shopguy
Contributor
Stats
6 weeks on Bonaire, with 69 dives total, 6 of those from boat, 1 guided shore dive.
252 videos (omg) in playlist here:
Restaurants
Good options and good service, but I wouldn't say Bonaire is a place to go for food/dining. You will not go hungry, but in my opinion searching for and trying "local food", like one might do in Puerto Rico or Mexico, isn't a thing you need to focus on for this trip.
Cooking at Home
Most of the food we bought at the store and made at home "tastes weird". I love steak, and if I can't get steak, I love tortillas. I tried 8+ different sources here, and they all have this same weird taste. The only way I can describe the taste, without being offensive, is to say it tastes like what I imagine Raid roach spray tastes like based on the smell -- kind of a mild hotness with a chemical kick. Not sure how cattle/cows can taste that different from Bonaire to USA, but it does. It isn't seasons either, because I love steaks at home with zero seasoning, but not on Bonaire. Eggs, cheese and some bacon tasted the same as at home, so we mostly ate eggs at home, and other stuff out.
Internet
Our AirBnb had amazing Internet. Was able to upload over 100 4K long videos to YouTube without hitting any data caps, and there was only one short (maybe 30 minutes) outage the entire trip. Worked great for the 1 or 2 days a week I had to work, including some online meetings with video chat.
Volunteering
We were so bored when not diving. So glad we found out about Mangrove Maniacs -- we went out and helped them cut channels in the mangroves twice, and would have done more if we didn't have so many bug bites after the 2nd time (very unusual, probably will not happen to you). We also spent an evening with them at Foodies where they gave a presentation about their work, and Sea Turtle Conversation Bonaire (STCB) and STINAPA also spoke about their work. Was selfishly nice to have something else to do in this otherwise boring place. We also went on one cleanup dive at North Pier hosted by Dive Friends (they provided free tanks for around 100 divers, and bags for trash, etc).
Roads
Since we listened to all the advice here and everywhere else, we had a rental truck, and glad that our truck was on the larger side (some are more like El Camino / Ranchero, car with a truck bed). I didn't have to worry about the 6" drop from the road to the shoulder when you often have to drive half on the road as oncoming traffic passes on the narrow roads. The remote dirt roads were on par with most of the paved roads, in some ways better, at least the water didn't puddle as bad on the dirt roads -- and no mud here, ground is super hard everywhere, so no 4-wheel drive needed.
People
Where I live, when I go to town (25 mile drive) or the big city (100 mile drive), people you pass on the street look happy, often smile, and often say hi, good morning, etc. Here, I felt weird being my normal smiling self, very few people smiling or looking happy, except divers at dive sites. Staff in restaurants and dive shops were friendly, and people we did talk to in public were nice, just didn't feel as approachable as people at home that are smiling and saying hello if you make eye contact. Cozumel and Puerto Rico was not this way, so not just a "because I'm a tourist" thing.
Prices
Hard to compare to anything else because prices vary greatly by what you want. I can't imagine living here and trying to buy good quality stuff like tools, dive equipment, electronics, just doesn't seem to exist or your options are super limited. Expected for most islands. Gas was about $7.30/gallon ($1.59/liter), and surprising to me we drove 1,300 miles in a not-well-maintained pickup, so we spent plenty on gas (maybe $400). Steak at the grocery store was around $50/pound, which I would have kept paying, if it wasn't gross. Lots of other food was not expensive at all, cheaper than Seattle and New York, but more than Tucson. Restaurants vary from very expensive to "I feel bad if I don't leave a 50% tip inexpensive/cheap", so you can eat cheap or expensive as desired. Example - Pizza for 3, $14. Hamburgers, fries, and 1 soda/beer for 2, $60 (before tip).
Stay
Our AirBnb was very nice. The cheaper one I was planning on was booked, so I paid more than I was planning, around $3500/month I think (before fees), but it was very nice like the pictures, with an awesome view of Klein from our 3rd floor patio. A/C throughout entire 2bed/2bath place, worked great. Nice modern kitchen and everything one might need, including blender and air fryer, stovetop, oven, dishwasher, washer/dryer. The weird part was there was only 1 toilet, and it was in a tiny room (knees hit the wall) near the front door, with just the toilet in this room, nothing else.
Weather / Bugs
Weather was weird, if I believe it -- rained almost every day, lots of clouds every day, wind couldn't decide which way to blow, changing often, and most days not much wind at all (the not much wind part is normal for this time of year). Supposedly (can you tell I don't believe it?) the bugs were also not common, but I think everywhere above 60F has bugs. We got eaten alive by bugs, even though we did the "not safe for reef" thing and put DEET/off/spray all over us often. Weather was only bad enough to keep us away from diving one day -- storms just making a real mess, lots of waves, and possibly strong currents.
