What are the police doing to end the crime on Bonaire? - thread split

[wrybosome]

Wish I could Docc, but it is a bit beyond my certification level at this point. Your report of that dive really made me hunger for doing the dive, but I have a bit of training and new gear purchasing, ahead of me first. :depressed:

Windjammer - a group from my dive shop just got back from doing that dive. At the last club meeting their eyes pretty much glazed over with rapture describing it. You need to get special access for the shore entry they said?

Edit: I asked them if they had anything stolen, and they said no.

 

[pilot fish]

I'm surprised the criminals are able to steal tires then? One guy here reported seeing all 4 tires off a car at the place he was staying? They must be fast?

Not to mention that the larger resorts, i.e. Buddy, Capt. Don's, Plaza, etc., do have secured lit parking with a guarded gate and/or guards on patrol all night. They have safes in the room for valuables and recommend their use just like hotels all over the world including the U.S. and Canada and even Cozumel.

In Roatan, however, the place I stayed at only had one safe for all the guests and you had to store your cash with them and then request it a bit at a time for safety's sake. Meanwhile, Mexico's murder rate is soaring and kidnapping rampant, if not yet in Cozumel, definitely in nearby Cancun. It's only a matter of time. Thank God for civilized and safe dive locales like Bonaire :cool2:

 

[Papa_Bear]

I was told people on Bonaire are so nice if you leave your truck parked over night they will take your tires and rotate and balance them, but may not have them back before your morning dive! I even was told one persons tires were all replaced with new ones! What great people!!!!

 

[Mossman]

I've read on this board, over the years, that stuff drying on patios, balconys places like that, outside the rooms, have gotten robbed in those places. Is that true? Never happened to me in Coz

We left gear out to dry at our bungalow at Capt. Don's on my first trip without anything going missing. My second trip was at Buddy Dive where the back door had a lock so flimsy you could "pick" it with a quarter, yet none of my photo gear or my laptop ever went missing. Den Laman, where I've stayed the last two times, only has second and third-floor accomodations, so drying stuff out on the balcony is never an issue. At all three, I never had a problem leaving wetsuits and BCs in the unsecured gear rooms (Capt. Don's provides lockable lockers, but Buddy's and BDA's just have places to hang stuff), though we do take our regs and computers back to our rooms - not because I'm wary of theft by locals, but because I don't trust my fellow tourists).

The murder rate you correctly mention is all drug related and has not infected Coz, yet.

Yeah, fortunately murderers haven't figured out how to take the ferry yet. It stumped me the first time too.

yes, that happened to me in Roatan also, one safe and you had to go downstairs to get stuff with two keys. Not good. Was that at FIR?

BIBR. Pretty rustic island, but then it's a lot cheaper too. I'd rather spend a bit more money and stay somewhere where the water is safe to drink, the food is safe to eat, and the mosquitos are (relatively, since dengue is still an issue) safe to get devoured by. Even the rustic accomodations on Bonaire usually have their own safes. Paved roads are a plus too, not that one usually drives in Roatan on their own since that would be sheer lunacy.

 

[Mossman]

I'm surprised the criminals are able to steal tires then? One guy here reported seeing all 4 tires off a car at the place he was staying? They must be fast?

Like I said, the lots at the larger resorts are secured. There are smaller inns and private condo/house rentals that don't have the same level of security and that's apparently where the thieves concentrate. Personally, I'd want to stay at one of the more secured locales and I also prefer the larger resorts because they tend to have on-site dive ops and/or tank availability as well as restaurants/bars, but plenty of people feel the risk of minor theft is worth the benefits of staying in a more private individual accomodation outside the major resorts.

If you eliminate the smaller/individual accomodations, really the only unsatisfactory risk of theft comes from the possibility of theft of small items from the rental truck parked at a dive site and that's not really difficult to avoid. For instance, you mention sarcastically in another post about keeping backup dive gear available, but there's little reason to do so in Bonaire since the dive sites are so close to the driving origination - i.e., if something breaks before a dive, it's not such a big deal to have to drive back to one's hotel (or a dive shop with rental gear) in order to secure a replacement.

 

[Docc]

Windjammer - a group from my dive shop just got back from doing that dive. At the last club meeting their eyes pretty much glazed over with rapture describing it. You need to get special access for the shore entry they said?

You have to get permission from Bopec Oil since the shore entry is in front of their terminal.

