Who has had something stolen in Bonaire

[dvrliz1]

Ok, I did a little mini-research to prove a point. It would have taken forever for me to count posts,so I did the following:

Bonairetalk: Since 2002 in the "trip reports" section, I searched the following words and reviewed the threads:

Out of a total of 18,595 total threads the following appeared:

The word "theft" - 115 times - .006%
The word "stolen" - 89 times - .004%
The word "robbery" - 14 times - .0007%

On Scubaboard I did the same thing, but in all threads and specified Bonaire. I didn't get an exact number of total threads - it's huge though:

Theft 67 times, stolen 67 times and robbery 6 times. This is also since 2002.

Now the HUGE thing was the number of views to these threads. If the average view was 1,000 to a normal every day thread, then on one of the threads that used the above mentioned words there was 6-8 THOUSAND views!

This ratio just shows that when a lot of people view things, they talk about it, hence the POSSIBILITY of things being blown way out of proportion. Like I said before, it's not that these things to not happen here, but let's put things into a true perspective.


I hope this finally helps a little.

Liz

 

[Drewpy]

Ive been for a total of 3 weeks (two trips) and have never enjoyed a safer Island!
No problems whatsoever!

There was a Coco View reference.....Did you notice the chained guard dogs and the armed security guards at night? How about the shotgun wielding security guards in front of markets/stores in Coxen Hole? You wont see that on Bonaire? Coco View was safe, but Im not sure I would go shore diving leaveing my vehicle unattended in Roatan..??!!

Im with Flash...no one go..not safe! Let the rest of us take on all that risk!

Bonaire is a magical place, and the freedom to do your own thing is priceless!!
I will be returning many times!

Look forward to seeing you next year Liz!


Merry Christmas Everyone!

Drew

 

[del_mo]

And remember, stupid people do stupid things. Leave valuable things unattended ANYWHERE and bad things may happen. Bonaire just happens to be unique with how most of the diving is done.

 

[skynscuba]

Skyscuba I do have to agree with you about shore diving instead of boat diving. All the diving that my wife and I have done is from resorts with the boats out front. Only one place this past summer I knew that if I turned my back it would be gone was Cabo. It's just hard for me to leave my save a dive kit behind in the room just because someone will come along and take it.
Maybe the truck rental places can start puting a safe box on there trucks with a lock.

I guess it depends on what you need for shore diving in your save-a-dive kit. I wouldn't worry about o-rings or a fin strap being stolen (could happen I guess, but I wouldn't worry). I wouldn't be leaving a scuba-tool or such in an unlocked vehicle. I left spare camera batteries in the truck, no problem, along with snacks, etc. You can always take a small waterproof box on the dive. A spare flashlight with the batteries removed makes a good watertight container for small items.

Off topic, but a good tip: I took two 1-gallon jugs (juice came in them) to fill with fresh water. Leave them in the back of the truck and they will be nice and warm for rinsing your head after returning from a dive. Also good for mask rinse, etc.

 

[herman]

Liz, to add to your input I have noticed a lot of the threads are not first hand info but "I heard from a friend who heard from a friend who knew someone who...." hearsay. Several years ago we had someone posting on the huge problems on Bonaire, come to find out they had only been to Bonaire once, never left the resort and had no problems while there. I am not saying nothing happens, fact is on occasion it does but the reality is it's no where near as bad as some would have you believe. Take reasonable care and the likelyhood you will have any problems are small.

 

[DeputyDan]

Hawaii is much MUCH worse than Bonaire for theft and crime - I have dove both!

No, I have had no actual thefts in either Hawaii or Bonaire. However, there are places on Oahu we did not even go to to dive due to crime issues.

 

[NDH]

Liz, looking at the post so far, not much is being stolen. I do wish that rental trucks would come with a steel metal box that you could put things in and lock it. No one enjoys coming back from diving and find things missing. I agree common since is needed. I would also pay a higher park fee to have more security around dive sites.
Not everyone would agree to spend more money but if it would pay for another officer to travel around the dive sites for extra pair of eyes, I would. I don't want anyone to bash Bonaire and forsake I sure can't because I never have been there. I really look forward to coming in 2007 and if we like it as much as Cocoview we might do it twice next year.
I believe every region should have a secuity post, so people can beaware of situations and take percautions to avoid having problems on vacations. And I hope people will keep posting any problem in the future. This is not to scare anyone because there are plenty of places here in the states that I wouldn't travel into.

 

[blawler1]

My wife and I have been six times and only had one incident. In January 2001, we left some items on the back patio of our apartment at the Yachtclub overnight. Even though the patio was surrounded by an approximately 12' high fence, someone was able to climb over and took my Bio fins, boots, mask, snorkel, swimsuit, Tee shirt and other items, but left my wife's Force Fins (Frankly, I don't like the Forces either) I went down and reported it to the police and got a copy of the police report (in Dutch) for my insurance company, filed a claim for the loss and they cut me a check.

Anyway, we are leaving Friday to go back for two weeks on our seventh trip and I haven't given it a second thought until I saw this thread.

 

[fdog]

Ok, I did a little mini-research to prove a point. It would have taken forever for me to count posts,so I did the following:

<snip>

On Scubaboard I did the same thing, but in all threads and specified Bonaire. I didn't get an exact number of total threads - it's huge though:

Theft 67 times, stolen 67 times and robbery 6 times. This is also since 2002.

<snip>
I hope this finally helps a little.

Liz

Liz, this interested me. I ran the same search on ScubaBoard, except for two different locations:

Cayman
Theft 11 threads
Stolen 12 threads
Robbery 0 threads


Bahamas
Theft 6
Stolen 8
Robbery 1


Realizing this poll means nothing in real terms. Still, it is interesting that there is a 6x reporting difference.

All the best, James

 

[dvrliz1]

James,

First your ran the ran the search on Scubaboard and are comparing those numbers to Bonairetalk, a bonaire specific website. Almost like comparing apples to oranges.

Ok, some ideas. As a member of the board of BONHATA, I will bring up the suggestion of lock boxes in the vehicles. Just to let you all know that we are working on the petty crime that is committed here, along with the government and police office here on the island.

Another thing that many may not be aware of is that the Netherlands Antilles will no longer exist beginning in 2007. The 3 smaller islands, Bonaire, Saba and St Eustisa will be "municipalities" of Holland. You will also see a larger force of dutch police coming into the island within this year. I like the idea of a "dive site" task force. I will propose this also.

Just remember we still feel that the "crime" reporting on sites is way overblown, and that needs to be addressed. this is something that cannot be done by the police or anyone here on Bonaire. There are always people who enjoy bashing people, places and things and enjoy starting rumors, or who love to gossip,so keep this in mind.

I will work to keep you all updated.

Liz