Flights / Airport
It is fun at Bonaire airport, being a small airport, you exit the plane and walk down to the tarmac instead of through a typical gate. A fun experience if you haven't done that before, same as Cozumel. A new thing, right off the plane, before bag check or customs, you go through an area/line where they ask to see your QR code if you paid the tourist tax already, or they have you scan their QR code and use their wifi to pay the tax online right then (doesn't take too long, depending on how fast you type on your phone). Tax was $75 per person, I think, regardless of how long your stay is -- since paying online, had no problem using my credit card. I would pay before I leave home next time, if still the same. I paid the marine park fee at home, but didn't think about paying the new tourist tax that way.
The Park (Washington/Slagabai?)
This was the only place I encountered what I would call a "rude person". When you enter the park, even though most divers have already paid the fee, you have to stand in the "ticket" line anyway, to check in. The signs are far from obvious. There is a sign that said "check in here", but nothing said "check in required", and the building the "check in here" sign points at also has a much larger "TICKETS" sign on it, and all the people in line are on the ticket side. If you try to approach the other side, to "check in because I already have my ticket", you may be (rudely maybe) told to "get in line with everyone else" -- if you try to explain that you already have your ticket, as nice as possible, they might just say "are you special? no. get in line like everyone else". You will finally learn that even though it says tickets, it isn't just the line to buy tickets, it is "the line" for everything, and you must check in before entering. They will check your ticket/pass and get your vehicle info and your name, and write it in their log book. They may give you along talk about the park, and you can listen or politely mention that you were just here the day before, if you want to save everyone time (including the long line of people behind you).
My little rant about that... typical government run park experience, probably. It is worth driving around the park at least once and see everything there is, and then coming back another separate time at least once for diving the sites in the park. If you really don't like site seeing or outdoors, other than diving, you could skip the drive through day and just come to dive, and see most of the attractions as you drive by them (most are a little drive off the main road though, so you will not see if you don't make a point of it).
6 weeks on Bonaire, with 69 dives total, 6 of those from boat, 1 guided shore dive.
252 videos (omg) in playlist here:
Summary
Great diving, decent restaurants, good Internet, fun volunteering, everything else just acceptable at best.Non-Diving (skip to next post in thread for diving report)
Restaurants
Good options and good service, but I wouldn't say Bonaire is a place to go for food/dining. You will not go hungry, but in my opinion searching for and trying "local food", like one might do in Puerto Rico or Mexico, isn't a thing you need to focus on for this trip.
Cooking at Home
Most of the food we bought at the store and made at home "tastes weird". I love steak, and if I can't get steak, I love tortillas. I tried 8+ different sources here, and they all have this same weird taste. The only way I can describe the taste, without being offensive, is to say it tastes like what I imagine Raid roach spray tastes like based on the smell -- kind of a mild hotness with a chemical kick. Not sure how cattle/cows can taste that different from Bonaire to USA, but it does. It isn't seasons either, because I love steaks at home with zero seasoning, but not on Bonaire. Eggs, cheese and some bacon tasted the same as at home, so we mostly ate eggs at home, and other stuff out.
Internet
Our AirBnb had amazing Internet. Was able to upload over 100 4K long videos to YouTube without hitting any data caps, and there was only one short (maybe 30 minutes) outage the entire trip. Worked great for the 1 or 2 days a week I had to work, including some online meetings with video chat.
Volunteering
We were so bored when not diving. So glad we found out about Mangrove Maniacs -- we went out and helped them cut channels in the mangroves twice, and would have done more if we didn't have so many bug bites after the 2nd time (very unusual, probably will not happen to you). We also spent an evening with them at Foodies where they gave a presentation about their work, and Sea Turtle Conversation Bonaire (STCB) and STINAPA also spoke about their work. Was selfishly nice to have something else to do in this otherwise boring place. We also went on one cleanup dive at North Pier hosted by Dive Friends (they provided free tanks for around 100 divers, and bags for trash, etc).
Roads
Since we listened to all the advice here and everywhere else, we had a rental truck, and glad that our truck was on the larger side (some are more like El Camino / Ranchero, car with a truck bed). I didn't have to worry about the 6" drop from the road to the shoulder when you often have to drive half on the road as oncoming traffic passes on the narrow roads. The remote dirt roads were on par with most of the paved roads, in some ways better, at least the water didn't puddle as bad on the dirt roads -- and no mud here, ground is super hard everywhere, so no 4-wheel drive needed.
