Town pier Bonaire

[kmcneer]

Divi needs 8 to do this and there is not anyone else signed up. Anyone have any advice on making this dive. May be other dive shops close by?

 

[diversteve]

Town Pier or Salt Pier? You can walk in at Town Pier - there's steps just to the south.

I thought Town Pier was closed to divers though since the cruise ships started arriving. I'm sure they haven't done the Orange Cup Corals much good since they're silting them up while using thrusters to dock.

Actually you can walk in at Salt Pier also if there's no ship loading.

The last I knew both were under the control of the harbormaster (since 9/11) so require a DM/guide to register with him and accompany you also.
I have recently read of people just walking in at Salt Pier so maybe that's changed now.

I wouldn't do either dive from a boat though - save that for the Klein sites - or Rappel.

 

[bfuqua]

Salt Pier was one of our most memorable dives ever and you must make it if at all possible. The orange cup corals are magnificent (if they are still there) and there was a resident yellow frogfish that was there a couple years in a row. You should be able to find seahorses and probably some squid.... make it happen somehow....

 

[boat sju]

When we were there in January Salt Pier was open to dive.

 

[Mike]

2 years ago we did salt pier 2 times, 1 day, 1 at night, by ourselves no check in, no guide.

 

[kmcneer]

We were looking at town pier night dive. And yes you do have to have dock master permission and a guide. They wil only give you permission if you have at least 8 divers. We've been many times but eeytime there have been navy ships at dock so we couldn't do it.

 

[redacted]

A couple years ago, before the storms, I dove town pier with a group of 3 divers and a DM from Buddy Dive. I believe the requirement for 8 divers is imposed by the dive op and not the pier authorities.

 

[SubMariner]

When we were there in January Salt Pier was open to dive.

Do you still require a local guide/DM @ Salt Pier or have they reverted back to being able to dive on your own?

 

[lmorin]

Do you still require a local guide/DM @ Salt Pier or have they reverted back to being able to dive on your own?

I believe it is open without a guide as long as there is no ship at the pier.

 

[diversteve]

From Dive Friends website - not sure how current it is. It's on their guided dives page: http://www.dive-friends-bonaire.com/guided_dives.html#piers

Both Salt Pier and Town Pier require a local guide in the water with you at all times. There are new security precautions, however, that went into effect July 1st, 2004 to comply with the new International Ship and Port Security (ISPS) Code. Bonaire’s divemasters must now register for permission to lead guided dives beneath either pier, identification of divers must accompany requests to dive, and approval to dive the site must be received in advance. Therefore, when signing up, please be prepared to submit your full legal name, country of citizenship, and passport number. Security officers will check dive groups into the water. Once in, divers will be free to appreciate the orange cup corals, colorful sponges, cleaner stations, angelfish, and other creatures that make this one of the world’s most loved dive sites. When there is a ship at the pier, or when Port security is heightened, diving may be prohibited. Town Pier is normally experienced best at night, but can also be exciting as a day dive. Salt Pier is normally dove during the day.

There's also a thread on Bonairetalk from last summer that doesn't exactly resolve it either: Diving Salt Pier [Archive] - BonaireTalk