Trip report from Bonaire

[connellc]

Trip report from Bonaire, N.A. 8/7/04 – 8/14/04
Stayed at Buddy Dive, which is a great resort, has friendly staff, and a free rum punch party on Friday nights! Also, the rooms were nice and spacious. Bonaire is a great place because the shore diving is excellent and you are not restricted by time or depth limits. We will definitely be going back and staying at Buddy Dive. Dove with nitrox all week, which is just as available as air at Buddy Dive. We flew Air Jamaica from Houston, TX through Montego Bay and had no problems.

8/7/04 – Buddy Reef – 30ft max depth and 30 minute dive time – lots of reef fish and nice corals
8/8/04 – Torri’s Reef – 66ft max depth and 40 minute dive time – lots of reef fish and corals
8/8/04 – Angel City – 64 ft max depth and 35 minute dive time – large hard corals and a big sand pit surrounded by reef
8/8/04 – Buddy Reef – 30 ft max depth and 45 minute dive time
8/9/04 – Hilma Hooker – 92 ft max depth and 30 minute dive time – Awesome! First dive for wreck specialty. Big tarpon and barracuda
8/9/04 – Hilma Hooker – 94 ft max depth and 31 minute dive time – Awesome! Second dive for wreck specialty – Saw a spotted eagle ray, tarpon, ect.
8/10/04 – Hilma Hooker – 96 ft max depth and 33 minute dive time – Awesome!
8/10/04 – Oil Slick Leap – 107 ft max depth and 29 minute dive time – 15 ft giant stride into the water. This was a beautiful reef with abundant reef fish
8/10/04 – Buddy Reef night dive – 52 ft max depth and 30 minute dive time – Went down to Captains Don’s and swam around the boat
8/11/04 – Boat dive to Monks Haven – 72 ft max depth and 44 minute dive time – Off Klein Bonaire – Nice reef and lots of hard and soft corals. Took a picture behind a GIANT fan coral
8/11/04 – Boat dive to 18 Palms – 43 ft max depth and 45 minute dive time – More of the same but still a nice dive
8/12/04 – Hilma Hooker – 95 ft max depth and 26 minute dive time – Awesome! Fourth dive for wreck specialty. Completed optional penetration of the bow and ran the reel
8/12/04 – Hilma Hooker – 91 ft max depth and 30 minute dive time – Awesome! Optional fifth dive for wreck specialty. Penetrated the engine room and followed the reel diver
8/12/04 – Town Pier night dive – 36 ft max depth and 52 minute dive time – Best dive of the week. Should not be missed if you’r in Bonaire. Eels, seahorse, frogfish, tarpon, crab, squid, barracuda, ect., ect., ect.
8/13/04 – 1,000 Steps – 43 ft max depth and 35 minute dive time – Abundant reef fish and nice corals. Not really 1,000 steps more like 64.

I can't wait till next year.

 

[DeputyDan]

Looks like you're "hooked" on the Hooker.

In my 13 year olds log book the only descriptive information under this dive was -

AWESOME !!!

That pretty much sums it up.

 

[Druid]

We just got back on the 10th August, stayed at Divi Flamingo resort.

I agree that the Hilma Hooker is a good dive, though I didn't dive it as many times as you 1000 Steps was a nice wall dive.

All the others seem to blend into one. There is little to distinguish one dive site from another and tbh I got rather bored with the diving.

It was ok, but I don't think I'll be going back there.

 

[connellc]

We just got back on the 10th August, stayed at Divi Flamingo resort.

I agree that the Hilma Hooker is a good dive, though I didn't dive it as many times as you 1000 Steps was a nice wall dive.

All the others seem to blend into one. There is little to distinguish one dive site from another and tbh I got rather bored with the diving.

It was ok, but I don't think I'll be going back there.

It's true that some of the sites blend in with the others. But, we really liked the freedom of shore diving and we were able to find something unique at each spot.

 

[parrotman]

We just got back on the 10th August, stayed at Divi Flamingo resort.

I agree that the Hilma Hooker is a good dive, though I didn't dive it as many times as you 1000 Steps was a nice wall dive.

All the others seem to blend into one. There is little to distinguish one dive site from another and tbh I got rather bored with the diving.

It was ok, but I don't think I'll be going back there.

If found this an interesting comment. Mostly because I have logged over 100 dives on Bonaire and the thing I like about it the most compared to places like the Caymans or Bahamas is the variety of dive sites. The dive sites on one end of the island are significantly different from the other end. I just spent a week in Cozumel and can't wait till my next trip back to Bonaire.

 

[aquasport]

I arrived at buddys on the 14th got back on the 21st . I'll defenitly stay there again.