Say it isn't so....

[joewr]

We were pondering Bonaire for our next trip in a few months and were chatting with several people who had been there recently. What they said was disturbing!

First, the crime rate was way up. Every person or couple said the same thing: when you did a shore dive you had to leave your car/jeep empty with the doors and trunk unlocked because thieves checked out unattended parked cars regularly. The one couple who did not do this had their towels, dry clothes and some scuba gear stolen!

Second, the dive masters used public humiliation to chastise divers who so much as touched a piece of coral. One person I dove with was a photographer who was a "perfect citizen" on all the dives that we did together. Occasionally he used one very carefully placed finger to balance for at photo. He was publically humiliated on the boat after having done that on Bonaire. While I was with him he did not once hit a piece of coral with a fin or a console. He kept all his gear tucked into his BC and was very conscientious.

I got this kind of response at both Truk and Hawaii from different people who have dived there in the past six months. What have others using this web site EXPERIENCED (as opposed to heard)?

Joewr

 

[herman]

Hi Joe,

I have been in Bonaire the last 2 years and am headed back in July. I have had no trouble there. This is not to say that nothing happens, that would be incorrect but the crime reported by some is way over stated. I leave towels and ice chest on the beach and have had no problem and I have yet to notice any indication that they had been disturbed. I am careful not to leave anyting in the vechile or on the beach that is of any value but I don't do that here either. We were there with 24 people in 1999 and none of us had any trouble. I don't leave dive gear laying around, I am in it or it's stowed in the room or dive locker and tanks are never stolen as they are marked with the shop that owns them and they don't have any resale value. We stayed at Sand Dollar in 99 and at Buddy last year and I left small amounts of money out in the open in my room just to see what happend, it got neatly arranged a couple of times but never taken, the maids did get a good tip at the end though. I keep close tabs on a Bonaire board and occasionally, the subject of crime comes up but from what I can tell it is still fairly rare if you take normal precautions. What dates are you thinking of going to Bonaire, we (2 couples) are going to be there July 21-28. Natasha should be comming back from Bonaire very soon, let's see if she has any crime stories to share.

 

[joewr]

Herman,

Thanks for the info. That sounds a little better. The people I talked to have, in the main, been going to Bonaire for 10-20 years and maybe they have fond memories of the past. But as Don Ameche once said in a movie, "Things change." If the diving is good, one can put up with some inconvinience. Everyone said that the shore dives are what made Bonaire so special and that it was particullarly distressing to have to take so many precautions when, in the past, they were not needed.

The Sand Dollar was particullarly highly thought of--by the way. So, thanks for the validation.

One more thing, it seems that the dive boats are really crowded==Buddy's was reputed to have 15 to 20 divers per boat. Is that true? I tend to like 6 per boat--or, if there are up to 12, two dive masters who "lead" dives that depart the boat at staged intervals. What is your experience in that regard?

Thanks again,

Joe

PS, This is a truly valuable service that this site provides!

 

[herman]

I only did a couple of boat dives the year that I stayed at SD. It came with the package so I went and seems like there was 12 to 15 on the boat. This was a fairly large boat so it was maybe 90% full. The second year we did buy (saved $100pp) or do any boat dives, I much perfer shore diving. My own schedule, dive site and profile, no hurrying up to meet the boat or waiting for others to get on. We have talked about doing a boat dive over to Klien Bonaire, a small island about a mile away from the main island but other than that, I perfer the shore diving. Just to give you an idea of what a shore dive can be like, you can park with in 6 ft of shore, wade out 10 ft, snorkle out another 20 ft, drop to 10 ft deep, swim another 75 ft uw and be in 40 ft over a nice reef or continue on off the reef slope and do a 100 ft wreck dive, come back up and do a safety stop in 15ft watching the fish go by. IF you are looking for a place to stay, I can highly recommend Buddy Dive ( http://www.buddydive.com ).They have a great staff and the "Dive and Drive" package is hard to beat for cost or convience, that is what we did last year and will do this year. You will need a car on the island anyway so getting it in a package just cuts out one thing to deal with. As to the crime, I think you may be right on the "it was so great xx years ago" thing but then we left home and did not lock our doors around here not to many years ago. Take normal precautions and I don't think you will have any touble.

 

[carlislere]

I have read in a couple of magazines that there is a crime problem in Bonaire. There was a demonstration march, last year, by residents of Bonaire, complaining about the high crime rate.

 

[herman]

The major event that prompted that march was the killing of a couple of locals and the appearant lack of progress by officials along with some increase in petty crime. Since then, the killers have been caught, tried and are in jail. The crime was done over 1 1/2 years ago. There has also been an increase in police activity and a reduced tolerance to petty crime as well. This is based in info supplied by locals on Bonaire that I have come to know and trust.

 

[Ladydiver]

Hey peeps,

Don't forget about the Neptune Divers trip to Bonaire in September. It looks like a really good deal.

Cheers,