Best Diving in Carribean

[gratefuljames]

I took a group to Bonaire and we had a 5BR villa. Every night we put all the equipment and everything inside. One night, they were all drinking and then left their equipment outside in the back of the house on the patio. Of course a lot of it got stolen, which they got mad, but what are you going to do? (I didn't want to engage in the "told ya" festival). When visiting dive sites in Bonaire, my advice is to take only a few bucks and a credit card in a small Pelican thingy and take it diving with you. Don't have any expensive sunglasses or any of that rigormorole in the car/truck, and leave your car windows open and doors unlocked (avoids them breaking a window to find nothing). No one stole any tanks, and we didn't bring any picnic lunches, so I don't know about that. Sure, it's a drag, but there is crime almost everywhere and as some posters noted, in Bonaire none of it is violent; don't let it stop you from going, it's a "must dive" place....

 

[Stivo]

just thought i'd throw out another caribbean destination... dominica. for me the variety of dive sites, marine life and the out of water activities make it my favorite spot in the caribbean. there's hundreds of rivers on the island, lush rainforest and some of the best hiking you'll find. they have great beer... kabuli and you should find most of the divesites uncrowded...

it's also home to 1 of 2 volcanic "boiling lakes". I believe the other one is in New Zealand. A very cool surface interval for sure. http://www.avirtualdominica.com/thelake.cfm

Other honorable mentions (for me) for the Caribbean would be Greneda/Isle du Ronde, T&C, Cayman & Cozumel...

 

[skynscuba]

Out of curoisity I found these crime stats on Hawaii, it does not look like too safe a place to me. http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/hicrime.htm

"For crimes against Property, the state had a reported incident rate of 4,955.1 per 100,000 people, which ranked as the state 2nd highest. For every 100,000 people there were 880.3 Burglaries, which ranks Hawaii as having the 13th highest standing among the states. Larceny - Theft were reported 3,570.2 times per hundred thousand people in Hawaii which standing is the 1st highest among the states. Vehicle Theft occurred 504.6 times per 100,000 people, which fixed the state as having the 8th highest for vehicle theft among the states. "

Herman, if you take that 5000 property crimes per 100k population per year, it is about one chance in 1000 of being ripped off in a 1 week stay. I think you will agree that more than one out of 1000 Bonaire tourists has something stolen in a 1 week stay. I'm sure the petty crime in Bonaire is more targetted at tourists than at the general population, since it is easy, there is less chance of getting caught, and "they can afford it." I also think that the theft rate is higher in Bonaire than in Hawaii, which is already a bad place to leave a car unattended at a remote dive site.

I'm sure the Hawaii rate is also much higher, if one could include all the petty stuff that never gets reported. I've had my things stolen twice in my 51 years living in the U.S., one of which I reported.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to my first Bonaire trip, planned for late September.

 

[Acrodog]

Sky - where are you staying in Bonaire?

 

[-hh]

Herman, if you take that 5000 property crimes per 100k population per year, it is about one chance in 1000 of being ripped off in a 1 week stay. I think you will agree that more than one out of 1000 Bonaire tourists has something stolen in a 1 week stay.

And for a good portion of those who don't hit, its probably because they kept their "Urban Street Savvy" well engaged. While I've personally enjoyed diving in Bonaire, the general self-interest need for maintaining vigilance does not make it a particularly good destination to be able to RELAX.

I'm sure the petty crime in Bonaire is more targetted at tourists than at the general population, since it is easy, there is less chance of getting caught, and "they can afford it."

With the reports of stolen car batteries, jacks and spare tires (in addition to other opportunistic material), this is most definitely the case. Howver, the overwhelming prevelance of bars on windows on businesses & homes downtown does show that there are equal-opportunity thieves.

The complacency of "tourists can afford it" attitude did change a few years ago with the break-in/murder of some locals, but I'm afraid that it is still a Status Quo attitude to a great degree. It would be trivial to run a highly effective sting operation at some commonly hit dive sites which are strewn with broken rental car window glass (Karpata comes to mind), but for whatever reason, the authorities have not been sufficiently motivated to crack down.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to my first Bonaire trip, planned for late September.

Should be a nice time of year to go...sun cooling off, but water's still warm. One thing that I'd be inclined to do on my next visit (whenever that might be; I'm in no hurry) is to quietly take surface digital photographs of the locals who are hanging out near the parking areas. Maybe they'll take the hint that that would establish them as a "witness" if any crime were to happen


-hh

 

[skynscuba]

Sky - where are you staying in Bonaire?

Don't know yet. Leading contenders are Den Laman, Belmar, Sand Dollar and BuddyDive. I would be happy with any of those, so I'm waiting to see who else goes with us, and whether they care. Deep Blue has nothing but good reviews, but I think I would prefer to stay where I can stroll out for a dive on the house reef, since that is probably where most of my night dives will happen, and to have a kitchen in the unit.

 

[Acrodog]

Been to the Sand Dollar twice - once before and once after the storm took out the restaurant. Been happy with SD and would go back again.