Bonaire Beaches

[herman]

What about Windsock?? If you do not require the beach be at a resort, Windsock is perfect. Fairly wide sandy beach, good snorkling and good diving as well. Take a few tanks, a cooler and pick out a nice tree to stay under. It not uncommon for the locals to hang out there as well, nice friendly people.

[awap]

Windsock is the closest thing you will find to a sandy beach: Scuba Shore Diving Site Page for: Windsock of Bonaire North, ABC Islands. It is where you will find the locals enjoying some time at the beach. It is also a good scuba and snorkel site. But no resort on the beach - a good thing.

But there a a number of good resorts that have sandy areas on top of iron shore (near a bar) and also have very good snorkeling and scuba with ladder entries you could both enjoy. My favorite is Buddy Dive but there are a few just north of town that are quite similar. You could spend a couple days just diving Buddy Reef where you can also reach the two adjacent excellent reefs (Bari to the south and Scientifico to the north) with an easy surface swim to either.

Get a truck for a couple days and hit outlying reefs. Many great places to eat but few are local cuisine. Only exception I can recomment is Rose Inn in Rincon which is a good lunch stop after hitting my favorite dive - Karpata. Also a good snorkel site if seas are calm.

Let me know if you do decide on Bonaire and I can give you some more detailed suggestions.

[diversteve]

Thanks all! I'm going to look into Curaçao.

I would - check the flights. There's a one stop 10hr. AA flight out of SFO->CUR, the shortest SFO->BON flight looks like over 25 hrs.

Of course you could fly to Curacao on AA and catch one of the local evening flights over. There's 2 later Insel Air flights that would work but you'd have to overnite in Curacao on the return to fly out in the early AM.
From Matrix ITA - I think I used 3/29-4/2 as dates.:



You can save $50 per ticket by connecting thru both MIA and DFW on the return but who'd want to...

[South 4 Scuba]

If you are a serious diver, don't write off Bonaire for the sake of beaches. The diving is best at Bonaire among the ABC Islands.

We stayed at the Plaza Resort last October and really enjoyed it. They have a beach with real sand and there is an easy entrance for snorkelers. Plaza has two restaurants and a great beach bar. If you are like me, you will really enjoy the bar. If you don't enjoy distilled spirits then the bar might not be your thing.

Plaza Resort has an all-inclusive package that is hard to beat. You get 3 meals a day and all you can drink included. This works out really well to get umbrella drinks while sitting on the beach. You also get an SUV to drive while you're there.

I highly recommend the updated suites (Premium Grand Lagoon or Ocean view) at Plaza. They are really nice.

There is a Continental red eye flight every Friday night (11:59 p.m.) that lands about 5:00 a.m. You can fly from CA to Houston Friday evening and be in Bonaire in less than 12 hours. The return flight is on the following Saturday.

[mahjong]

Very funny post. Thanks! We are not too much alike, I suspect, except perhaps for both being serious divers.

Anything that comes even remotely close to "You get 3 meals a day and all you can drink included" and I run the other way. I also experience a certain private sense of sadness for what the busy 'time is money' center has done to the beautiful tropical blue-green periphery.

Lugging a couple tanks (and my gear) onto a beach that doesn't belong to an all-inclusive resort and alternating between solo dives and escorting my wife snorkeling does indeed appeal to me. It seems that Bonaire does offer this possibility, which I am really attracted to. Problem is that my wife doesn't quite worship the beach as much as I do and appreciates EVERYDAY local culture and cuisine (not so much museums and/or nature reserves). Here, we are a bit spoiled by Southeast Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Malasia), where we have spent quite a bit of time.

As for beach and/or pool bars, I absolutely relish them! They are perhaps the only redeeming feature of the bourgeoisification of the tropics -put some shades on this emoticon and that would catch my drift.

If you are a serious diver, don't write off Bonaire for the sake of beaches. The diving is best at Bonaire among the ABC Islands.

We stayed at the Plaza Resort last October and really enjoyed it. They have a beach with real sand and there is an easy entrance for snorkelers. Plaza has two restaurants and a great beach bar. If you are like me, you will really enjoy the bar. If you don't enjoy distilled spirits then the bar might not be your thing.

Plaza Resort has an all-inclusive package that is hard to beat. You get 3 meals a day and all you can drink included. This works out really well to get umbrella drinks while sitting on the beach. You also get an SUV to drive while you're there.

I highly recommend the updated suites (Premium Grand Lagoon or Ocean view) at Plaza. They are really nice.

There is a Continental red eye flight every Friday night (11:59 p.m.) that lands about 5:00 a.m. You can fly from CA to Houston Friday evening and be in Bonaire in less than 12 hours. The return flight is on the following Saturday.

[phelana]

Considering your stay is so short, I do not recommend Bonaire since it's a full day of travel to get there for most folks. I will defer to others to speak but we are not a sandy beach destination by any means. Gosh, for 4 days from California, I have no idea what to recommend, honestly..Not Bonaire...

[lmorin]

I agree with Phelana regarding the short stay. But, if you really meant that you will have 4 days at your destination, then Bonaire remains a possibility. Consider staying at Sand Dollar or Den Laman condos and dive with Bonaire Dive and Adventure on Bari Reef. Sand Dollar has an honest to goodness small, real (i.e., ocean generated, not trucked in) sand beach created by the junction between the Sand Dollar shore front and the BDA dock. Folks who are not diving are commonly found there sunning or swimming. In addition, it is an entry point for snorkeling, either northward along the Sand Dollar frontage, or around the dock (where there are many, many fish to be seen) or a bit further south to the "aquarium" where many other species can be seen around a collapsed dock. Some snorkelers venture further from shore to the edge of the reef where the water is about 25-35 ft deep. You might enjoy a shallow dive while your wife is directly above, snorkeling.

[RJP]

Just realized you are coming from California. Forget the Caribbean... go to Maui!

[wilhemwild]

I think bonaire has a few really beautiful "beaches", particularly up towards the national park. They remind me of Tucson stuck in the middle of the ocean. I was watching a travel channel show and bonaire was rated as having one of the top beaches in the region (Travel channel said so, not I), so it depends on your preferences. Though, even seven days is too short for the 12 hours of travel it takes to get there! At least you wont have many other sun bathers if you do go!

[PARADISE HUNTER]

Lots of good advice in here. IMO four days is to short of a time to visit Bonaire. I would find someplace easier to get to and save Bonaire for another day.

That said...The one thing I would add to the other comments is the pace of the island is much slower and relaxed than most anyother place I've been to. Unlike Mexico and other touristy locals, no one ever approaches you to try to sell you something. No atv excursions, no hammocks, no tequila shots, no drugs, nothing. The island just isn't crowded either. I was there two weeks ago (I assume peak season) and they only got one cruise ship per day on two seperate days. If you went into town after 5:00 on a non ship day all the shops were closed. I also didn't see a lot of kids. Some, but not many. Not enough things for a nondiving child to do. Combine the lack of people and hustling with the freedom to dive at your own pace and it is a very different feel. Just plain laid back.

If you and your wife are looking for a different experience from other islands, you will find in there. I wouldn't get caught up in the nice beach comparisons. It's an island, there is no shortage of beautiful places to hang out, soak up the sun, and enjoy the water. Try the windward side or the north dive sites from Oil slick on up.

PH