First time in Bonaire - Night dive and restaurant questions

[howswedeofme]

1- I am a newer diver (~25 dives) and my husband and I are taking a trip to Bonaire in January. We want to do a night dive or two while we are there and were wondering which dive sites are best/easiest for night dives? We have only done one night dive before this trip.

2- My husband is a very picky eater (plain meat, french fries/baked potatoes, pizza) so I was wondering which restaurants people recommend for steak or pizza? I'm hoping to drag him out for a couple dinners instead of cooking at the rental house the whole week so any recommendations are welcome!

3- Do we need any sort of transformer or converter for our U.S. phones, laptop, or hair dryer?

 

[darook]

Welcome to SB! Where are you staying? That will help answer your questions. A lot of the resorts have both US and Euro plugs. I believe they use 50 cycle AC vs. the 60 cycle we have in the States but everything works. The transformers may be just a bit warmer.

Night diving is easy anywhere with a dock or beach entry. Buddy Dive, Divi, Capt. Don's all have very easy entries and the lights on the dock make navigating easy. A really good way to get into night diving is to do a dusk dive so you go in with some light to get oriented then it gets dark while you are under. That is also when the reef and fish are changing the most rapidly.

There are a lot of good eating options on the island but on my last visit earlier this month we ate in a lot. The places we did eat out at and really enjoyed were Between 2 Buns for breakfast or lunch and Rumba downtown for lunch. Both have the meat and taters your man is looking for plus more adventurous stuff as well. You will likely get more suggestions as well.

Make sure to read the threads on here about shore diving and pick up Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy either before you go or once you are on island. It is very helpful to get you oriented. The most important things to know are to not leave ANYTHING of value in the truck while shore diving and leave it unlocked and the windows down. More than likely no one is going to go through it but if they do they wont break anything that would cost you money. Also, get some hard soled dive booties as they make the iron shore a non issue.

Have a great trip!

 

[howswedeofme]

Thank you for the reply! We have a bungalow at Bonaire Exclusive and are renting a truck for the week. We have always stayed at hotels/resorts in other locations and wanted to try a house rental for this trip.

I am definitely more adventurous with the meals so your recommendations are very welcome.

I've read the newbie entries about shore diving on here as well as shorediving.com and plan to get a BSDME so hopefully we will be prepared and not overwhelmed. I also have noted the instructions on the rental vehicle and told my husband about them (he thought I was joking) and purchased additional insurance. Hopefully it is a non-eventful crime week for us

 

[diversteve]

All of the electronics you mentioned should have universal chargers so they'll be fine.

A hair dryer will run hotter and you may shorten it's life there but it probably won't burn out. Mine seemed to run slower than normal but I only used it once all week...lol.

There's a wood-fired Pizza Kitchen at RumRunners at Habitat resort. There's also Pasa Bon Pizza and Donna and Giorgio's makes a good pie also - I've had it.

https://www.habitatbonaire.com/pages/Pizza-Menu.aspx
Pasa Bon Pizza - Bonaire
Donna & Giorgio

It Rains Fishes also does a steak or two. Never tried it since we went for the fish but everything there is excellent.
It Rains Fishes Bonaire It's walking distance from your place.
There's also Unbelievable which I know nothing about. They advertise steak platters. Unbelievable - Bonaire

If you night dive at Habitat - the Tarpon you see feeding under their lights while onshore are also going to feed in yours. It's a little disconcerting to have a large fish appear suddenly over your shoulder - they're fast and harmless. Happens other places also.

Whatever you decide for a night dive, try diving it during the day first to get familiar with the site. Besides any of the dive resort docks, an easy entry is Windsock Beach by the airport. Some of the other sites south of town require picking thru/over the ironshore in the surf line so they may be a little rougher to try at night. You could also hire a guide - Basdiving or VIP Diving are options.

Some of the shops also night dive on demand. Dive Friends does: Dive Friends Bonaire, our dive services Due to their multiple locations north/south they're one of the better options for tank rental/exchange also if your resort doesn't offer a package. Their location at Yellow Submarine on the north side of town is probably the closest dive location to Bonaire Exclusive also.

