Useless Post

[Blackrock]

I couldn't hold back my excitement and decided to share my enthusiasm. I am leaving for Bonaire on Saturday for 2 weeks and can hardly contain myself.

The first week we are staying at Golden Reef Inn and the second week at Den Laman.
It will be our first time diving in warm Caribbean salt water and our first night dive too.

Anyone have any last minute advice or words of encouragement?

 

[piikki]

Hey you don't need any encouragement - it will be a blast! (Maybe a little bit if you arrive on redeye but since you stay too weeks you will have good time to get over the exhaustion!) If you are leaving today, won't be seeing you because our departure date is in two weeks (woo!) Maybe we'll be taking your room at DL

My first warm water trip was to Bonaire too, and it worked as a great introduction. Just go buy yourself a six pack of water bottles the first day, load up the truck, choose a yellow stone and enjoy! Make sure you pack you Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy. If some sites look rough, move onto next one. And talk to people, a lot of friendly advice is available right there.

 

[Mr. Sunday]

Let me know how your trip went when you get back. I would love to see a trip report. My wife and I will be there in early Feb and also staying at the GRI. I know how you feel.... I can hardly wait too

 

[dvrliz1]

Blackrock,

We are SO looking forward to your arrival! Don't forget to bring something to put on the "Scuba Board". Also, FYI....for your first night dive....I suggest going in when the sun hits the horizon. It helps with your bearings and is a great way to do a first time night dive. I was REALLY leary of doing a night dive many years ago (I am from the "Jaws" generation and saw it at the drive in on a BIG SCREEN!) My husband, who is also an instructor got me into the water when it was still a bit light and I went easily with the change to dark. I FELL IN LOVE WITH NIGHT DIVING. Needless to say, due to medical conditions I can no longer night dive, but am so thankful I finally did it. See you soon!

Liz

 

[herman]

Liz...should we warn him about Charlie or just wait for the trip report??

 

[Blackrock]

Thanks for the info Liz.

What's the "scuba board?"

 

[Nismo]

Have a great time. Most stores close between 5:30 and 6:30 so plan to go during the day to get souveneirs. If you want to try real Bonaire food, ask for directions to Maiky's pronounced Mikey's. It's good, had conch stew and papaya stew. Wahoo will almost always be the catch of the day. Papaya Moon was a good dinner. It's owned by a family from Texas. Try Belashi beer if you like beer. It's good and inexpensive. Brewed in Aruba. If you are adventurous, drive to the Washington National Park either for an afternoon or a full day. There's a pizza place run by an American that was really good too. It has a traffic light on the sign. It's good but tastes like it's from the US. Can get Bonaire pizza that is made with Gouda. I wanted to try it. Told by others that were there last year it wasn't any good. Of course that made me want to try it even more. My wife was the same way.

I loved diving from Andrea I to Andrea II if you have enough in your group to have two vehicles and arrange that. Karpata was also a sweet dive site. South of the salt pier you can do a double reef system which was really cool to do. People on here seemed to like Larry's Wild Side. The dive shop that I use went to him last year and they all hated it. He treated the shop owner like a complete noob. This guy was a navy diver before being a recreational diver for the last 30 years. Take their complaints with a grain of salt since they wouldn't let me and my wife go to get gouda pizza.

Drive up to the Flamingo Preserve that was beautiful. Never made it to the Donkey Sanctuary either. Can go to the east side for land sailing, that looked cool.

If you find a Canon A570IS in a Canon brand housing, it's mine. It got detached on my first dive from Buddy.

MOST IMPORTANT, DON'T HIT THE DONKEYS!

Have fun!

 

[dvrliz1]

Liz...should we warn him about Charlie or just wait for the trip report??

Herman...SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....lol

I usually tell my "encounter" with Charlie story when my guests arrive....LOL...

 

[dvrliz1]

Thanks for the info Liz.

What's the "scuba board?"

In honor with my association with this great board, I asked hubby to create a board that we can let our guest leave some type of momento on Bonaire. This is what he made. It's not much, but it's a little something....

WHAT WE REALLY NEED IS A SCUBABOARD STICKER.....ANYONE?????

Liz

 

[bfisher]

I couldn't hold back my excitement and decided to share my enthusiasm. I am leaving for Bonaire on Saturday for 2 weeks and can hardly contain myself.

The first week we are staying at Golden Reef Inn and the second week at Den Laman.
It will be our first time diving in warm Caribbean salt water and our first night dive too.

Anyone have any last minute advice or words of encouragement?

Yeh, I got some words........ BITE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By the way, first you say you are going. Then you say "we" will be staying........ Who is "we"?

Seriously, have a blast as I'm sure you will.I do Bonaire about 2 times a year This year it will be March and September. I do envy you. I have to wait three more weeks before heading to Curacao.

You've said where you are staying. Are you going to be doing any boat dives? Shore diving? How about some more details and I might suggest some good dive sites---like there are any bad ones.

I'll expand and say that if this is your first foray into the warm waters of the Caribbean you will not be disappointed. Most times the water is right around 80 this time of year and viz can be expected to be 80' or more.

Bonaire is an easy place to dive. Most times there isn't much wave action and very little current unless you get to the extreme north or south ends of the island. You keep your diving to the west side and you'll be just fine.

Don't expect to see the large critters here. There are some , but look for the smaller stuff like cleaner shrimp, sea horses and such. Lots of little stuff. To do this you have to go slow. I have this saying "If you need fins you're going too fast". Get the idea?
There are always the spotted and golden moray's, stone fish, lobsters, etc.
On night dives do the same. Go slow and look in the cracks. You're very likely to find octo's, large green moray's, and usually some tarpon will scre the daylights out of you as they cruise by to feed on the baitfish your light flashes on. Lots of other stuff, too.