Aruba vs Bonaire?

[WizardTrips]

You did!!!!!!!!

---------- Post added August 31st, 2014 at 03:17 PM ----------

Blush blush blush! I got busted essentially quoting you online! Espousing your wisdom! But I think it was a solid rule of thumb. Got to the point.

I was Facetimeing Jon and I just started laughing, took and screen shot and sent to him so he could laugh!

 

[drrich2]

Reading some of the Curacao vs. Bonaire threads is an enjoyable way to kill some time. I've been to Bonaire 8 times; haven't dove Curacao. Drawing on what other people have posted, if I understand correctly, the differences are something like this:

1.) Curacao is bigger and has a larger population and 'more topside stuff' outside of diving.

2.) Both have similar diving.

3.) Bonaire has a long road running down the west coast (where people dive) that often nearly hugs the shore line, and lots of named dive sites are close together down the west coast. So, you can find sites easily and get in a lot of diving (say, 4 or 5 dives per day), which can lead an avid diver to average more dives in Bonaire.

4.) Curacao has a road that's farther inland from the coast, and you often take side-roads out to dive sites, which means more driving between sites.

5.) Curacao has a number of easier sandy entries, but at the cost of longer swim outs.

6.) Some Curacao shore dive sites have onsite businesses that may offer amenities for a fee. Just what and what prices you'd need to research the threads for.

7.) Someone once posted to the effect that the 4 door pickup with tanks & gear in the back driving up & down the coast of Bonaire isn't quite what you see as much of in diving Curacao (mainly the truck was mentioned), but I don't know what the 'diving workflow' looks like in mainstream Curacao diving so perhaps someone else can share about that.

8.) While Curacao has no blanket prohibition on solo diving, some of the main dive operators there do prohibit it. On the other hand, I know of 2 main Bonaire operators (Buddy Dive and Dive Friends) who allow it if you're solo certified, and 2 more (WannaDive and the technical dive op. located at Captain Don's) that teach the SDI Solo diving course, so I'm guessing they'd allow it, too.

9.) From the U.S., airfare to Curacao is often considerably cheaper than to Bonaire.

Bonaire has boat diving but is heavily sought for shore diving. Curacao also has both. I usually hear of Aruba being mainly a boat diving destination.

Apologies in advance if I've made any mistakes, and I imagine any will be corrected promptly by others. I'd tried to summarize here, but the threads discussing it with 1st hand reports are worth a read.

Richard.

 

[ScubaMarc]

No one said it so i will. I liked diving in Aruba better than Bonaire. Bonaire and Curacao is mostly, if not all shore dives. There is nothing wrong with shore dives and since I have over 100 dives in curacao, Bonaire looks and feels the same once under the water. The diving in Bonaire is shore/wall dives, Aruba is a boat on wrecks and some reefs(I did some shore, not worth it). I was getting a little tired of wall diving so wrecks was a nice thing to see. Also, on the wrecks is large schools of fish. Bonaire and curacao was more single critters than schools(there are some schools, but not as much.) As for the vis, I think it was the same.


You can see my picts at:2013 Aruba

Night life on all 3 islands is different. Downtown Aruba is worse than disneyland. The wrest of the island is nice.

 

[ccxx]

I spent a week diving in Aruba again (July 19-26, 2014) since I had such a great time 3 years ago. I also spent a week diving Bonaire 5 years ago. It's not fair to compare Aruba and Bonaire - they are not the same when it comes to diving. I prefer Aruba - the south coast is awesome - it's all drift diving. The West Coast diving is great for wreck diving - I dove on the Antilla 4 times, the Debby II twice and Pedernalis 3 times. Saw tons of creatures on each dive - frogfish, seahorses, sting rays, anenomes, eels, you name it. Not a lot of large critters but great for macro photography. There is very little shore diving in Aruba. If you want to shore dive, Bonaire is the place-great reefs just offshore - lots of color, small critters. Take a boat trip to dive on Klein Bonaire. In Aruba, we dove with Red Sail Sports - love their operation - professional and great dive masters/boat captains. Their people have been there for years so that shows its a great place to work for. We stayed at the Holiday Inn since it's just a short walk to the Hyatt where Red Sail Sports docks their boats. On Bonaire, we stayed at Den Lamann condos and dove with the onsite operation - again a great place with friendly people and you dive whenever you want - they have tanks available 24 hrs a day. If I had to choose? Aruba! Take a day to drive to the national parks on both islands. I don't have any negative comments about either place -both are easy to get to from Florida. Flip a coin but I really prefer Aruba and the boat diving.

 

[Aruba Bobs]

I guess I will put my 2 cents in. I spend 7 months a year on Aruba so I have about 500 dives under my belt in Aruba. I have 140 dives in Curacao and 90 dives in Bonaire. I really like all 3 Islands but the visibility, currents, waves, and how far out you have to swim are a lot better on Bonaire and Curacao. Those are my 2 favorite places to dive. We do all shore diving in Aruba except when we want to do a wreck, we go with Jads on Aruba. We do have seadoo sea scooters so we are able to do a lot of shore dives and not have to go by boat. The currants are really strong in Aruba so you really have to know what you are doing in Aruba. If you go to the coral garden area in Aruba, there is solid fire coral and you don't see that much on the other 2 Islands but remember, in Aruba you have to swim out 3 to 5 times farther than Cur and Bon. Here is my opinion: If you just want a dive trip, go to Bonaire. You can do shore or boat dives there. Go on the East Coast with East Coast divers and then you get some real action. Hundreds of tarpon, so many turtles and eagle rays that you can't count them all. If you want action and even want to hunt lion fish, go to Curacao. In July we had 3 of us and we got 95 lionfish in a 45 min dive. They are really good to eat. If you want a family vacation with a lot of action and maybe alittle diving, go to Aruba. Aruba is the #1 Island repeat destination in the world.

 

[haslamhoff]

I haven't dove Aruba or Curacao but I thoroughly enjoyed diving Bonaire. Bonaire is fantastic if you are looking shore diving and are an independent diver (don't really need/want a guide). Boat dives and Divemasters are available, but the island and facilities are very well set up for you to go off and do your own thing on your own schedule.

If that is what you're looking for, I can't give a higher recommendation for Bonaire.