Another thing to be aware of is that none of the sites north or south of town except the dive resorts - have any sort of facilities at all. For night dives, they're going to be dark and there's not really many streetlights or anything for visual clues. Also if you enter at the sites with ironshore it can be hard to pick out your entry point from the water - even during the day. Use the truck as a marker - at night buy acheap throwaway light (in case it gets taken) and hang it off the truck. If you're boat diving with someone ask your DM - ours freelanced at night.

I haven't tried it but Salt Pier could be a good night dive. There's navigation lights on the pier IIRC. Plus you'd have the reference of the pier itself underwater. Just north of it is a small sandy area that gets you out to deeper water without having to cross the ironshore. IIRC just 20-30' south of where most people park. All the good stuff is pretty shallow also. Just don't touch the brown stuff - that's probably fire coral.

 

[H2ODoc]

Definitely Buddy Dive for your 1st night dive. Plenty of people around, easy entry/exit via ladder, and nice dive to boot. Starting as dusk is a great recommendation, too.

Try a dawn dive, too, if you are early risers.

 

[KathyV]

1- I am a newer diver (~25 dives) and my husband and I are taking a trip to Bonaire in January. We want to do a night dive or two while we are there and were wondering which dive sites are best/easiest for night dives? We have only done one night dive before this trip...

We enjoy night dives but also find it much easier to do them from a house reef at a hotel with a dock, like Habitat. Easy entry and exit and no need to stumble over ironshore and rocks in the dark while getting in or out and easy navigation, too. I haven't dived the house reef at Habitat in several years but they used to have a line underwater leading from the dock to the top of the reef - so it was almost impossible to get lost! I agree that you should dive the spot during the day first to orient yourself before trying it at night.

The very easiest (and best!) night dives IMO are the last dives of the day from a liveaboard but of course that is not what Bonaire is all about. We've had some great shore dives at night on Bonaire. Years ago the dive shops used to take groups to the Town Pier for fantastic night dives but that option is no longer available, too bad.

 

[diver 85]

Nite dives???-be sure & go to Buddy's pier & go out to the wall & then turn right, to the little sunken boat-----then on your way back come in shallower(toward the retaining wall) & 'catch' the tarpon show(should be between 3 & 12 show up in VERY shallow water--just before Buddy's pier & steps)--now you're 'home', for the nite............

All recharging was done like in the US---ie no converters needed(I think this what I remember....lol).......

 

[wwguy]

Nite dives???-be sure & go to Buddy's pier & go out to the wall & then turn right, to the little sunken boat-----then on your way back come in shallower(toward the retaining wall) & 'catch' the tarpon show(should be between 3 & 12 show up in VERY shallow water--just before Buddy's pier & steps)--now you're 'home', for the nite............

Great suggestion. That boat is La Machaca and sits on the Habitat house reef of the same name. The tarpon are hanging out in the shallows there because Rum Runners restaurant is located seaside nearby. Guests and kitchen crew often throw food scraps to the fish. Sometimes the tarpon eat the scraps, and sometimes they take advantage of the lights to eat the smaller fish feeding on the scraps.

 

[diverjen]

+1 for Rum Runners pizza and simple but good fare. We wanted to try D&G pizza but never made it -definitely on the list for next time. I also think for lunches you should check out Between 2 Buns. I am not sure where you are staying, but if you make it south we also really like the cactus blue food truck, great burgers for your hubby and of course lionfish sandwiches for you. Also for a cheap meal the ham and cheese empanadas at Zuong Khong and there is alway KFC which is so much better than US KFCs!

For night dives, you have gotten some good suggestions. If you don't want to dive off a resort(which I also think is easiest), we have had good luck at the Front Porch site which is easy entry and just south of Bari Reef.

All of the places we have stayed had outlets that worked fine.

Have a great time - I'm jealous!

 

[howswedeofme]

Thanks everyone! I am fine with diving at night at one of the resorts with a dock, which seems unanimously to be the easiest option, and was a little nervous about the tarpon but am glad to hear they are harmless.

My husband is going to be overjoyed that there is a KFC and this will greatly reduce our dining issues (he usually eats something he likes such as KFC or pizza then goes with me somewhere that I can try something local/different while he has a beer). Since he doesn't eat hamburgers, sandwiches, pasta, anything with sauce, or most vegetables, planning what/where to eat is usually the most difficult part of our vacations.

Has anyone eaten at Joe's Grillhouse? That was the one place the hubs has said he wanted to visit because of the grilled meat.