What are the "Can't Miss" dive sites in Bonaire?

[Papa_Bear]

Try dive friends Bonaire, off the boat turn left, and walk up the street! Welcome to Dive Friends Bonaire

 

[gypsyjim]

PB..I've taken the "short cut" on several occasions and although the route back is geographically shorter it is also much slower. I'm not convinced it really saves time since you can easily do 50 MPH on the longer route.

Except for a few washouts I could still do @40-50 on most of the short cut a couple years ago. It's not my truck And I am used to logging roads in the back country of the Adirondaks.
Our last two trips we stayed south of 1000 Steps because of surge further north while we were there, so that "road" may be worse than I remember.

 

[dgonza]

Thanks for the recommendations.

 

[Diver DennisP]

bumping thread so we have a "happy thread" on top of the forum No crime in this thread!!!

 

[jbartow]

oil Slick night dive

 

[jbartow]

Did the Park trip, had 20 plus group, crowded and chaotic

 

[pdive]

Something Special
Last trip we dove it three times.
There was a school of tangs that swam along the reef to the drop off and then would turn around and go back again. The tang were eating algea off the coral ('swarm' is probably a better description than 'school'). The cool thing was the party crashers that were swimming with them - midnight parrot fish, bar jack, and a gag. The Gag and Jack were hiding in the school and would suddenly dive bomb unsuspecting critters.

On top of that we off gased each time at a rock that had dozens of creatures on and around it. Fish, eels, crabs, shrimp... its a rock (maybe its dead coral) about 4' wide and in about 7 or 8 feet of water. Its right off the dock to the right of the beach.

Really cool. I wish our video came out clearer.

 

[gypsyjim]

Something Special
Last trip we dove it three times.
There was a school of tangs that swam along the reef to the drop off and then would turn around and go back again. The tang were eating algea off the coral ('swarm' is probably a better description than 'school'). The cool thing was the party crashers that were swimming with them - midnight parrot fish, bar jack, and a gag. The Gag and Jack were hiding in the school and would suddenly dive bomb unsuspecting critters.

On top of that we off gased each time at a rock that had dozens of creatures on and around it. Fish, eels, crabs, shrimp... its a rock (maybe its dead coral) about 4' wide and in about 7 or 8 feet of water. Its right off the dock to the right of the beach.

Really cool. I wish our video came out clearer.

We ran across two of these two fellows while off gassing in the shallows, on a mooring block near there. Always lots of critters to check out in the shallow areas.

 

[Herk_Man]

My favorites after one visit to this awesome diving location.

Hilma Hooker (Unless you've dove a lot of large wrecks. If not, it is quite stunning. Just aim between the two small buoys.)

Angel City (My wife's favorite spot because the double reef system joins together frequently, creating large "bowl" areas that are fun to explore.)

Invisibles (Take time to slowly go across the sandy plain right after entry (instead of surface swim) because there are often multiple spotted eagle rays hoovering in the sand.)

Red Slave (If the waves are not too bad. It's about as far south as you can go on the island and the gorgonians are spectacular. Lots of larger fish there too because of the proximity to the East side.)

UV Night Dive with Bas Noij (I didn't get to do it because of time and holidays but I've never heard anything but rave reviews about this experience.)

Bari Reef (You can dive this over and over and swear you're at a different site every time. Has the greatest diversity of life of any reef anywhere.)

Everyplace Else (Not a dive site. There just aren't any bad dive sites on Bonaire. And the freedom offered by 80+ shore dive sites just makes it that much better. No boats = mo fun.)

 

[siegelreptiles]

ladonias leap? love that one--dove and then just played jumping off and climbing up the staits

hilma hooker was awesome

diving with tarpon at night anywhere is awesome