Bonaire Review - a Dad & Son adventure..

[MN Lakeman]

Back from my third January trip to Bonaire, but this time it was a Dad n’ Son adventure. My 19 yr old son immediately started to “dive” into his OW manual @ Christmas break from college, & finished all but his last four OW dives literally the day before we left. I’ve flown 2 different airlines to get there my 2 previous visits – this time I thought I would give Insel a shot….despite the several negative forum posts on this little Curacao airline. Bottom line, I would fly with ‘em again, but definitely allow AMPLE time for layovers. Let’s just say they seem to be on “island time”. We did the Wednesday Charlotte departure, & really enjoyed the much lower volume of travelers mid-week vs. weekends – especially @ the Flamingo airport. At 1/3 of the current cost (Continental & Delta) for round trip, I’m willing to accept the nuisance delays.
We stayed @ a terrific low budget apartment property called “Tropicanna”, owned by the same Dutch couple (Roland & Irene) who own & run another nearby property “BonaireFun”. Located just a few blocks from the water & a 1 minute drive to Eden Beach, which is where the associated dive shop, Wannadive is located. Clean, safe (locked & secure “walled”courtyard) & what some would call eclectic – I call it fun & funky. I rely a great deal on TripAdvisor for all my travels, & they rated both properties #1 & 2. Like my flights, @ a third of what Belmar Condos (which I love & had stayed @ our previous 2visits…) would have charged just the 2 of us w/ a dive n’ drive pkg. It was GREAT! Wannadive has an outstanding instructor/dive master staff. Carlos & Tama did a great job with my son’s cert. referral , leading a small class of students through their 4 final dives. Rental truck provided by AB, & since it was just 2 of us (I guess?), they gave us a small KIA SUV whichwas fine, but I still prefer the pickup tailgate for suiting up. Both my son & I got up early on 3 mornings & swam an easy 20 minutes of laps back & forth in front of Eden Beach (my son even swam right over the top of a spotted Eagle Ray, feeding in the shallow sand! Wannadive has a tank cage (& Nitrox included free like most of the shops…) both @ Eden Beach & south, @ Windsock resort. Oh & cuddos to the awesome dive shop owner @ the Flamingo resort, for fixing my integrated dive computer connection (@ no charge!!)
We bought our groceries @ the new Dutch grocery store – what an improvement on food quality, but a bit more spendy. We ate out only in the evenings: Pasa BonPizza (honesty, the best sausage tomato pie I’ve ever had!), It Rains Fishes(outstanding barracuda), Paradise Moon (excellent Mango Shrimp & fish tacos), Cactus Blue (still my favorite place there), & great burgers & music @ City Café. Of course how could we leave town for the apt. w/o a stop @ the homemade ice cream shop Gio’s Gelateria??
OK…the diving. Viz was not the best this 1^st week of January, but not terrible either. We did however have beautiful sunny days nearly every day, making reef life look pretty darn great (it was apparently quite rainy the couple weeks before we arrived). I found school size of smallerfish HUGE in comparison to earlier visits – especially Brown Chromis. Many encounters with the familiar Bonaire Creole Wrasse highways. Just one Hawks Bill (with tags attached to eachfront fin), the largest tarpens I’ve ever seen, many spotted morays but onlyone green. In general, I just can’t agree with some of the recent forum posts regarding a depletion of fish life. Coral was largely healthy in my opinion, with the exception of the far reef @ Angel City & @ Andrea I. I also have to say after diving Karpata (always my favorite) twice this trip, the north is MUCH better than heading out south. Two sites I had not dove my 1st two trips - Salt Pier & Bari Reef, were excellent. Just after exiting from the Hilma Hooker, we spotted a pod of dolphins swimming by Watch my attached video & please let meknow your assessment. Gas off day was spent @ the donkey sanctury (go...just go. SO funny) & windsurfing & Jibe City.
Sorry this is sooo long, but I think it’s important to post a positive review of this wonderful “divers’ paradise” to offset the many negative ones I read just before this trip. I’d like to counter just one more “viril”one that just never ends….the theft problem with personal articles in vehicles. I had a nice chat with one of the ladies @ AB Rental (who has been working for them for over 10 years AND is a dive master…),& when I asked if she felt this problem was any worse. Her response? She reported to me that she estimates out of their fleet of 250 vehicles, they get a report maybe one a month or more often, just one every other month. Well this is my 3^rd visit - & no problems.
I’ve been diving all over this great planet for 11 years now, & the only places I ever repeat is Coz & Bonaire. I wish Bonaire was closer to my MN home, ‘cuz it would be the only one I’d revisit again & again. What a perfect place to take a new diver (17dives!). Like his older sister (who camewith me 3 years ago), he is hooked on the sport.
Bonaire 2012 HD - YouTube

[drrich2]

Glad you had a good time, and good to hear about the affordable place you stayed. I'm interested in Dive Hut for the same reason; enjoyed Eden Beach Resort & Buddy Dive Resort in the past, but if I get to go alone sometime, might take the 'economy' route!

I was in Bonaire a week in December, and I, too, saw some whopper Tarpon. You're fortunate on the dolphins; I've been to Bonaire 5 times, and our first trip while floating at the surface, my buddy pointed out a pod jumping out of the water in the far distance. I think you got a better look than I did!

Your video is loading really slow or something, so I haven't watched it.

Richard.

[Blue Sparkle]

Thanks for the trip report. It's nice to read such a detailed one.

Your video is loading really slow or something, so I haven't watched it.

I'm having the same issue - maybe because it's relatively long and HD? I haven't yet figured out how to turn off the HD on the new youtube interface (which is obvious on Vimeo and on the old youtube interface, and makes things load much more quickly).

Edited to add: However now that I've watched the first few minutes, I'm just going to wait for it to load, even if it is slow. Because.... nice video! It's fun to see some "old friends," such as the black durgon, from Caribbean snorkeling days. And I've never seen one of those spotted "snake" like things - neato.

Also, on the quality adjustment, looks like it's done via the little snowflake icon in the lower right corner (which, last week, I think did something different and made the screen look like a snow globe, so I didn't think to try it).

[DiverVince]

Nice report Lakeman & thanks for posting. We return to duchi Bonaire in about 4 weeks & can't wait to get back to la isla bonita. Last time we were on island was 6 months ago. Much too long to be away! I however prefer the diving down south to the northern dive sites although my favorite is Karpata.

[Dr Dog]

Thanks for sharing this, great video

[chauncy19]

Ditto-enjoyed reading the post. haven't watched the video so no comment there. been to bonaire over 10 times and have not had an issue yet with crime but its a bummer its there.

[MN Lakeman]

Thanks for your comments. Regarding Youtube downloads - it all depends on your internet speed. You will notice a little "gear" on the lower bar of the pane - click this & either move it down to 240, or if you want to see a more vivid display, bump it up to 480 or even better, 720HD & just let it buffer for 10 or 15 minutes - or a day if you're on dial-up ;-)

[TheWizard]

Nice video, yes, even on a 20" screen. 30 Mbps FiOS link made it run fairly well but YouTube needs more buffer-ahead capability...

Edit: Wrong, it buffered ahead fine, gray line quickly outpacing the red one. Must be something else in my PC hiccuping...

[Boardndave]

MN Lakeman...it was great sharing those dives with you. As you remember, we did get down to Salt Pier in order to catch the dolphins, but they unfortunately didn't turn out well in my video...too far off in the distance!

[PARADISE HUNTER]

Nice report! Thanks for taking the time to post it.

PH