Saba or Bonaire?

llawhsoj · Apr 27, 2013

Folks,

I've been married to my wife for 10 years and so we want to go somewhere fun to celebrate (and dive). We are looking for mostly a dive holiday (dive, eat, sleep, read, drink, more diving), though I don't know how nuts we'll go. We do like to be active on our vacations, so who knows... We both have about 30 dives under our belt (learned while traveling in SE Asia and have revisited it some over the years). Its been two years since our last dive though, so we might need a refresher (I know my wife would feel more comfortable if we do).

Anyway, we are struggling with Bonaire or Saba, any advice? What do you think about diving/land activities for both.

Sorry to dredge up a much run topic, but I'm struggling and searching on the forum gave me ideas, but I'm still stumped. Thanks, I look forward to hearing from you!

KeithG · Apr 27, 2013

Dive, eat, sleep == bonaire

Saba is awesome, but you will have to expend a lot of energy to make it dive centric.

3 dives in a day would be a lot in Saba. All boat dives, no shore diving.

Saba is more of a dive in the morning, relax, walk about, relax, snooze, relax, eat local the rest of the day.

Dive focused with a little relaxing, do Bonaire.

Relax focused with a little diving, do Saba.

both are great in their own way.

P.s. disclaimer: I have only been on Saba 3 times via live aboards. It is top of our relax and do a few dives list.

yakivet · Apr 27, 2013

llawhsoj:
Folks,

I've been married to my wife for 10 years and so we want to go somewhere fun to celebrate (and dive). We are looking for mostly a dive holiday (dive, eat, sleep, read, drink, more diving), though I don't know how nuts we'll go. We do like to be active on our vacations, so who knows... We both have about 30 dives under our belt (learned while traveling in SE Asia and have revisited it some over the years). Its been two years since our last dive though, so we might need a refresher (I know my wife would feel more comfortable if we do).

Anyway, we are struggling with Bonaire or Saba, any advice? What do you think about diving/land activities for both.

Sorry to dredge up a much run topic, but I'm struggling and searching on the forum gave me ideas, but I'm still stumped. Thanks, I look forward to hearing from you!

I can't provide a true comparison between your 2 choices, but having visited Saba twice and researched Bonaire, you have certainly picked 2 different styles of a vacation.
To start with, Bonaire has wonderful beach diving. Saba has no beach diving. Bonaire at least has beaches. SABA only has one intermittently, depending on the tides and shifting sands. All Saba's diving is done by boat, Bonaire's is done either by boat or beach. In Bonaire you can stay in beachfront resorts. All of Saba's lodging is away from the water, either in the cool little town of Windwardside or in the "Bottom". Saba can have 82 degrees and Fog. I don't think its very likely in Bonaire. Saba's airport runway is only 1200 feet long. If the wind is blowing the wrong direction, you won't make your connecting flight to St. Maarten. If its blowing right, both the landings and takeoffs are something to remember.

What I can tell you is that my experiences in Saba have been wonderful. The diving is some of the best I've seen in the caribbean. Not a huge number of large fish, but lots of small stuff with the regular sightings of turtles, nurse sharks, reef sharks and Eels. The reefs are in fantastic condition and will remain so with the efforts of the marine park. The Island locals are extremely friendly. Windwardside is a quiet little town with some very nice restaurants. Reservations are necessary.
There are numerous guest houses and cottages. My 2 time lodging favorite has been Juliana's. Nice place to stay in walking distance to everything in Windwardside. Breakfast is included.

Diving has been done with SeaSaba. Best of the 3 shops in the Island. Lynn will organize your diving, your lodging, your evening restaurant reservations and everything in between. 2 great boats and a team of wonderful boat captains and divemasters. Dive times are limited by your NDL's and your computer. Nitrox is encouraged, and if you are staying in Windwardside at 1500 ft elevation, probably a good idea. 3 dives a day, with a little over an hour surface interval in between. A wonderful experience if your are looking for a quiet relaxing vacation with a small dutch town flair and
some great diving. :42:

ReneeDr · Apr 27, 2013

I have never been to Saba for diving, but we have been diving in Bonaire many times. The whole island is set up for diving, easy to rent tanks, good dive ops to do your refresher course. I can recommend Patrick at Dive Friends Hamlet. We did a navigation course with him last December. The reefs are not colorful, but fish life is good. For the diver just learning it is a wonderful place to dive because you can spend many hours underwater at your own pace and really work on your skills and buoyancy. Shore diving is the norm but boat diving is available. Some of the easiest shore entries are these dive sites: The Lake, The Rock, Margate Bay, Something Special, Fish Hut, The Cliff at Hamlet, Ole Blue/Tolo and (Karpata of the surge is not making waves over the concrete).

