Bonaire VS this or Bonaire VS that ...

I occasionally browse these forums and they have helped me learn a lot about places and cultures in the Caribbean. It seems like Bonaire is the yardstick for Caribbean diving by which all destinations are measured. Its mostly Bonaire VS this or Bonaire VS that threads that pop up from time to time. Once you research expenses, Bonaire appears to be the cheapest too with the easiest diving etc. It makes me wonder why do people go anywhere else for a lot more money and relatively inferior diving experience when they can go to Bonaire? Is it the on-land activities that Bonaire lacks that drives the crowd to Belize or Honduras etc?

Just trying to understand travel trends to Caribbean. Thanks.

I like to see big stuff. You generally don't there.

no big fish, no sharks, not really a variety, no swim throughs, no night life, however if you want 27 milles of well preserved reef it is tops, also ability to dive about 25 or more dives in a week at real cheap $$ per dive.

It's great for shore diving. Cozumel has a great reef system and plenty of topside activity. It seems to me that Cozumel has been offering some of the best vacation package prices. Grand Cayman has great diving and is a very nice vacation stay (East/North sides). Curacao has some beautiful, easy to reach dive sites and a mix of city and country activities out of the water. Roatan is a jungle like island with reefs, wrecks, ziplines and good food. San Salvador, Grand Turk, Cayman Brac...anyway, there are a lot of good spots to keep divers interested.

As far as diving goes, Bonaire is OK but the diving on Little Cayman is much better. I also think the diving in Cozumel and the Turks & Caicos is better as well. To me the big draw for Bonaire is the total freedom you have in your diving. Dive when you want, as deep as you want, and as much as you can get it for a week. No schedules to keep or be on. But as far as just rating the diving itself, there are several places in the Caribbean better than Bonaire.

BDSC:

To me the big draw for Bonaire is the total freedom you have in your diving. Dive when you want, as deep as you want, and as much as you can get it for a week. No schedules to keep or be on.

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that and the fact that this total freedom comes at the same rate or cheaper than elsewhere where its just 2 boat dives a day for 6 days etc...

i loved the diving freedom on Bonaire but other locations offer variety... drifts, pelagics, walls etc.

Bonaire is not "the" yardstick, and is not necessarily easiest or cheapest let alone best. It's simply one place with nice Caribbean diving that has many (vocal) fans for specific reasons, particularly the amount of shore diving available. Personally, I haven't been there for many years as I'd much prefer to hop on a convenient boat than haul gear all over the island and deal with the rest that goes with shore diving there, just not my thing. Of course you can boat dive there and I mostly did when I used to go there. But I also like more variety in dive sites and critters than Bonaire has to offer. It can also be a pain to get to.

You'll also find many devoted fans of Cozumel, each of the Cayman islands especially LC, the Bay Islands, and other places. The important thing is to figure out what stuff is most important to you and which place offers the best match.

As others have said, Bonaire has it's minuses compared to other locations. Lack of variety, larger animal life, swimthroughs, walls, reef structures, etc..

Honestly, I am not a fan of Bonaire. When I really want the freedom to dive when and as long/short as I like, I do a liveaboard.

CAPTAIN SINBAD:

I occasionally browse these forums and they have helped me learn a lot about places and cultures in the Caribbean. It seems like Bonaire is the yardstick for Caribbean diving by which all destinations are measured. Its mostly Bonaire VS this or Bonaire VS that threads that pop up from time to time. Once you research expenses, Bonaire appears to be the cheapest too with the easiest diving etc. It makes me wonder why do people go anywhere else for a lot more money and relatively inferior diving experience when they can go to Bonaire? Is it the on-land activities that Bonaire lacks that drives the crowd to Belize or Honduras etc?

Just trying to understand travel trends to Caribbean. Thanks.

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As a few others have mentioned.... Bonaire is great for what it is = easy shore dive dive dive location. It is not great for big fishlife or exciting reef structure. All the reefs look the same, with exception of a few, that have slightly diff look. The same fish are found at every reef, in great quantities for sure, but not alot of turtles or rays or sharks or... anything big. Yes, a manta is spotted there about once a year but that is all.

I have sort of a Love-Hate relationship with Bonaire. I love the 24/7 diving where my husband and I can dive at our pace, where we want, for as long as we want. I hate the hassles involved with the island, like the restaurants and food issues, rude Dutch people (most of them are quite nasty, IMHO), and the constant worry of theft from vehicles parked at dive sites. (We have never had anything stolen but you always have the worry, so leave windows down and nothing inside car that would cause a thief to break window to get it.)

I have to echo what others have said. I have never been to Bonaire for a few specific reasons, but I would disagree with it being the yardstick against which all Caribbean diving is measured. I think Bonaire does a couple of things really well...preserve their reef, and make it easy for divers to shore dive as much as they want in a wide variety of locations with relatively few obstacles. For those who believe the metric by which to measure a dive vacation is the number of dives on a quality reef divided by the number of dive days, Bonaire is certainly hard to top. For macrophotography buffs, Bonaire is similarly at or near the top of the list for many.

But for those who value other qualities in a dive vacation, such as relaxation, variety in dive terrain (walls, shallows, swimthroughs, etc), and bigger stuff like turtles, sharks, rays, etc. Bonaire doesn't stack up so well. For me personally, I won't go to Bonaire until I can go at least a year without reading about somebody getting stuff stolen out of their truck at a shore dive location. That is a very simple things to combat on a small island. The locals know who is stealing the stuff there...if the police wanted to catch them, they would. The fact that they don't suggests to me that they see value in a cheap black market for items stolen from tourists...which really turns me off. I also value my relaxation over the sheer number of dives I can get in one week. If I have to choose between doing "valet diving" on Little Cayman and hardly ever touching my gear for 2-3 dives in a day versus schlepping my own gear all over and back in order to get 1-2 extra dives in a day, I will choose LC every time.

I am sure somebody who loves Bonaire will come along and give the counter argument here soon. It really is about personal preferences, and what people are looking for. For a certain sector of the dive marketplace, a high # of dives with a wide degree of personal freedom, and a quality reef trump other considerations, and for those folks, Bonaire is pretty close to Nirvana.