Where would YOU go?

[Doctorfish]

I would keep an eye to the weather when shore diving off site. As your buddy does not have a lot of experience, I would decide North or South depending on wind speed and direction. It's usually calm at one end when it's rougher at the other.

Some of the best diving I've done on Bonaire has been off the dock at Buddy Dive, particularly late afternoon and night. The DMs at Buddy dive will help you with advice re surface conditions North and South. If you are diving from shore at non resort related sites, don't forget to bring hard sole boots. The ironshore can be brutal. Our favorite off site spots are Salt Pier, Hilma Hooker, Rapel and Karpata.
Diving on the East Side is excellent but suggest that you do this with Wild Side Diving or an experienced guide. The East side is much more rugged with lots of big animals and pelagics, very different from the West, lee side.

As far as diving at a resort you are not staying at, I always ask permission to use the dock and the only place that has ever said no was Habitat. That was a few years ago so things may have changed.

 

[boat sju]

top 12...


Jeff Davis Memorial (boat)

boat?????? Either way, great site. We saw a shark, tarpon, monster grouper and monster lobster all in essentially the same spot up there.

If you're up for a drive, Caral's Vision is an interesting site and you get a bit of the flavor of the park without entering it. Rough road though.

 

[Doctorfish]

I always dive the East Side by boat. With the distances to get out to dive sites and the waves, it seems safer and easier. Wild Side Larry sold out to another operater a few years ago but they use the same boat, same routine and dive pretty much the same great sites. The waves can be pretty big and a drift safety stop in open water is required so not for absolute newbies.

 

[KenOceanGuy]

T.C.
I have never been but your post sparked curiosity for me. I am a new diver and user of the site. As I was looking I stumbled across a site that plots ocean spots including diving. I only found the ports there, but I signed up to see other spots and the site was cool, it also allows users to plot the points. Being a new diver I don't have a lot to plot so I was just browsing. I was wondering if anyone uses it or maybe it could help you find or record spots T.C. This is one of the port info points on the site in Bonaire, Ken Oceanguy's profile on BlooSee - BlooSee

 

[boat sju]

You reminded me of another good site: Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands

 

[Allison Finch]

as a certified (certifiable) MUCK diver, I could spend every dive, day or night, on the piers. The town pier is getting hard to get on, but the salt pier is fairly easy.

 

[RJP]

Dive the park! Bring 3-4 tanks each, pack a lunch, and make a whole morning/early afternoon of it! The road through the park is an unpaved, one-way, three-hour affair... so you can't zip back to your hotel for fresh tanks in-between dives. Good sites that's you'll almost certainly have all to yourself.

 

[akirawut]

Dive the park! Bring 3-4 tanks each, pack a lunch, and make a whole morning/early afternoon of it! The road through the park is an unpaved, one-way, three-hour affair... so you can't zip back to your hotel for fresh tanks in-between dives. Good sites that's you'll almost certainly have all to yourself.

Make sure you get out there early, as they want you starting your last dive by some time in the afternoon. They sweep the park to make sure everyone is out before they shut down. Also the restaurant in the park is great if you can allow time for food and beers.

 

[AZ_Zoner]

T.C.
My wife and I are arriving into Bonaire on the evening of the 11th, and staying at Buddy Dive. We've been there several times and really enjoy the shore diving. We would not mind sitting down at the bar with a beer and a map pointing out a few places we've explored before. May if you'd like, join in on a dive with you guys.


Send a pm and we can plan something.


Craig

 

[Diver DennisP]

Here's a thread that we started a while back.... http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/abc-islands/268513-what-cant-miss-dive-sites-bonaire.html

I don't think you'll be disappointed with any of the sites.