New divers here, how's Bonaire as the first caribbean destination?

[weinerr]

dove in Aug with 2 new divers. My wife and 13 yo son. My 16 and 19 year old sons came as well. We stayed at the Divi Flamingo and I would highly recommend this place for first timers. Outstanding dive op, full size lockers within a few feet if the boats really make this effortless diving. The resort has an excellent breakfast buffet, resturaunt (we only had lunch here) and 2 pools. We stopped by a number if the resorts, buddy and plaza included, and can honestly say the Divi is our return location. I recommend boat dives as beginners unless you shore dive with a guide.

 

[drrich2]

A few basic tips, in no particular order.

1.) Windsock is one of the easy entry/exit shore dive sites, and has a large wooden pier that's useful to see where you can exit if you night dive there.

2.) For shore diving, don't put fins on when entering until you're in waist deep water; take them off the same way coming out. Do not try to 'duck walk' in or out. There are irregular rocky surfaces under the water, and with surge right up by shore you can't see them clearly.

3.) Pretty much all the rental trucks will be stick shift, so someone in your vehicle must be able to drive stick.

4.) Most dive sites off the west coast are pretty minimal on current, but that's not so true near the southern tip of the island, and the dive site Eden's Rubble sometimes gets current, since it's between Bonaire & the smaller island of Klein Bonaire.

5.) Most people get some groceries to keep costs down a bit. Cultimara and Warehouse Bonaire are the 2 'big' grocery stores. Buddy's has a breakfast buffet, which is a nice perk.

6.) There are a range of restaurants to eat at. A couple that seem universally well liked are City Cafe' & Wil's Grill. I get Chinese food at Bon Apetit'. Cactus Blue seems to be well-liked with a bit of a rep. for being pricey, but eating out on Bonaire isn't real cheap, period. Pasa Bon Pizza is okay; when I heard of fish pizza, I had to try it. Richard's is popular from what I understand.

7.) On the main shopping strip is a jewelry shop I think called Jewel of Bonaire; a blue colored establishment. I like it since we got my wife a sea turtle pendant with a beautiful opal of some sort in it. Not real bad expensive, and striking. If you want to pick up a scuba-themed gift for a lady, it's an option.

8.) Get a pair of scuba boots with a medium or hard sole, not the regular thin-soled 'booties,' because that rough, irregular iron shore can do a number on your feet (with the added weight of gear on you). SeaSoft Sunrays are popular; my wife, buddy & I all 3 wear & like them. Almost like sneakers in a way. A dive shop recommended them to us.

9.) Get nitrox certified before you go; it can be useful in Bonaire to cut down nitrogen build-up so you can dive more (either longer at depth, or dives closer together, or both).

Richard.

 

[darook]

Richard's advice is spot on. Bonaire was my first Caribbean dive and feel it was a great choice. I've been back twice.

The entry at Invisibles is very easy and it is a cool dive just a couple minute back kick out.

 

[jghflash]

........the only problem I see is that if your first real serious dive trip is to Bonaire, you may be let down by a lot of the rest of the places you later go. What a lovely problem to have! As mentioned, the shore diving is generally pretty easy just scout out the entries. If something looks more challenging than you want at that moment (wind, waves, rocks, whatever) drive a few sites down and try one of the other 60 choices. You are going to love it!

 

[Diver DennisP]

Bonaire and Buddy Dive was our second dive trip that we've been on. Our first was Cozumel. My wife, son (12 at the time) and I did the Coz trip. Wife and I and a friend (his first trip) did Bonaire. Shore diving in Bon was EVERYTHING its cracked up to be. Dive where you want, when you want and as often as you want. I wish we would have done Bonaire on our first trip. Cost/dive ratio is better there than Coz. We didnt do any boat dives in Bon. We didn't see a need for our first time. We may add them to our package the next time in order to do the Natl Park sites and Klein.

My opinion:

Yes. make Bonaire your first trip and you won't regret it.