Bonaire, What did you wish you knew before you went?

[deco_martini]

That was last year, the reef might be better now. Be nice if someone did have a list of "current reefs to avoid".

 

[scubafanatic]

don't bother to 'catch the redeye' flights to Bonaire, you'll be too exhausted from the overnite travel to want to dive the next morning, you'' arrive too early for your rooms to be ready, so you'll hang around waiting for other guests to leave, then waiting for housekeeping to prep the rooms for the new arrivals, so you won't be able to catch some desperately needed sleep from staying up all night doing the red eye thing, and by the time you get to move into your room and unpack and maybe catch a nap, you'll have missed the required new diver orientation/check out dive scheduled for thate day so you won't be allowed to dive until the next day anyway AFTER you attend the next day's orientation dive 'window'. That whole 'catch the redeye' and start your diving vacation early is a bunch of silly propaganda!

Be prepared for paying as much for a liter (quart) of gas as you pay stateside for a Gallon of gas!

Restaurant service is VERY, VERY slow! Eating out will substantially reduce you dive time, so cook in your room and bring food with you.

Bring high quality thick soled booties or you'll be sorry...Bonaire is very rugged ironshore diving. Prepare to do a recon at most dive sites for how you plan to get to the water and back out of the water, especially while wearing all your dive gear, most entry/exits are tricky and the potential for injury due to slipping/falling is high.

Don't try to scrape the rust off of the dive truck you'll be issued, the rust is actually what's holding your truck together.

Dutch groceries are somewhat different than what you may be used to in the states. The tastes of things in some cases was very different than what I was used to in the states, so don't be surprised.

At night not a bad idea to stock up on NITROX tanks (late each evening I'd make runs to the tank farm and stockpile tanks in our room so we'd be covered the next day as often the resorts can't keep refilling tanks fast enough to keep up with demand during the day)

Be prepared to be a pack mule, you will expend significant energy constantly loading multiple tanks/gear sets/weights in and out of your truck, which is tedious, especially in the hot sun...yet another reminder of why I GREATLY prefer liveaboards and haven't returned to Bonaire for some years now.
There's lots of sun and very little shade so be prepared with water, sunscreen.

 

[Drewpy]

Dive the "Wild Side" and as far south as the conditions and currents will allow..same as the north, Candyland and points north of Karpata are worth the trip.
Search out some of the local fare for Goat Stew and fresh fish in Antriol and Rincon.

Rememeber it is Island time..nothing happens fast-relax and have a beer!

 

[RJP]

Rememeber it is Island time..nothing happens fast-relax and have a beer!

As I was told by a waitress once "We're not in a hurry... and you shouldn't be either."

 

[Craig66]

don't bother to 'catch the redeye' flights to Bonaire, you'll be too exhausted from the overnite travel to want to dive the next morning, you'' arrive too early for your rooms to be ready, so you'll hang around waiting for other guests to leave, then waiting for housekeeping to prep the rooms for the new arrivals, so you won't be able to catch some desperately needed sleep from staying up all night doing the red eye thing, and by the time you get to move into your room and unpack and maybe catch a nap, you'll have missed the required new diver orientation/check out dive scheduled for thate day so you won't be allowed to dive until the next day anyway AFTER you attend the next day's orientation dive 'window'. That whole 'catch the redeye' and start your diving vacation early is a bunch of silly propaganda!

Wow a different take on Bonaire but not sure I agree with you on the red eye flight. My other option if I dont take the red eye is Newark to Miami to Curacao to Bonaire. For that flight I still need to get up at 3am to get my 6:00 flight from EWR to MIA. I spend all day traveling and get into Bonaire at 5:00 to 7:00pm depending which Divi flight I make. I have two opportunities to miss connections and three opportunities to have my luggage lost and so from a pure convenience point of view the red eye wins hands down !!.

As far as diving on the day of arrival - yes you are right it is not going to be a 5 dive day but I can certainly leave my bags in storage with Buddy Dive, have breakfast, do the checkout dive, maybe even a house dive and maybe even a twilight dive and be in bed at 8pm and all ready to dive at dawn the nest morning.

Thanks for the heads up on the tanks and the service - from what I am getting the food at the restaurants is somewhat high priced and often somewhat dissapointing and so will likely stick to the quicker cheaper places to start with. Also looking forward to burning off some of my executive muscle but if the tanks get to heavy to throw around I always have my dive buddy RadHal to do the heavy work. He was more built for that than I was LOL.

 

[DeputyDan]

Be prepared to be a pack mule, you will expend significant energy constantly loading multiple tanks/gear sets/weights in and out of your truck, which is tedious, especially in the hot sun...yet another reminder of why I GREATLY prefer liveaboards and haven't returned to Bonaire for some years now.


The pack mule thing can be an issue but since I am paying for four divers - the liveaboard option isn't always affordable.

 

[herbdb]

Absolutely disagree with negative comments on redeye flights. We get our rental truck, breakfast and attend the dive brief the day of arrival. If our room is ready, we catch a nap and get at least two dives in that day/night. If its not ready we do a couple of dives on the house reef while we wait.

As to things we have learned, we have decided that it would be worth the extra money for an extra night to guarantee our room will be ready on arrival. Next time we will book Friday through Friday.

The great thing about the United schedule is you can dive Saturday after your arrival and get two or three dives on Friday morning. (We use 18 hours dive to fly time.) It really lets you maximize your diving.

 

[rusti999]

The great thing about the United schedule is you can dive Saturday after your arrival and because the return flight leaves in the afternoon, get two or three dives on Friday morning. It really lets you maximize your diving.

herbdb, are you sure about the United return flight returning in the afternoon? I think the United flights to both Houston and Newark leave before 8am.

 

[hogpark7430]

Don't put diesel gas in your rental truck.

 

[herbdb]

herbdb, are you sure about the United return flight returning in the afternoon? I think the United flights to both Houston and Newark leave before 8am.

You are correct. I was remembering a different trip. We do dive Fri mornings on Bonaire trips and still get 18+ hour dive to fly.

Thanks for catching my error.