Which type of fins for shore diving in Bonaire

[sytech]

I will be going to Bonaire in a few weeks and will be staying at the Divi Flamingo Hotel.

I will be doing dives off of their pier as well as some boat dives and was planning on taking my closed heel fins.

Will it be a problem to do any shore dives with these types of fins because I would be walking into the surf holding the fins and with no booties. Is there a problem with stingrays in the sand or other critters there?

I prefer not to take my big open-heeled fins and the booties.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Sy

 

[Walter]

You'll be walking over rocks. I wear boots with thick soles in Bonaire. You do what you like.

 

[sytech]

So I guess you leave your shoes on the rocks before entry.

What type of fins do you use?

You'll be walking over rocks. I wear boots with thick soles in Bonaire. You do what you like.

 

[ronbeau]

I will be going to Bonaire in a few weeks and will be staying at the Divi Flamingo Hotel.

I will be doing dives off of their pier as well as some boat dives and was planning on taking my closed heel fins.

Will it be a problem to do any shore dives with these types of fins because I would be walking into the surf holding the fins and with no booties. Is there a problem with stingrays in the sand or other critters there?

I prefer not to take my big open-heeled fins and the booties.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Sy

You would be wise to head Walter's advice and bring your open-heel fins and boots.
You do not want to be doing shore dives in Bonaire without boots.
My wife, daughter and I wore SeaSoft Sunrays boots with the hard soles and we were glad we did.

You are typically not walking over the idyllic Caribbean white sand beaches on the island of Bonaire.

 

[spectrum]

Open heel fins with booties for sure.

The entries will vary from fairly pulverized coral to some gnarly stuff peppered with spiny urchins. Meanwhile you will [-]want[/-] need a good footing to and from the water.

The magic of Bonaire is the shore dive mobility. Bring gear you know. There have been reports that only closed heel fins are available for rent so come prepared.

The sturdier bottom booties from various brands brands are preferred but any full soled booties will suffice.

Pete

 

[Texasdivechick]

Agree with all previous posts. You want, and need hard-soled booties and fins with open heels to do shore diving in Bonaire. Sandy beaches are only on the "wild side". Almost all the shore diving beaches have broken, sharp bits of coral. Some dive sites you have to walk quite a ways to get there (ex. 1000 steps, Oil Slick if you can't find parking) and you won't want to bring extra stuff, like regular shoes, with you. Just gear up w/ booties at the car. You can wear bare feet and closed heel fins if you plan on only diving from the pier at Divi and doing boat dives, but then you're missing some spectacular dive sites.

 

[Damselfish]

I expect it will be unanimous - unless you're only going to dive from your hotel pier and boat, you should use booties and open-heels. Leaving your shoes on the shore generally isn't going to be the right solution (especially if someone swipes them before you come out.)

 

[diversteve]

It's not like the Bahamas...

The ironshore at most of the divesites will shred your feet. At some places you have to climb over it just to get into the water. At other sites it's just offshore and you walk over it to get to the divesite. And there's spiny urchins and sharp coral living on top of the ironshore in places.

And did I mention the firecoral....

There are places where there is a sandy break in the ironshore but even those areas don't typically extend far enough out to walk out deep enough without running into something. Even the "beach" at Salt Pier has ironshore just offshore.

And most "beaches" on Bonaire are coral rubble. The only sand beach I saw was Pink Beach. Except for Plaza Resort's.

Otoh, you could boat dive and dive off most of the resort docks w/o needing boots. 1/2 dozen or so of the resorts have named divesites off their docks. We drove around one afternoon just diving off resort docks, there's at least 3 good divesites off the north resorts. (LaMachaca, Cliff and Bari Reef)

But you'd be missing out on so many good dives if you just did that. Any of the northern sites like Karpata, Witches Hut or 1000Steps require boots. And most of the sites south of town are coral rubble and ironshore entries.

Bring the boots...the more treaded the better.

 

[akscuba]

I will be going to Bonaire in a few weeks and will be staying at the Divi Flamingo Hotel.

I will be doing dives off of their pier as well as some boat dives and was planning on taking my closed heel fins.

Will it be a problem to do any shore dives with these types of fins because I would be walking into the surf holding the fins and with no booties. Is there a problem with stingrays in the sand or other critters there?

I prefer not to take my big open-heeled fins and the booties.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Sy

Taking closed fins (and walking barefoot over the rocks) is about the dumbest thing you could do it Bonaire short of killing yourself. Take the open heeled fins and booties. Make your feet happy. I saw grown men crying with nearly bloody feet because they thought booties weren't needed in Bonaire. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

 

[Wayfarer2]

I agree thick soles are a must. A light weight boot will not protect your feet.