 

[dmoore19]

We left gear out to dry at our bungalow at Capt. Don's on my first trip without anything going missing. My second trip was at Buddy Dive where the back door had a lock so flimsy you could "pick" it with a quarter, yet none of my photo gear or my laptop ever went missing. Den Laman, where I've stayed the last two times, only has second and third-floor accomodations, so drying stuff out on the balcony is never an issue. At all three, I never had a problem leaving wetsuits and BCs in the unsecured gear rooms (Capt. Don's provides lockable lockers, but Buddy's and BDA's just have places to hang stuff), though we do take our regs and computers back to our rooms - not because I'm wary of theft by locals, but because I don't trust my fellow tourists).


Yeah, fortunately murderers haven't figured out how to take the ferry yet. It stumped me the first time too.


BIBR. Pretty rustic island, but then it's a lot cheaper too. I'd rather spend a bit more money and stay somewhere where the water is safe to drink, the food is safe to eat, and the mosquitos are (relatively, since dengue is still an issue) safe to get devoured by. Even the rustic accomodations on Bonaire usually have their own safes. Paved roads are a plus too, not that one usually drives in Roatan on their own since that would be sheer lunacy.

The original thread turned into a bash Bonaire by 1 or 2 people. I don't buy into all the bull that was posted about Bonaire. I would like to go there some day. Please don't turn this into a bash Roatan thread. You have made posts in that spirit. I am sure there are thefts from every dive vacation spot in the world. I know that there are places you can't drink the water. Bonaire has desalination plants for fresh water so the water is safe to drink. I know there are places you can go that bugs and diseases are problems. When traveling things can happen any where you go. I have been to Roatan and throughly enjoyed it. International travel has challenges, it's part of the deal. If you want to go some place perfectly safe, without crime, diseases, the chance of eating or drinking something that makes you ill............Good Luck, I don't think it exists. If you aren't prepared to deal with the challenges of traveling to a foreign country, stay home.

 

[pilot fish]

Hey, will they rinse your dive gear too and bring it back the next day?

I was told people on Bonaire are so nice if you leave your truck parked over night they will take your tires and rotate and balance them, but may not have them back before your morning dive! I even was told one persons tires were all replaced with new ones! What great people!!!!

 

[pilot fish]

That's kind of how I feel too, especially in the Caribe. Forget that pioneer stuff. Out in the Pacific, New Guinea etc, it would be a bit different.

Like I said, the lots at the larger resorts are secured. There are smaller inns and private condo/house rentals that don't have the same level of security and that's apparently where the thieves concentrate. Personally, I'd want to stay at one of the more secured locales and I also prefer the larger resorts because they tend to have on-site dive ops and/or tank availability as well as restaurants/bars, but plenty of people feel the risk of minor theft is worth the benefits of staying in a more private individual accomodation outside the major resorts.
If you eliminate the smaller/individual accomodations, really the only unsatisfactory risk of theft comes from the possibility of theft of small items from the rental truck parked at a dive site and that's not really difficult to avoid. For instance, you mention sarcastically in another post about keeping backup dive gear available, but there's little reason to do so in Bonaire since the dive sites are so close to the driving origination - i.e., if something breaks before a dive, it's not such a big deal to have to drive back to one's hotel (or a dive shop with rental gear) in order to secure a replacement.

 

[pilot fish]

The original thread turned into a bash Bonaire by 1 or 2 people. I don't buy into all the bull that was posted about Bonaire. I would like to go there some day. Please don't turn this into a bash Roatan thread. You have made posts in that spirit. I am sure there are thefts from every dive vacation spot in the world. I know that there are places you can't drink the water. Bonaire has desalination plants for fresh water so the water is safe to drink. I know there are places you can go that bugs and diseases are problems. When traveling things can happen any where you go. I have been to Roatan and throughly enjoyed it. International travel has challenges, it's part of the deal. If you want to go some place perfectly safe, without crime, diseases, the chance of eating or drinking something that makes you ill............Good Luck, I don't think it exists. If you aren't prepared to deal with the challenges of traveling to a foreign country, stay home.

To a point, I'm Ok, but I do like my creature comforts, so I pay for them, I roughed it when I was younger but now I feel like I want it safe, clean and not too rugged. Rustic I can deal with, if it has charm and they won't swipe my Omega.