the people working the bar - but we had to bring our own charcoal, which was easily available at the grocery stores.
We had access to the gear room at the Dive Hut (you receive a key with a $20 deposit) but there weren't enough hangers. I advise against going in there while wearing flipflops as the floor gets muddy, wet and slippery - I almost saw a few wipe outs, including an American girl with her brand new underwater camera in hand! There were problems with tanks - they had promised they could get us enough (around 30), yet this quickly became a problem and it was frustrating to wait for the tank guy only to find he didn't bring enough with him. We had to go to the Eden Beach Wannadive location, which was only a short 5 minute trip from the hotel, but it would have been much better if they were upfront with us about it. Based on the conversations at the bar, it seems as though most guests had the same issues and it wasn't just the size of our group. Be sure to check your tanks if you're diving nitrox - as any diver should - because we found that what was labelled didn't always match up with the analyzer. We had different Wannadive employees telling us to calibrate the analyzer to different percentages (one person said 19.6, for some reason, while the other said 20.9) which was frustrating. I was careful to dive conservatively knowing the mix could be off by a percentage or two either way. Keep a close eye on your o-rings as well. After a few days and numerous issues we started bringing a spare tank in our truck and we swiped a few o-rings from the filling station. I take pride in my gear - I am obsessive about maintenance, I am careful to rinse, etc. - so using tanks with leaky valves or broken o-rings was a new and frustrating experience for me. I also really hate yoke and wish the world would transition to DIN.
Food
Most of the food was prepared at the hotel, but we did eat at a few restaurants.
Karel's Beach Bar - we didn't have great luck with their specials (the pork chops looked especially dire and I felt bad for my friends who ordered it) but I had a great burger and the calamari was very well received. This is a great location with a decent happy hour and good service.
The Rib Factory - good ribs but some prices were a bit high.
Eden Beach Spice Beach club - another awesome burger but the calamari is not recommended. There's a $5 beach chair policy that was occasionally enforced if you also spend a bit of time at the beach and you are not an Eden Beach guest.
Jibe City Beach Hut - on the east coast. This was a great spot and it was fun to watch the windsurfers while eating. Prices were reasonable (even on the Corona) and I loved my fish and chips while others were very happy with their burgers or shwarma's. This was probably one of the best lunches we had.
It Rains Fishes - I went for lunch with a friend. I had the Fishes Club which was chicken & crab. It was great, the location is beautiful and the drinks all came with little carved and painted figurines.
Pasa Bon Pizza - we all tried the lionfish pizza, which was surprisingly good! I wouldn't have been able to eat a full one (we ordered the lionfish to share and then ordered normal pizza too) but it was a good experience. The pizza itself was pretty rich and flavourful and I'm glad I didn't have any diving to do the next day.
Diving
I dove every day except our arrival day and the Friday before departure. I did 31 dives and actually think I may have done too many because I was starting to find the diving really repetitive. I was told, before coming here, that I would never want to dive in Canada again after diving in the south and I disagree. The water temperature at home goes as high as 76 F - the water during my trip to Bonaire was in the 79 - 81 F range. I used my hooded vest a few times and often felt chilled even though I was using the same wetsuit as I do at home.
Some of the entries are a bit much and I quickly found that the challenge/effort required in the entry held no bearing on the kind of dive we would have.
Favourite sites included Tori's Reef, Salt Pier, Invisibles, Tolo and Andrea I. We also had great luck at Windsock where we spotted a ray and several turtles. I actually think we saw a turtle almost every day of diving. I received some intel on where to find a big seahorse and where to find a frogfish from a guy staying at the Dive Hut who has done over 1,000 dives in Bonaire and has been coming here 48 times. We successfully found the seahorse and frogfish with both dives being highlights of the trip.
We tried to do two boat dives with East Coast divers however we had two things working against us. One, the boat was overbooked. Two, the winds were too strong and the waves too high. The majority of the group agreed to try again on the Thursday and negotiated a bit of a deal by bringing our own tanks, but the dive was called off. I had pulled out by that point - with the overbooking, the early wake up and the chance winds would "slightly" decrease, I didn't want to push my luck on the last dives of the week.
We spent one day in the National Park during the second week of the trip. 8 members of our group had gone the week before and claimed that the diving was the best they had done on the trip, so we took them at their word and headed up. I tend to get a bit car sick, so the trip in on the bumpy road was pretty miserable. The first dive, Boka Bartol, had lots of surge and waves - conditions none of us are really used to - so the entry was a bit dicey. It had been hyped as an amazing site, so I think that was part of the reason why I was disappointed. I found the dive itself to be pleasant, but nothing really special. We didn't see anything new beyond the coral formations on either side as you swam out.
The other two dives were Playa Funchi and Boka Slagbaai. Again - pleasant dives, not necessarily worth the effort. We saw two cannons just after entering the water at Boka Slagbaai. I would have much rather spent a day in the National Park doing a bit of hiking or sightseeing instead of diving. I know that some people on here disagree with me, but I didn't find the diving here interesting enough to recommend that people spend the day at the sites in the park.
Odds & Ends
- I had no problems using my chargers and nothing seemed to run too "hot". I was cautious about leaving things plugged in overnight, however.
- Milk is shelf stable - this confused a few people on the trip, but it's normal and fine. It's just like living in Northern Canada!
- The Carib Inn Dive Shop had the best prices we could find on the island for dive gear. The owner was quite reasonable when gear malfunctioned - we had a brand new mask break and he was more than willing to exchange it. Someone's first stage was damaged and he was able to quickly and cheaply repair the regulator. I was boring and bought a Henderson rash guard for half the price of one at home, a mask strap for my poor, abused hair, and a tire inflator while others bought boots, a new second stage, masks, those lyrca Scuba Hoods, vests, etc. Small shop but good selection and good prices.
- Nothing was taken from our trucks but we came back after one dive and the rinse tub we had for cameras had been moved. I suspect that someone was hoping we had left some expensive equipment behind.
- One of our trucks got a flat while in the Park. We couldn't get the spare off that truck but we used the spare from another. Another group of divers had a flat at a different site and the spare wouldn't come off that truck either. I bought the tire inflator to use at home, but it was a useful little gadget to have in Bonaire.
It was a good trip, but I don't see myself returning to Bonaire anytime soon. The bug bites will disappear, the bruises from being bashed against rocks will fade, but I have a lot more to see. I got into diving because I love being in the water and because I'm a history buff - the seeing pretty fish thing was never really an important consideration. I love diving the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario because we have lots of beautifully preserved wrecks with interesting histories and cool submerged structures. I think 2 weeks was too long for me for this trip but I didn't realize that the true variety of sites didn't come in what was underwater but rather above it. I think my next trip to someplace warm will be Roatan, Cozumel (I love drift diving), Florida or a liveaboard. We do a lot of shore diving at home, so I didn't find that particularly novel and while diving during the National Park I actually thought to myself - "this is a chore." It was the first time I have ever not enjoyed myself while diving and the first time I have ever had those thoughts. I may have just been burnt out or tired or cranky and carsick, but I wonder if maybe Bonaire and the intensive shore diving isn't just the place for me. I was also really glad to have my camera (I didn't use it for the first couple of days since I wanted to get used to things) just so I had something to keep me occupied.
I really hope I don't sound negative - the people I encountered were fantastic, the island itself is beautiful, the diving was good and my good experiences outweigh the bad/frustrating ones - but I just don't see myself becoming one of those repeat visitors!