KeithG · Apr 27, 2013

yakivet:
I can't provide a true comparison between your 2 choices, but having visited Saba twice and researched Bonaire, you have certainly picked 2 different styles of a vacation.
To start with, Bonaire has wonderful beach diving. Saba has no beach diving. Bonaire at least has beaches. SABA only has one intermittently, depending on the tides and shifting sands. All Saba's diving is done by boat, Bonaire's is done either by boat or beach. In Bonaire you can stay in beachfront resorts. All of Saba's lodging is away from the water, either in the cool little town of Windwardside or in the "Bottom". Saba can have 82 degrees and Fog. I don't think its very likely in Bonaire. Saba's airport runway is only 1200 feet long. If the wind is blowing the wrong direction, you won't make your connecting flight to St. Maarten. If its blowing right, both the landings and takeoffs are something to remember.

What I can tell you is that my experiences in Saba have been wonderful. The diving is some of the best I've seen in the caribbean. Not a huge number of large fish, but lots of small stuff with the regular sightings of turtles, nurse sharks, reef sharks and Eels. The reefs are in fantastic condition and will remain so with the efforts of the marine park. The Island locals are extremely friendly. Windwardside is a quiet little town with some very nice restaurants. Reservations are necessary.
There are numerous guest houses and cottages. My 2 time lodging favorite has been Juliana's. Nice place to stay in walking distance to everything in Windwardside. Breakfast is included.

Diving has been done with SeaSaba. Best of the 3 shops in the Island. Lynn will organize your diving, your lodging, your evening restaurant reservations and everything in between. 2 great boats and a team of wonderful boat captains and divemasters. Dive times are limited by your NDL's and your computer. Nitrox is encouraged, and if you are staying in Windwardside at 1500 ft elevation, probably a good idea. 3 dives a day, with a little over an hour surface interval in between. A wonderful experience if your are looking for a quiet relaxing vacation with a small dutch town flair and
some great diving. :42:

Agreed. We have done multiple land tours during our live aboard (Explorer Ventures (hi Clay)) trips. We have had a brief encounter with most of the above (including negotiating the bulk purchase of adult beverages from a closed establishment for consumption on a local picnic bench). And there are more side trips (rainforest with too many steps comes to mind...)

I believe Saba has more character than Bonaire. beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

DeputyDan · Apr 29, 2013

The OP should go to Bonaire.

The original post says that you only have about 30 dives.
Saba is a more advanced dive location - especially out on the pinnacles.

I waited till my daughter has at least 100 dives before we went to Saba for 10 or so days.

Just my opinion but something you should consider.

LarryHinDC · Apr 29, 2013

As has been said, the islands and experiences are very different. Bonaire is very flat and there aren't loads of non-diving things to do. Saba is extremely mountainous (Saba's Mt Scenery is, at 877 meters, the highest point in the kingdom of the Netherlands) and offers many great hiking trails in a variety of microclimates. I've heard lots of reports of crime on Bonaire, while there is almost no crime on Saba. We have a cottage there and never lock it while we are visiting. As mentioned above, on Saba you don't have a shore diving option, but you will almost certainly be able to do 2 morning dives and an afternoon dive every day, with an opportunity to do night dives a couple of days each week. Most divers stay in Windwardside, where most of the restaurants are, and the dive shops arrange your transport to the harbor, which is included in your dive package. Saba does have very friendly people, and many tourists and locals get around by hitchhiking, which is safe and common. There are not too many restaurants on Saba, but the quality is generally good to very good. I can't comment on the food options on Bonaire because the week I spent there was at an all-inclusive resort, so didn't try the outside restaurants.

As for DeputyDan's opinion that you should wait to rack up much experience before trying Saba, I respectfully disagree. He is right that some of the pinnacle dives might be a little daunting, but the folks at Sea Saba work with divers of all experience levels and will make sure that the dive sites will be appropriate to your degree of comfort and expertise. They also do refresher and advanced training courses if you want them.

As I said, we have a cottage on Saba, so I am biased, but I think I haven't said anything of either island that is not true.

Whatever your choice, have fun!

Larry

billmosel · Apr 29, 2013

Saba has some very nice dives but can also have currents that can spoil those nice dives. Bonaire's dives are also very nice but don't have the current that Saba has. I believe in my experiences between the two, Bonaire has a lot more easier dive locations than Saba. I have been to Bonaire more times than Saba but Bonaire is my favorite. It is just sooo easy to dive. Whatever you choose.. Enjoy and be safe.

robint · Apr 30, 2013

Bonaire is a DIVE destination, period. Very casual, relaxed, but dive dive dive. Drink adult bev and watch the ocean.... not much else. We love it for that reason.

check out my last trip report: http://www.rnrscuba.net/2011_Bonaire/2011_Bonaire_TripReport.html

phelana · Apr 30, 2013

I have been to both islands as a travel specialist to plan dive vacations. Of course I reside in Bonaire. Honestly, I would recommend BOTH. If you do Saba, you might want to consider a Live Aboard or perhaps do Saba and another island. For me, 2 nights was perfect but for a diver, perhaps 5 nights. It's a small island. Very cool hike up to Mt. Scenery on your last day before flying...

Saba or Bonaire?

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