My Bonaire trip 5/25-5/30

[rumblefish]

Bonaire Trip Report

Well, I finally got around to writing this review of my trip to Bonaire. Here we go.

The Resort

We stayed at Buddy dive. When deciding which resort to stay at we found Buddy to have the best deal. We stayed for 5 nights/6 days and ended up signing up for their dive and drive package. Our package included room, truck for the duration of our stay, unlimited tanks, free nitrox upgrade, free morning breakfast, and free transport to and from the airport. Let me just say that this place is just amazing. It truly is total diving freedom. Want to shore dive, go with your truck to the tank drive through to get your tanks. Do you want to boat dive, just sign your name up on the chalkboard with your room number and whether or not you’re using nitrox. We stayed in the original side of the resort, on the top level of one of the 3 floor buildings. The room was clean with good AC, hot water, and an outdoor deck. The waterfront was literally 100 feet from our room.

The free breakfast in the morning were great with a good selection of breakfast treats including an omelet bar that made omelets to order. The resort also had 2 restaurants, however, we only ate at one on the last night. It was ok. The staff was a nice mix of dutch transplants and friendly Bonarians. Can’t say anything bad about the service there. Everyone was friendly and very accommodating. There are actually 3 pools at the resort, however, I never used them.

The Diving

Because of the short duration of our stay, we only had 3 ½ days of diving. I was able to get 14 dives in. I was able to dive the following sites.

Buddy Reef – La Machacha (Orientation dive)
Oil Slick Leap
Andrea II
Mi Dushi (Night Boat dive off of Klein Bonaire)

White Slave
Red Slave
1000 steps
Buddy Reef – La Machacha (Night Dive, Charlie hunting by our lights)

Front Porch (TugBoat New York)
Karpata
Hilma Hooker (Impressive wreck, Barracuda and tarpon abound)
Bachelor’s Beach
Town Pier (Night dive, tarpon hunting by our lights)

Kali’s Reef (Boat dive)

My buddy actually got to do 15 dives. On the last day, he took part in Larry’s wildside diving. We both wanted to do this, however, there’s was only 1 open spot, so I let him take it. I did the boat dive to Kali’s Reef instead. The dives in Bonaire rated from good to great. Dives were easy. It was like diving in a bathtub. Even if you’ve never dived without a divemaster, after the first dive, you’ll realize how easy the diving there is. Paddle out to the drop off. Dive in one direction and turn around and come back when you’ve reached your halfway point.

Safety
We never felt unsafe and never really felt like there was an issue with stuff getting stolen. As a mater of fact, on one dive, we were about 100 feet off shore when my buddy said that he left the keys to our truck in the bed. We decided to do the dive anyway. No troubles though we did follow recommendations about leaving the doors unlocked and not leaving anything of value in the truck.

Things to Do

Well, things to know about Bonaire. If you’re not a diver, you’re going to be very bored. There really isn’t much to do in Bonaire besides dive. No, we didn’t visit the donkey sanctuary but we did take time to visit Rincon to hang with the locals and get some local food. It’s was kind of hard to find anything going on as we went there on a Thursday night and there really wasn’t anything open. Which brings us to food in Bonaire.

Food in Bonaire
Many restaurants in Bonaire have strange hours. If you’re off the main strip, most places aren’t open M-F 9-5. They have strange hours like Wed-Fri or Sunday afternoons only. Everything in Bonaire other then the diving is expensive. Food is really expensive. My buddy and I tried to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch to save money…that cost 14 dollars. Mind you, we later found a supermarket further into town with better prices. We really were never able to find local food. Most of the restaurants sadly serve overpriced average tourist food. I don’t know why people would want to come to Bonaire to eat Mexican, BBQ ribs, KFC, or hotdogs and hamburgers. But that seems to be what’s popular around there.

Negatives

American Airlines was late leaving NY. They made us walk back and forth between terminals twice because they were unsure which plane they were going to fly. (Long story) They also failed to get my buddy’s bags onto the flight from Puerto Rico to Bonaire. He did not have his dive gear with him for 2 days. To Buddy Dive’s credit, they gave my buddy free gear to use. This is a standard policy of theirs if the airlines lose your gear. BTW, AA said they would deliver the bags to the resort when they arrived, but they did not. We had to go there and pick them up. This is why my buddy was without gear for 2 days as opposed to one. Also, the AA counter in Bonaire is only open in the early morning (5-7AM) and late at night (7-9PM) basically when flight are leaving and arriving.

The only negative that we experienced in Bonaire was when my buddy and I tried to go to the National Park to dive in the North. We had our park tags, our receipts, but we had left our picture ID’s at the resort. The guard at the park would not let us in and said we’d have to pay the park fee again to gain access. Mind you, we had already paid this fee. I know it was our fault that we forgot to bring ID, but it still kind of sucks cause we drove all that way to get there.

Overall, Bonaire truly is the shore diving capital of the world. It’s great if you truly want to dive your face off. The freedom you get from diving your own schedule is addicting. If you haven’t gone yet, go.

[longtailbda]

Thanks for your update. It sounds like you had a terrible time If I'm luck maybe I'll convince the wife to go next spring.

[RoatanMan]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed report. Bonaire is one of the best in our Caribbean!

[mocepts]

Thanks for the info. 60 days and counting till my first trip to Bonaire!!

[Zenagirl]

Thanks for posting a report! We're headed to Bonaire in less than 3 weeks for our first trip and can't wait to experience all that you did (except the lost luggage of course)

[DiveSooner]

Things to Do

Well, things to know about Bonaire. If you’re not a diver, you’re going to be very bored. There really isn’t much to do in Bonaire besides dive. No, we didn’t visit the donkey sanctuary but we did take time to visit Rincon to hang with the locals and get some local food. It’s was kind of hard to find anything going on as we went there on a Thursday night and there really wasn’t anything open. Which brings us to food in Bonaire.


Did you have some ice cream at Norman's??

Glad you had a good time. I love it there. I'm trying to make may 3rd trip this october.

[harb99]

nice report - thanks for taking the time to do it

looking forward to leaving for Bonaire in a little over 4 weeks

[gthomas]

65 days and counting. Thanks for the report

[wrenb]

I leave for my 4th or 5th trip to Bonaire on Thursday. Needless to say I am very excited! I've been looking over my dive logs and guide books trying to decide where to diver first. There are so many sites that we've only dived one of the sites that the op mentioned. Andrea II -- memorable mostly for the school of Caribbean reef squid we saw one year.

[azdiver]

We're leaving next Friday nite, June 20th.