People
Where I live, when I go to town (25 mile drive) or the big city (100 mile drive), people you pass on the street look happy, often smile, and often say hi, good morning, etc. Here, I felt weird being my normal smiling self, very few people smiling or looking happy, except divers at dive sites. Staff in restaurants and dive shops were friendly, and people we did talk to in public were nice, just didn't feel as approachable as people at home that are smiling and saying hello if you make eye contact. Cozumel and Puerto Rico was not this way, so not just a "because I'm a tourist" thing.
Prices
Hard to compare to anything else because prices vary greatly by what you want. I can't imagine living here and trying to buy good quality stuff like tools, dive equipment, electronics, just doesn't seem to exist or your options are super limited. Expected for most islands. Gas was about $7.30/gallon ($1.59/liter), and surprising to me we drove 1,300 miles in a not-well-maintained pickup, so we spent plenty on gas (maybe $400). Steak at the grocery store was around $50/pound, which I would have kept paying, if it wasn't gross. Lots of other food was not expensive at all, cheaper than Seattle and New York, but more than Tucson. Restaurants vary from very expensive to "I feel bad if I don't leave a 50% tip inexpensive/cheap", so you can eat cheap or expensive as desired. Example - Pizza for 3, $14. Hamburgers, fries, and 1 soda/beer for 2, $60 (before tip).
Stay
Our AirBnb was very nice. The cheaper one I was planning on was booked, so I paid more than I was planning, around $3500/month I think (before fees), but it was very nice like the pictures, with an awesome view of Klein from our 3rd floor patio. A/C throughout entire 2bed/2bath place, worked great. Nice modern kitchen and everything one might need, including blender and air fryer, stovetop, oven, dishwasher, washer/dryer. The weird part was there was only 1 toilet, and it was in a tiny room (knees hit the wall) near the front door, with just the toilet in this room, nothing else.
Weather / Bugs
Weather was weird, if I believe it -- rained almost every day, lots of clouds every day, wind couldn't decide which way to blow, changing often, and most days not much wind at all (the not much wind part is normal for this time of year). Supposedly (can you tell I don't believe it?) the bugs were also not common, but I think everywhere above 60F has bugs. We got eaten alive by bugs, even though we did the "not safe for reef" thing and put DEET/off/spray all over us often. Weather was only bad enough to keep us away from diving one day -- storms just making a real mess, lots of waves, and possibly strong currents.
Flights / Airport
It is fun at Bonaire airport, being a small airport, you exit the plane and walk down to the tarmac instead of through a typical gate. A fun experience if you haven't done that before, same as Cozumel. A new thing, right off the plane, before bag check or customs, you go through an area/line where they ask to see your QR code if you paid the tourist tax already, or they have you scan their QR code and use their wifi to pay the tax online right then (doesn't take too long, depending on how fast you type on your phone). Tax was $75 per person, I think, regardless of how long your stay is -- since paying online, had no problem using my credit card. I would pay before I leave home next time, if still the same. I paid the marine park fee at home, but didn't think about paying the new tourist tax that way.
The Park (Washington/Slagabai?)
This was the only place I encountered what I would call a "rude person". When you enter the park, even though most divers have already paid the fee, you have to stand in the "ticket" line anyway, to check in. The signs are far from obvious. There is a sign that said "check in here", but nothing said "check in required", and the building the "check in here" sign points at also has a much larger "TICKETS" sign on it, and all the people in line are on the ticket side. If you try to approach the other side, to "check in because I already have my ticket", you may be (rudely maybe) told to "get in line with everyone else" -- if you try to explain that you already have your ticket, as nice as possible, they might just say "are you special? no. get in line like everyone else". You will finally learn that even though it says tickets, it isn't just the line to buy tickets, it is "the line" for everything, and you must check in before entering. They will check your ticket/pass and get your vehicle info and your name, and write it in their log book. They may give you along talk about the park, and you can listen or politely mention that you were just here the day before, if you want to save everyone time (including the long line of people behind you).
My little rant about that... typical government run park experience, probably. It is worth driving around the park at least once and see everything there is, and then coming back another separate time at least once for diving the sites in the park. If you really don't like site seeing or outdoors, other than diving, you could skip the drive through day and just come to dive, and see most of the attractions as you drive by them (most are a little drive off the main road though, so you will not see if you don't make a point of it).